On January 25 this year, a suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) drove a bomb-laden vehicle to the temple, exploding it at the entrance. Fortunately, the building suffered no structural damage and the relic was unharmed. But the bomb destroyed valuable historical heritage in the form of stone carvings at the entrance and wall paintings, besides causing extensive damage to the upper walls and roofs of the distinctive octagonal structure at the entrance and other constructions within the temple.

Themain structure, built with the wattle and daub technique -- timber frames filled with clay and plastered over -- developed some cracks but suffered no serious damage. ``Two things saved the structure. First, there was no fire, and second, the entrance took the impact of the bomb,'' said archaeologist G.S. Wijesooriya.

A team of 40 experts from the department of Archaeology, the Central Conservation Fund and the State Engineering Corporation is now engaged in the exacting task of restoring the Maligawa to its pre-January 25 state at a cost of at least 50 million Sri Lankan rupees (1 INR=1.55 slr)Among the severest losses were a moonstone -- an intricately carved rock -- that adorned the entrance, two elephants carved on stone slabs in typical Kandyan style above the entrance on either side of the steps leading to the entrance porch, and a panchanari carving on the porch. All of these were at least 200 years old and were irrecoverably blasted to bits by the bomb.

``We are getting replicas made, but it isnot the same thing. It's a great loss to our heritage. These were important elements of our historical detail,'' said Director-General of the department of Archaeology S.U. Deranyigala.

Inside, the impact of the blast shook off the plastering, and with it much of the paintings depicting scenes from Buddhist history, the yakshi being just one example. The Dalada Maligawa -- the temple of the Tooth Relic -- is to Buddhists, especially Sri Lankan Buddhists, what the Golden Temple is to Sikhs. Located in picturesque Kandy in central Sri Lanka, next to a huge man-made lake and surrounded by hills, it was built to house the Sacred Tooth in the late 17th century by King Vimala Dharma Suriya, who reigned over Kandy between 1635 and 1687.

It was renovated by his son Narendra Simha who gave it its present two-storey design. Later, King Kirti Sri Rajasimha, who reigned from 1747 to 1782, made further changes, adorning the temple walls with paintings depicting the jataka tales. The final addition to the temple, theelegant octagonal pattiripuva, to one side of the entrance porch, was built in the early 19th century by the last king of Kandy, Sri Vikrama Rajasimha, who also created the lake. Translated, the pattiripuva means a `place for kings to watch games' and Vikrama Rajasimha is believed to have watched the catching of wild elephants from it.

The present-day imposing pink structure is arguably the most sacred Buddhist site in the world, with hundreds of pilgrims and tourists streaming through its portals every day. Even the bomb attack and the subsequent upscaling in the security of the Maligawa has not discouraged worshippers.

With the building of the temple in the 17th century was formalised the belief that power to the king and his legitimacy flowed from the control of the relic. For present day rulers of Sr Lanka, the converse is true.

Elected by popular vote, they are expected by members of the majority Buddhist community to protect the relic with all the forces and resources at their command. Failure todo so can not just earn a leader the wrath of the influential Buddhist clergy who control the Maligawa, but may also lead to loss of popular support.

After the bomb attack on the Maligawa, the government was squarely blamed for its failure to protect the temple. In a bid at damage-control, President Chandrika Kumaratunga banned the LTTE and swiftly allocated a sum of 20 million sri lankan rupees from the President's fund for carrying out repairs to the temple, and the task was put on top of the national list of priorities.

So many changes have been made to the Maligawa in the 300 or so years of its existence that in order to avoid theological disputes, experts are going by one thumb rule: restore it to as it was on January 24, 1998. Supervising the restoration work is a presidential task force chaired by Kumaratunga and comprising the two mahanayakes or chief priests of the Siam Nikaya which runs the temple among others have set December 31 as the deadline for its completion. ``We hope to complete thebuilding by the end of this year. The stone replicas may take longer,'' Deranyigala said. The carvings on the original moonstone and the stone sculptures were made by medieval Sri Lankan artisans and similar skill is proving hard to find.

The delicate job of restoring the wall paintings and in some places, even piecing back shattered wall tiles, may also take considerably longer than the December deadline. At the moment, conservators are yet to get over the excitement of the discovery that under the paintings that were blown off with the impact of the bomb, were more layers of paintings, some dating back to the 18th century.

In the hall outside the main shrine room, conservators were surprised to find two layers of wall paintings -- the layer underneath dated back to the late 18th century, the middle layer to the early 20th century while the top layer, which fell off is from 1942. Similarly, one inner layer of unique 18th century line drawings of the jataka tales in strips, using little colour but withplenty of detail, has come to light from under the paintings that fell off from the inner walls of the sanctum. ``This discovery was perhaps the only good thing that came out of the bomb,'' said Jayatissa Herath, chief conservator at the site.

Despite some inevitable criticism about various aspects of the restoration, work at the site is continuing apace even as pilgrims and visitors continue to throng the temple. They stare wide-eyed at the destruction but when they reach the sanctum, the shambles becomes irrelevant as faith takes over. Once before, in the 18th century, it was ransacked by Dutch invaders who almost destroyed it. Buddhism has been strong enough to withstand the attacks both times.