World Heritage Site--Sri Dalada Maligawa--The Tooth Relic of the Buddha

Starting from 300 AD, every year during the month of August or month of Esala as known in Sinhala the casket with the relic is taken out on top of a regal tusker to parade the streets of Kandy in a very colorful procession for three days till it ends with a ceremony known as cutting of water to invoke the blessings of the gods to obtain rain for a good harvest.

The casket is carried by a magnificent tusker carefully chosen for the task and trained for the job. Though many tuskers have carried the casket in turn during recent times “Raja” the regal tusker will never be equaled by any. He was a majestic beast with a strong body, an envious height and had tusks in alignment touching the ground.

Captured in Batticaloa, the eastern coast of Sri Lanka in 1925 Raja was estimated to be around twelve years of age and stood four feet and five inches in height. He was purchased by a local chieftain by the name of Mampitiya Dissawe (Dissawa means local chieftain) who later donated him to the temple.

Raja fulfilled all the criteria required to be the carrier of the sacred tooth relic. Not every elephant has the luck to be the chosen one. He should be of high caste, healthy, intelligent and patient to name a few requirements. Like humans the elephant population too have a caste system. Ten castes are documented out of which four castes are known to be of high order. They are Mangala, Hema, Uposatha, and Chadantha. Raja is believed to be of Chadantha caste. Strong and healthy bodies and legs, tusks in alignment or straight and not crossed, back like a seat, upright head, large ears, magnificent height, trunk and tail touching the ground, these signs signify a high order caste.

How long will it take to train an elephant? During the procession there will be thousands of people around, lightings all over, sound of drums, dancers, fireworks, torch bearers, palanquins. The elephants themselves are elegantly caparisoned. Some of them have to mind their steps in twosome or threesome. The tusker who carries the casket with the tooth relic always has two more elephants on either side of him. The elephant has to learn to keep calm amidst all this. It took almost twelve years for Raja to be trained, and from then onwards he carried on with his duty seconding his life. He carried the relic casket in the procession year after year for fifty long years. Raja means king, and Raja was a king in the true sense of the word.

The procession includes several hundred elephants all caparisoned elegantly, walking along with their mahouts by their sides. Elephants especially the younger ones love the sound of the drums and swaying to the sound of drums is a common sight. An elephant rampage in the procession is rare as that which occurred in 1959. Even then Raja remained calm as ever protective of the casket. Once when the procession was parading the streets Raja stopped in front of the Queen’s hotel ( a well known hotel in Kandy) and refused to move. Many attempts to make Raja move failed. When mahouts and Nilames ( Nilame is the name given to a chieftain ) investigated they found that the casket carrying the sacred tooth relic had got loosened. Only when it was tightly secured back on did Raja start to move.

On other days Raja began his day by worshipping the sacred tooth relic with a lotus flower offering. Going down on his front legs his forehead touching the ground he worshipped.

In 1984 Raja was declared a national treasure. The only animal in Sri Lanka to be so named. In 1988 Raja breathed his last at the age of seventy five years having performed his sacred duty to the utmost. The whole country mourned, for Raja was loved by everyone young and old.

Even though Raja is dead he still lives in the hearts of all those who have seen him. Raja went into posterity after his body was taxidermised and was placed in a museum in Kandy. He will be there for future generations.

Sri Dalada Maligawa or Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Kandy ...