By Sujeewa Senarath
(Lanka-e-News -17.April.2025, 5.45 PM) The exposition of the Tooth Relic at the Kandy Temple of the Tooth Relic, which will be held from April 18, has generated many a discussion on the history of the Tooth Relic of the Lord Buddha.
The Mahavamsa, Dhatuvamsa and several other Sri Lankan history chronicles state that the sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, which is venerated at the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy today was brought to Sri Lanka from the Danthapura in Kalinga, India. Many Sri Lankans believe that the exact location of this Danthapura in India has not been revealed yet. However, in his book “Finding Sinhabahu ...”, which was nominated as the best research book at the 2020 State Literary Festival, he describes the precise identification of the location in India, in two chapters, spanning 52 pages. It is surprising that even after five years since this book was published by a prominent publishing house in Sri Lanka, this discovery, which is of utmost importance to Sri Lankan Buddhists, has not gained any attention.
As Ajith Amarasinghe explains in this book, the Danthapura, from where the Tooth Relic was brought to Sri Lanka in the fourth century AD, is located the in northern part of the present-day state of Andhra Pradesh, near the Bay of Bengal. This place is in proximity to the present-day state of Orissa and was part of the Kalinga region of historical India.
Ajith Amarasinghe, who had flown from Colombo to Chennai and from there to Visakhapatnam in search of this place, had traveled 105 km by road to reach Srikakulam, the nearest major town to Dantapura. Realizing the importance of his visit, two officials of the local tourism board and a local journalist had come to meet him. They had told him that to their knowledge, he was the first Sri Lankan to visit this place.
Dr Ajith Amarasinghe on July 31, 2015, visited Dantapura with this group which is located 20 km from Srikakulam town, This place is still known as "Dantapuram". If the word Dantapuram was typed on a Google satellite map, this place could be located.
Realizing the historical importance of this place, the Andhra Pradesh government has built a large Buddha statue at this place which is covered with trees and shrubs. There are many Buddhist stupas in the dense forest of this area and although several of these were excavated many years ago, the excavations have been stopped halfway.
Parts of the earthen wall which surrounded this ancient city are still visible and a calculation made with the help of Google Maps that this ancient city was about 170 hectares in size. This is located 2 km from the Vamsadhara River. There are many ancient stupas, Buddhist shrines and statues that have now been ruined throughout this area and the largest of these is the "Salihundam" Great Stupa located 18 km from Danthapura. Inscriptions dating back to the time of King Dharmasoka have been found in the vicinity of this stupa. There are also many Buddhist stupas near the ancient port of Kalingapattanam, which is close to this place. Roman coins have been found near this port, and a note by the Roman writer “Pliny the Elder” who lived in the 1st century AD also confirms that this place was called Danthapura at that time.
Apart from that, the current occupant of this Danthapuram area also believe that they are the hereditary residents of this important place. It is rumored in this that one of these families of this area still has two small gold leaves that covered the tooth relic while at Danthapura.
According to the Mahavamsa and other chronicles, the tooth relic was brought to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Kitsirimevan who ruled in the 4th century AD (303-331 AD). These accounts say , at that time, a king named Keeradhara besieged Danthapura to secure it. Then, King Keeradhara secretly sent the Tooth Relic to Sri Lanka, through his daughter Hemamali and her husband Prince Dantha. The king intended to hand over the Tooth Relic to his friend King Mahasena, who was ruling Sri Lanka, rather than to King Keeradhara. When Hemamali and Prince Dantha arrived in Sri Lanka, King Mahasena was dead and his son Kithsirimevan was reigning in Anuradhapura. He placed the Tooth Relic in Abhayagiri and ordered to hold a Dalada Perahera every year. The Chinese monk Fa Hian, who came to Sri Lanka a few years after Tooth Relic was brought to Sri Lanka, witnessed such Dalada Perahera.
Further confirming this historical story, Mr. Amarasinghe's book states that a dynasty named "Kidara", very similar to the name of Keeradhara, ruled in northwestern India during the said century, and there are many of historical evidence that they too were Buddhists.
In his book, Dr. Ajith Amarasinghe describes in detail many scientific evidences on the location of the Danthapura in India before it was brought to Sri Lanka. It is appropriate that the attention of historians and archaeologists of India and Sri Lanka should be drawn to the Danthapuram in India, which is of utmost historical significance to the Buddhists of Sri Lanka.
- Note by Sujeewa Senarath
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by (2025-04-17 12:26:58)
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