Overview

After the Buddha’s Parinibbāna and cremation, his bodily relics (dhātu) were divided. The verses at the end of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16) say that there were eight measures (doṇa) of relics, and that four tooth relics (dāṭhā) were honoured in four places. The Sumaṅgalavilāsinī says that these closing verses were spoken by the elders in the island of Tambapaṇṇi (tambapaṇṇidīpe therehi vuttā).

The commentary adds that seven relics were not broken up: the four canine teeth, the two collarbones and the uṇhīsa; the rest were scattered (catasso dāṭhā, dve akkhakā, uṇhīsanti imā satta dhātuyo na vippakiriṃsu). It also tells how the brahmin Doṇa hid the right canine tooth in his turban while dividing the relics, and how Sakka took it to the world of the devas and enshrined it in the Cūḷāmaṇi Cetiya.

The forty teeth (cattālīsadanto) are not relics. Having forty teeth is the twenty-third of the thirty-two marks of a great man in the Lakkhaṇa Sutta (DN 30), where it is the result of having abandoned divisive speech in former lives.

The List

  1. Tidivehi pūjitā - One tooth is worshipped in the heavens (tidiva). The Sumaṅgalavilāsinī tells that Sakka took the right canine tooth to the world of the devas.
  2. Gandhārapure mahīyati - One is honoured in the city of Gandhāra.
  3. Kāliṅgarañño vijite - One is in the realm of the king of Kaliṅga.
  4. Nāgarājā maheti - One is honoured by the king of the nāgas.

Quote

Ekāhi dāṭhā tidivehi pūjitā, ekā pana gandhārapure mahīyati; Kāliṅgarañño vijite punekaṃ, ekaṃ pana nāgarājā maheti.
One tooth (dāṭhā) is worshipped in the Heavens, and one is honoured in the city of Gandhāra; A further one in the realm of the Kaliṅga King, and the King of the Dragons honours one more.

— Dīgha Nikāya (DN 16, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta) · TPR

Textual References

  • Canonical: Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16, D-ii 648–651) – The closing verses on the eight measures of relics and the four tooth relics.
  • Canonical: Lakkhaṇa Sutta (DN 30, D-iii 476, 807) – Forty teeth (cattālīsadanto) as a mark of a great man, not a relic.
  • Commentary: Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (Sv-ii 780, 795, 814) – The seven relics that were not scattered, the story of the right canine tooth, and the note that the closing verses were spoken by the elders of Tambapaṇṇi.
  • Later chronicle: Dāṭhāvaṃsa – A later Pāḷi chronicle of the tooth relic (not in the Tipiṭaka or its Aṭṭhakathā).

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