Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi — Sacred Fig Tree of Anuradhapura

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• The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi — Sri Lanka's Most Sacred Tree
  **Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi** — planted in **288 BCE** by King **Devanampiya Tissa** — is the oldest living tree in Sri Lanka and one of the most sacred Buddhist shrines in the country. The sapling was brought from **Bodh Gaya** in India by **Mahinda** (son of Emperor Ashoka), making it a direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. According to the **Mahavamsa** (Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka), Mahinda brought the sapling from the original Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya during his mission to establish Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE. The tree was planted in the **Mahamewna Gardens** (Royal Gardens) of the ancient capital Anuradhapura. The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is venerated as the **third most sacred Bodhi tree** in the Buddhist world (after the original at Bodh Gaya and another in India). It is the only Bodhi tree from ancient times that has survived continuously to the present day — making it over **2,300 years old**. **Chinese pilgrims** Faxian (5th century) and Xuanzang (7th century) both visited Anuradhapura and described the sacred Bodhi tree, noting its importance in Sri Lankan Buddhist practice. **Ibn Battuta** (14th century) also visited and described the pilgrim reverence for the site. Today the tree is protected by a wall and attended by monks who maintain the sacred precinct. **Vesak** (Buddha Purnima) celebrations at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi are among the most spectacular in Sri Lanka, with illuminations and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. The **Poson** festival also brings millions of pilgrims to the Anuradhapura region. The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi represents both the deep historical connection between Indian and Sri Lankan Buddhism and the living tradition of Buddhist pilgrimage and devotion that continues to this day.
  — Buddhist tradition + Mahavamsa + scholarly sources