JAYA SRI MAHA BODHI
This is the sacred Bo tree of the Great Awakening Temple, whose history goes back more than 2,200 years. A branch of the tree under which Buddha received enlightenment in Bodhgaya was brought from India in 236 BC by Sanghamitta Thera (282-203 BC), the eldest daughter of the Indian Emperor Ashoka and founder of the Buddhist nunnery in Sri Lanka. The branch was planted here and resulted in the tree that stands before you. Gautama Buddha leaned on the sacred tree with his back to his enlightenment, making this tree a direct and authentic living link to Buddha. This Bo tree (or Bodhi tree) is therefore the most sacred of all. Moreover, it is considered the oldest tree in the world!
It is visited every day by hundreds of pilgrims who, barefoot and carrying small oil lamps in their hands, recite mantras or pray silently. The tree is protected by a high wall built by a monk who wanted to protect it from wild elephants. In 2014, the government banned the construction of any building within a 500 meter perimeter, in order to best protect the tree and its roots.
Several incidents around the most sacred tree of Sri Lanka have occurred. Two storms in 1907 and 1911 broke branches; an individual cut off a branch of the tree in 1929; during the 1985 Anuradhapura massacre, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) killed and injured a large number of pilgrims in an attack on the upper terrace.
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Members' reviews on JAYA SRI MAHA BODHI
The ratings and reviews below reflect the subjective opinions of members and not the opinion of The Little Witty.
You can begin with the museum gives you an idea of the place and where you can see what was found during excavations.
I advise you will guide you to guide to see the most interesting monuments and impressive and which will explain the quality of this city. Finish your visit for the sacred tree and the stupa which is dimensions.