Sri Maha Bodhi

While the original Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, India, has been destroyed and replanted multiple times over the centuries, its cutting in Sri Lanka has survived, tended without interruption, making the Sri Maha Bodhi arguably the closest living, authenticated connection to the Buddha’s own enlightenment anywhere in the world.

A Direct Cutting From the Buddha’s Own Tree

According to Sri Lankan chronicle tradition, when the Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India, seated beneath a fig tree (Ficus religiosa), that same tree eventually produced the sapling that made its way to Sri Lanka. In 288 BCE, Princess Sangamitta, daughter of the Indian emperor Ashoka and sister of Mahinda, the monk who had earlier brought Buddhism to the island, carried a cutting from the sacred tree across to Anuradhapura. King Devanampiya Tissa received it with what the chronicles describe as genuine astonishment and reverence, planting it in the Mahamegha Vana royal park on a specially prepared high terrace, where it has stood, continuously tended, ever since.

That continuity carries real historical weight given what happened to the original tree back in India. The Bodh Gaya tree was destroyed within half a century by King Pushyamitra Shunga during a period of Buddhist persecution, and a replacement, possibly itself a scion of the original, was destroyed again in the early 7th century CE by King Sassanka. The tree standing at Bodh Gaya today was planted only in 1881, by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham, meaning its own lineage back to the Buddha’s original tree is genuinely uncertain. That uncertainty is precisely why the Anuradhapura tree, with its unbroken, well-documented history, has come to be regarded by many Buddhists as the most authentic living link to the Buddha’s enlightenment anywhere in the world.

Continuously Protected Across Two Millennia

Successive Sri Lankan kings invested in protecting and honouring the tree across the centuries. King Vasabha, in the 1st century CE, placed four Buddha statues around its base; King Voharika Tissa added metallic statues in the 3rd century; King Mahanaga constructed a protective water canal in the 6th century; and the wall still surrounding the tree today was built under the direction of a thero during King Kirti Sri Rajasinha’s reign in the 18th century. Historically, the tree was also protected by wild elephants and kept constantly watered, according to chronicle accounts.

Even with that sustained protection, the tree hasn’t been entirely immune to loss: it shed two branches to storms in 1907 and 1911, and one branch was stolen in 1929. During Sri Lanka’s civil war, in 1985, the site itself became a target when militants attacked the sacred city, underscoring just how significant a symbol the tree remains, for better and occasionally for worse, within Sri Lanka’s national and religious identity.

Visiting Tips

• Visit at sunset for a particularly atmospheric experience, or on a Poya (full moon) day to see the site at its most devotionally active.
• Note that entry to Sri Maha Bodhi requires a separate ticket from the general Anuradhapura Cultural Heritage Ticket.
• Dress modestly, covering shoulders and knees, and remove shoes before entering the terrace area.
• Watch devotees waiting patiently for a leaf to fall, a small but genuinely moving detail of daily devotion at the site.

Where It Sits on the Map

Frequently Asked Questions

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