Delgamuwa Raja Maha Viharaya - Kuruwita
The ancient Kurahan grinding stone which hid the holy tooth relic on display
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Delgamuwa ancient Raja Maha Viharaya is a important place of worship for
all Buddhists of Sri Lanka as the sacred tooth relic of Buddha was protected
inside this temple from the Portuguese for over 40 years.
The ancient Kurahan grinding stone in which the holy tooth relic was
hidden safely can be seen in this Delgamuwa temple
even today.
The King Dharmapala of Kotte who is well known for his incompetentcy
embraced Catholicism in 1557 to safeguard his throne.
Dharmapala became a pupet king and the portuguse got complete control
of the Kingdom through Dharmapala. Realising the danger to the Tooth
Relic by the Diyawadana Nilame, Hiripitiye Divana Rala, the custodian of
the Tooth Relic swam the Diyawanna Oya (river) and took the relic from Kotte
to king Mayadunne of Sitawaka (now Avissawella) for safe keeping. The
king fearing a Portuguese invasion at any moment, had it hidden at the
Delgamuwa vihara. The incumbent of the vihara, sensing danger, caused
to artificial replicas to be made in ivory. Keeping one of them in the
place where the original was ,gave the other to Vidiya Bandara, and the
thera, and concealed the genuine one inside a grinding stone.
By this time the Portuguese had already destroyed the original Dalada Maligawa
(The Shrine of the Tooth Relic) at Kotte Kingdom and built a Catholic
Church on top of it. Then they invaded Sitawaka and carried away the
artificial relic, thinking it to be the original, and sent it to Goa to be
destroyed. However, the Portuguese got the news that what they had got was
a duplicate of the Relic and the original was in the hands of Vidiya Bandara,
the son-in-law of king Mayadunne. Vidiya Bandara was captured on the orders
of the Archbishop of Goa in 1561. The Archbishop, having secured the
artificial relic from Vidiya Bandara placed it in a mortar pulverised
it, burnt the powder in a brazier and threw the ashes into a river.
When Konappu Bandara ascended the throne of Kandy in 1592, in the name
of Wimaladharmasuriya I, the incumbent of the Delgamuwa vihara, handed
over the real Relic to the king who enshrined it in Kandy.
Delgamuwa
Raja Maha Vihara temple is accessible by 2 routes, when you travel
along the Colombo- Ratnapura main road, one way to the temple is found
near the Kuruwita central college just opposite to the Kuruwita Post
office and the other leads via Sri Saddhathissa Mawatha to the temple 2 miles
far from Higgashena.
Created : March 12, 2009
Updated :
March 13, 2009
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