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The tooth relic was brought to Sri Lanka in 371 A.D. from India. In India there was a king called Buhasiva. He instructed his son in law Dhantha supposing if he lost in the battle to take the tooth relic to Sri Lanka where his friend was living. He handed over this tooth relic to his son in law Dhantha. The king lost the battle and his daughter princes Hemamali and son in law Dhantha brought the tooth relic to Sri Lanka, and it was hidden in her knot of hair for safety. When they reached Sri Lanka King Buhasiva’s friendly king Mahasen had died. So they handed the sacred tooth relic to king Megavan who was ruling in Anuradhapura.
The sacred tooth relic was then handed over to the buddhist monk’s of Abayagiriya for safe keeping and also as an object of worship for Lord Buddha. Traditionally thereafter, the sacred tooth relic was regarded as a royal treasure and symbol of kingship and was enshrined in the private shrine room of the temple in the royal palace complex of the Capital and protected |
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| by the king himself. When the capital was shifted from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa the tooth relic was taken to Polonnaruwa by king Vijayabahu the first and he constructed the "Atadage”and enshrined it. After some time Queen Sugala has taken the tooth to Amsterdam bay. There was a fortress and it was hidden there. After a long battle king Parakramabahu the first brought the tooth relic again to Polonnaruwa. And king Nissankamalla constructed the tooth relic temple called "Hatadage" and enshrined it. After that it was brought to Dambadeniya,Yapahuwa, Kurunegala, from Kurunegala they brought to Kotte. During the period of King Mayadunna it was taken to Seethawaka.During the period of King Rajasinghe the first, portugues power spread in the costal areas and it was taken to Delgamuwa Viharaya, which is situated at Kuruwita in the Rathnapura district, and it was taken to Kandy in 1593 and kept by king Wimaladharmasuriya. In 1753 the Kandy Perahera started to honour the tooth relic, and it was taken around the Kandy town. |
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The historic Esala Perahera in Kandy began on July 18, with the usual installation of the 'kap' (sanctified log) at the devales dedicated to the four guardian gods Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and goddess Pattini. It will be followed by the Devale peraheras from 18th to the 21st, and by the Kumbal perahera from 22nd to the 26th.
The Randoli perahera, the most grandiloquent of the peraheras will parade the streets from 27th to the 31st. The ritual of the water-cutting ceremony will be held on August 1, followed by the Day perahera on the 2nd thus, bringing the grand spectacle to an end.
Seven days after the Day perahera, as tradition holds, 'Waliyaknetuma'(an abridged form of Kohomba-kankariya) is danced at the Vishnu devale, by people of the 'balibat' caste, for seven more days, with masked dancing, to avoid malignant influences. This is a general account of the Esala perahera in Kandy,which has changed in detail down the ages, e.g., during the Kandyan period two peraheras were held, one by evening and one by night, preferably during the Randoli perahera.
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The Esala perahera in Kandy, we see today, dates back to the reign of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1780). It is a combination of the Dalada perahera, and the four Devale peraheras dedicated to the guardian deities of the island.
Earlier, the Esala perahera was conducted exclusively to appease the divinities, and patronized by the Malabari kings of South India, who ruled the Kandyan provinces. They were Hindus. The month of Esala is reminiscent of 'Esala Dev-keliya' (play of the gods).
How the band wagon of the Dalada perahera came to be merged with the four devale peraheras, has an interesting story. When the bhikkus from Siam (Thailand), headed by the Most Ven. Upali Maha Thera, came to Sri Lanka, to bestow the defunct 'Upasampada' (the highest ordination qualifying a bhikku), their arrival coincided with the Esala festival in Kandy, when preparations were under way to hold the Devale peraheras invoking the blessings of the gods for the king and his subjects.
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