THE OLDEST HISTORICAL TREE IN
THE WORLD
The introduction of the Sacred Bodhi Tree, the
oldest historical tree in the world and the most venerated, is commemorated by Buddhists
in Sri Lanka on Unduwap Poya (full moon) day.
Unduwap Poya is more popularly known as Sri Sanghamitta Day, beacaus it was the missionary
nun Sanghamitta who brought the sacred Bodhi hear. It was a branch of the original Ficus
Religiosa under which the Buddha gained enlightenment when meditating in a park at
Buddha-Gaya, India.
Sangamitta was the
sister of the Apostle Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism to this country. His missionary
work during the reign of Kings Devanampiya Tissa (250-210BC) was singularly successful.
Many men and women wanted to be ordained as monks and nuns.
The rules of the priesthood, however, forbade Mahinda from ordaining women.
Accordingly, he advised the king to request the Emperor Asoka of India to send his sister,
Sangamitta, with a party of nuns for this purpose.
He also suggested that the
Emperor be requested to send a branch of the Bodhi Tree at Buddha-Gaya which would be
planted hear as an object of veneration and would keep the devotees always in mind of his
teachings. King Tissa commissioned his nephew, Arittha, for this job. His mission was
successful and Sangamitta duly arrived with a chapter of nuns and a branch of the Bodhi
Tree in a golden pot.
The king, who had rushed to the port to meet her, went neck-deep in the sea to take the
sacred branch, and in a gesture of proud humility took upon himself the duty of acting as
a guard out side its temporary residence on the shore.
From there the sacred saplin was with great
ceremony to the capital city of Anuradhapura.
On the way, the royal
party broke the journey at Tantirimale, where a large shrine was later built to mark this
occasion.
All that is left of that
shrine today is a vandalized 10-metre long reclining image of the Buddha, and a Bodhi tree
that is said to have been raised from a sapling taken from
the tree at Anuradhapura.
In Anuradhapura, the
sacred Bodhi still stands where
it was originally planted in the king's pleasure garden, although the garden is no more.
Other kings after Tissa
improved the site with ornamental gateways, flights of steps and channel the tree.
Even after Anuradhapura was given up us the capital city, and the jungle tide
overtook the Dagabas(stupas) and other monuments, the Bodhi Tree was protected by the
villagers. They lit bonfires around it every night to ward off wild beasts.
The firewood required for
this purpose was collected in toto for the whole year and brought there in a procession on
the night of the Nikini Poya, or August full moon.
This procession is
continued even today in memory of those bygone times. It is called the Daramiti
Perahera,or the procession of the bundles of firewood.
In old Anuradhapura, now
declared a sacred city, the ones ostentatious buildings are no more today than an
inanimate pacthwork of the stone mason'sand craftsman's art. The only living thing is the
sacred Bodhi Tree.
Propped on platform upon
platform, enclosed by white washed walls and an iron railing, and surrounded by altars
laden with perfumed flowers and spluttering candles,it still remains green, once again a
focal points of worship and pilgrimage.
In the words of historian Paul E Peiris: "It is doubtful whether any other single
incident in the long history of their race had seized upon the imagination of the
Sinhalese with such tenacity as the planting of the Sri
Maha Bodhi.
"Like its roots which find sustenance on the face of the bare rock and
cleave their way through the stoutest fabric, the influence of what it represents has
penetrated in to the inner most being of the people."
