Delgamuwa Raja Maha Vihara is one of the ancient Buddhist temples in Kuruwita in the Ratnapura district.
It can be accessed via two routes. When one travels along the Colombo-Ratnapura main road, one way to the temple lies near the Kuruwita Central College just opposite the Kuruwita Post Office and the other leads via Sri Siddhartha Mawatha to the temple two miles away from Higgastenna.
The temple is reputed to have been the hiding place of the sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha for 43 years under the Portuguese rule in the country. The Kurahan grinding stone in which the sacred Tooth Relic was hidden safely remains in the temple premises even today.
The written history of Delgamuwa Raja Maha Vihara goes back to the period of the Sitawaka kingdom. In the chronicle Mahawamsa, this temple has been introduced as Labujagama Vihara and in the chronicle Rajawaliya as Saparagamu Vihara.
Information about this temple is included in the Saul Sandeshaya written by Alagiyawanna Mukaweti, too.
With the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505 and the death of King Buwanekabahu vii (1376-1391) of the Kotte kingdom, there arose a political turmoil in the country. This was intensified with the conversion of King Don Juan Dharmapala to Catholicism. This incident led the then Diyawadana Nilame Hiripitiya Divana Rala who was the guardian of the Tooth Relic to move the Relic from the Kandyan kingdom to King Mayadunne of Sitawaka for safe keeping in 1549. With the guidance of King Mayadunne, the Tooth Relic was brought to Delgamuwa Raja Maha Vihara for further safekeeping and kept it in a Kurahan grinding stone (Eleusine Coracana) in the Vihara premises.
In 1592, Konappu Bandara who conquered the throne of Kandy again changed his name as Wimaladharmasuriya I and reclaimed the Tooth Relic from Delgamuwa Raja Maha Vihara in Ratnapura to Kandy.
He built a two storeyed palace to enshrine the Tooth Relic within the main palace complex.
A few years after the removal of the Tooth Relic, the temple was robbed and demolished by the Portuguese who constructed a fort in the premises.
Today, this sacred site has become a well equipped temple with a two storeyed Sangawasa, a Relic mansion, a Dagoba and two resting halls. The annual procession of the temple which was started 50 years ago is held in December and January. Champika Senanayake is the Basnayake Nilame of the temple at present.
