The Buddha's Tooth: How a Relic Shaped Sri Lankan Power

In episode 205 of The Story of Sri Lanka, Lucas and Luna trace the extraordinary journey of the Buddha's tooth relic — from the cremation pyre in Kushinagar to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Along the way, they unpack how this single object became the moral centre of Sinhalese kingship, the prize in wars, the excuse for invasions, and the symbol that still unites and divides the island today. Learn how the relic was smuggled to Sri Lanka hidden in a princess's hair, why King Parakramabahu I refused to send it back to Pagan, and how the Portuguese believed they had destroyed it in 1560 — before it miraculously resurfaced. The episode also explores the relic's role in contemporary politics, from the Kandyan Convention to the 1998 bombing of the Dalada Maligawa by the LTTE. A story of faith, power, and the strange persistence of sacred objects.

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