Worshipping a Sacred Tooth.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 14 August 1914, Page 8

Worshipping a Sacred Tooth.

* j At Kandy, in Ceylon, is kept the Buddha's tooth, which is the object of the unbounded reverence of more than 100,000,000 people. When this holy molar was brought to < eylon in the sixteenth century kandy was only a mountain vjl- i lage. Now thousands of pilgrims i go every year to the gorgeous tern- : pie where the tooth reposes, bringing gifts of every kind, gold mid silver ornaments, coins, jewels, and ; den fruit and flowers. The Kings; of Burma and Sjam send annual contributions towards the support ; of this temple that holds the sacred '. ri'lic, which has a rather strange history. '■ It is said to have been the left: e,Vu-toot;i of Buddha, and to have icon taken from his ashes 2,500 years ago. For centuries it was [ cue marriage dower going with ocr- : tain lavoured princes. ; In the fourth century after Christ it was taken from India, then the .Ma la bars secured it. It wae after- j wards captured by the Portuguese, who took it to Goa, where it was

burned in 1560 by the archbishop in the presence of the Viceroy of India. . But a spurious tooth had to be provided to elTect an international marriage, and the molar of a wild boar or ape was used. Its dimensions show that it could not be a man's, for it is 2in. long and lin. in diameter. On important occasions it is displayed, but only at a distance. It is sometimes carried in process-ions on • the back of an elephant, but while in the temple it reposes on a massive silver table, encrusted with gems and festooned with jewelled chains.