The relic of the tooth of Buddha (

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

''danta dhātuya'') is venerated in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

as a sacred

cetiya Cetiya, "reminders" or "memorials" (Sanskrit ''caitya''), are objects and places used by Buddhists to remember Gautama Buddha.Kalingabodhi jātaka, as quoted in John Strong, ''Relics of the Buddha'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), ...

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

and primarily refers to the purported tooth at the

Temple of the Tooth Sri Dalada Maligawa, commonly known in English as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, is a Buddhist temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the Royal Palace Complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of ...

, but can also refer to the one believed to be at Somawathiya Chaitya.

History

According to the

Mahāparinibbāna Sutta The ''Mahāparinibbāna Sutta'' is Sutta 16 in the ''Dīgha Nikāya'', a scripture belonging to the Sutta Piṭaka of Theravāda Buddhism. It concerns the end of Gautama Buddha's life - his parinibbāna - and is the longest sutta of the Pā ...

, after the Buddha's passing and cremation, four teeth are explicitly noted to be in existence. Two of the relics are noted to be in mythological locations (

Trāyastriṃśa The (Sanskrit; Pali ), (''Tushita''; ''Heaven of the Thirty-three''), is an important celestial realm of the devas in Buddhist cosmology. The word ' is an adjective formed from the numeral ', or "33" and can be translated in English as "bel ...

and in the realm of the

Nagaraja A Nagaraja ( ', ) is a king of the various races of the nāga, the divine or semi-divine, half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld ( Patala), and can occasionally take human form. Rituals devoted to these supernatural being ...

), while the other two are in earthly locations ( Gandhāra and Kaliṅga). Out of these, the Nagaraja and the Kaliṅga tooth are purported to be extant. In April 2025, the

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

held a public exposition of a tooth relic that drew approximately 450,000 visitors in a single day. Overcrowding led to 4 deaths and over 300 hospitalizations, mostly from heat-related illnesses.

Kaliṅga tooth

According to the

Mahāvaṃsa ''Mahāvaṃsa'' (Sinhala: මහාවංශ (Mahāvansha), Pali: ''මහාවංස (Mahāvaṃsa)'') is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka until the period of Mahasena of Anuradhapura. It was written in the style of ...

and the

Dāṭhavaṃsa ''Dāṭhavaṃsa'' (also known as the ''Dhātuvansa'', ''Dantadhātu'', or ''Dantadhātuvaṇṇanā'') is a Pali chronicle attributed to Dhammakitti Thero. It is sometimes titled in English as "The History of the Tooth Relic" and contains histo ...

, during the Buddha's cremation, his left canine was retrieved by his disciple

Khema Khema (Pali: Khemā; Sanskrit: Kṣemā) was a Buddhist ''bhikkhuni'', or nun, who was one of the top female disciples of the Buddha. She is considered the first of the Buddha's two chief female disciples, along with Uppalavanna. Khema was ...

, who in turn gave it to King Brahmadatte of Kaliṅga for veneration, being kept at Dantapura (modern Dantapuram). At some point, the tooth relic gained the reputation for giving whoever held the relic the divine right to rule the land, with the Dāṭhavaṃsa reporting a war between Guhasiva of Kaliṅga and the king Pandu over its possession. Legend states that following a conflict in Kaliṅga, the tooth was brought to the

Abhayagiri Vihāra Abhayagiri may refer to: * Abhayagiri vihāra a ruined monastic complex of great historical significance in Sri Lanka * Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a Theravadin Buddhist monastery in Redwood Valley, California See also * Abhaya (disambiguati ...

Anuradhapura Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the cur ...

, Sri Lanka. The relic would change locations as the seat of government changed on the island, whereupon it was brought to

, where it currently rests at the

. Scholar Charles Boxer, however, claimed that the tooth was "publicly pounded to smithereens with a mortar and pestle by the Archbishop of Goa" as one of the results of the Church's attempt to eradicate native religions, believed to be around the 1550s, due to its religious importance to Buddhists.

Rumored Buddha tooth relics

Aside from the two tooth relics in Sri Lanka, other tooth relics have been reported globally. A 2024 survey found that 32 museums and temples claimed to hold one or more of the tooth-relics, including. * Lingguang Temple () of the Badachu Park in

Beijing, China Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. *

Buddha Memorial Center The Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum (), formerly known as the Buddha Memorial Center, is a Mahāyāna, Mahāyāna Buddhist cultural, religious, and educational museum located in Dashu District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The museum is affiliated with Fo Gu ...

() of the

Fo Guang Shan Fo Guang Shan (FGS) () is an international Chinese Buddhism, Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhist organization and monastic order based in Taiwan that practices Humanistic Buddhism whose roots are traced to the Linji school of Chan Buddhism. The headqu ...

Monastery in

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. * Engaku Temple in

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. * Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum () in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. * Lu Mountain Temple in

Rosemead, California Rosemead is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The 2020 United States census reported a population of 51,185. Rosemead is part of a cluster of cities, along with Alhambra, Arcadia, Temple City, Monterey Park, San Marino, ...

* Nagarjunakonda, museum on the island situated in the Nagarjunasagar Lake.City information of Hyderabad, Nagarjunasagar, Nagarjunakonda, Warangal, Medak
/ref> * Lawkananda Pagoda in

Bagan Bagan ( ; ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that w ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Relic of the tooth of the Buddha

Buddhism in Sri Lanka Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Sri Lanka

Tooth A tooth (: teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tea ...

Gautama Buddha Theravada Tourist attractions in Central Province, Sri Lanka Teeth