Temple of the tooth relic of the Buddha is the place where the tooth of Buddha was enshrined. The tooth relic of Buddha was received to Sri Lanka in beginning of 4th Cen AD and was always with Sri Lankan kings. Later it became the palladium of Sinhala royalty and emblem of the king ship. So that, tooth relic was always moveable and placed in a special shrine room with close supervision of the king.
These two tooth relic temples called ‘Atadageya’ and ‘Hatadageya’ were made by the first and third kings ruled in Polonnaruwa. The architecture pattern is similar in both buildings. Tooth relic temples were always two storied. The tooth relic placed in 1st floor and ground floor was a shrine room with Buddha’s statues.
There are some other monuments in the complex.Nissankalatha mandapaya is an innovative work of ancient Sri Lankans depicting the splendor of classical architecture. This was done by king Nissankamalla to listen to Buddha’s teaching chanting by Buddhist monks. The elegantly decorated serpentine granite columns like lotus stalks are popular among hundreds of other carvings in the premises.
