The Koth Duwa Raja Maha Viharaya, is a ancient Buddhist Temple located on ,Koth Duwa island on the Maduganga River at Balapitiya, The island is located in South Coast of the Island , The temple is believed to have once sheltered to the sacred relic of the tooth of the Buddha,
Princess Hemamala & her husband Prince Dantha secretly sail to Sri Lanka with the sacred tooth relic, Disguised as Brahmins and hiding the tooth in Princess Hemamali's hair, Accounts of where they landed in Sri Lanka vary, with some recording their port as Trincomalee and others as Welitota, or present-day Balapitiya. Legend that they landed in Balapitiya, at the mouth of the Maduganga estuary
Many centuries later, after Kothduwa had become separated from the mainland and overgrown with vegetation, it was re-discovered by Deva Pathiraja, a minister to King Parâkkamabâhu IV, During the tumultuous 16th century, when the Sitawaka and Kotte kingdoms vied for power and the Portuguese threatened the shores of Sri Lanka, it is said that the hot-headed prince Veediya Bandara was keeper of the tooth relic, and that he returned it for safekeeping to Kothduwa, where it remained for a short period of time.
