Paththirippuwa or Pattirippuwa is an octagonal pavilion and one of three main structures which comprise the

Temple of the Tooth The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic or Sri Dalada Maligawa, ( si, ශ්‍රී දළදා මාළිගාව) is a Buddhist temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which hou ...

(Sri Dalada Maligawa). The name is derived from the

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of P ...

, whereby "Parthu" means 'to see' and "Irippu" means 'seated', the combination of which is 'to sit and see all around'. The front section of the temple, together with the Pattirippuwa was built in 1802, during the reign of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Sri Vickrama Rajasingha, by the royal architect, Devendra Moolacharya. Moolacharya is also credited with the designing and construction of the Magul Maduwa (the Audience Hall), the

Kandy Lake Kandy Lake ( si, බෝගම්බර වැව/ කිරි මූද), also known as Kiri Muhuda or the Sea of Milk, is an artificial lake in the heart of the hill city of Kandy, Sri Lanka, built in 1807 by King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe next ...

(Kiri Muhuda), Walakula Bamma (Cloud Wall) and Diyarella Bemma. The Pattirippuwa was constructed on the site of the old temple kitchen. The Pattirippuwa was intended as a place where Rajasingha could exhibit the

sacred tooth relic The relic of the tooth of Buddha (Pali ''danta dhātuya'') is venerated in Sri Lanka as a sacred cetiya relic of Lord Buddha, who is the founder of Buddhism, the fourth largest religion worldwide. History The relic in India According to Sri Lanka ...

to the surrounding populace, view the temple festivals, peraheras and on important occasions address his subjects. The symbolism of its octagonal form, reinforced the view that when the king stood in the tower, with the eight points in the compass radiating out around him he stood at the centre of the world. During the British period, it had been used to house an oriental library where the upstairs was used to accommodate the library and downstairs to provide space for the librarian monk. It currently houses the temple's library of ancient palm leaf buddhist manuscripts and books. On 11 February 1948, following the country's political

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

from British rule, the national flag (Lion Flag) was raised for the first time over the Paththirippuwa. On 25 January 1998 the temple, including the Pattirippuwa, was severely damaged following the detonation of a truck bomb by

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

. The restoration work on the Pattirippuwa was undertaken by the

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is the state-owned operator of major commercial ports in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1979, SLPA currently operates ports in Colombo, Galle, Hambantota, Kankesanthurai, Oluvil, Point Pedro and Trincomalee Trincomal ...

, under the guidance of the Department of Archaeology. The restoration process took over a year and was completed by August 1999.

References

{{coord missing, Sri Lanka Buddhist temples in Kandy