Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka

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Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth
Type	temple
Place	Kandy
Country	Sri Lanka
Website	Website
Related persons
Owner

Zoological department

Veterinarians	: Ashoka Dangolla
Elephant department
Elephant keepers
1937-: Umar Panicker -2022: Wilson Koddithuwakku -1998: Dingiri Mahattaya

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-16:

Latest document update	2025-03-16 16:04:35
Google map

Description

Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth, in Kandy, Sri Lanka .

Living elephants

At the Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth lives 10 elephants with records in this database: (detail list)

♂ Abhaya born 2010
♂ Gagana born 2011-03-05
♂ Indi Raja born 1980
♂ Jana Raja
♂ Kaveri Raja
♂ Raju born 2006
♂ Senarath born 2004-09-13
♂ Sindhu born 2006
♂ Sinha Raja
♂ Thai Raja

Taxidermy specimens

Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth has in its collection 1 elephantine museum specimens with records in this database:

(Measurements of teeth and body parts follow the system described by Maglio (1973; P = plate number, L = length, W = width, H = height, LF = lamellar frequency)

Maligawa Raja Accession nr: . Received: ♂ Maligawa Raja
Species: Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
* Born ~1913 at Unknown † Dead 1988-07-16 at Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth
Death: disease Death reason: "an illness"
Body, bone or dental material: ,

Casualties

1 casualties

1998-07-31: mahout Dingiri Mahattaya fatal attack by Nawam. He leaned his hook against the wall and removed the chain from the back leg of the elephant. As there was a small branch entangled with the chain, Dingiri Mahattaya bent to remove it. The elephant suddenly knocked him over with his tusk, gored him and flung him up to the electric wire. † Dingiri Mahattaya Died 1998-07-31, Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth, Kandy. All of us, other mahouts who were nearby, pelted the elephant with stones and he stepped back. Dingiri Mahattaya fell behind a large log that lay in the corner. As the elephant came looking for him again, we pelted more stones. We managed to extricate the bleeding Dingiri Mahattaya from the corner.

Comments / pictures

2022-04-01: Pradeep Miyanapalawa is attached to the administrative wing of the Perahera office. His grandfather and father were respected native physicians who treated elephants decades ago. Pradeep outlined the role and task of the “ath panthiya”. He said, “At present, we have nine tuskers and three bull elephants. The chief Tusker who represents this Sacred Temple is Indi Raja who is 45-years-old. The tuskers are Sinha Raja, Thai Raja, Jana Raja, Migara, Kaveri Raja, Myan Raja, Buruma Raja and Pulasthi Raja. The other elephants are Kandula, Nalaka and Kadhira. Our chief Tusker Indi Raja was donated to the Dalada Maligawa in 1989 aged seven years. He was assigned for Perahera duty when he reached 18 years of age”. Indi Raja was donated by the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

All the tuskers serving the Dalada Maligawa receive the professional inspection of Professor Dangolla and his prudent team attached to the Peradeniya Veterinary Science Faculty.

References for records about Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan (2025). Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth, Elephant Encyclopedia. Available online at https://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=1348. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth on elephant-news.com

Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth is mentioned on Elephant News:
Date	Links which opens in new window
2022-04-01	Majestic tuskers of sri dalada maligawa - Elephant News
2011-07-19	Navam raja, no more - Elephant News

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About this documentWebsite online since 1995. This document was created: . Latest update: 2025-03-16 16:04:35 included 1168 characters with valid HTML5

Living elephants

Taxidermy specimens

Casualties

Recommended Citation

Sources used for this article is among others:

Kandy Sri Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Tooth is mentioned on Elephant News: