Sacred Tooth Relic
The Sacred Tooth Relic is the most venerated object in Sri Lankan Buddhism, a tooth believed to be the left upper eye-tooth of the historical Buddha, brought to the island in the 4th century CE by Prince Danta and Princess Hemamala, who is said to have hidden it in her hair. The story of its journey from Dantapura in India is told in the Pali chronicle Dathavamsa, the Chronicle of the Tooth Relic, and the later chapters of the Mahavamsa trace its movement from the first capital, Anuradhapura, through the later capitals Polonnaruwa and Dambadeniya until it reached Kandy. In Kandy the relic is e