Chap. TI.] THE SACRED BO-TREK. 613 



In close proximity to the Brazen Palace are numerous 

 places of interest ; such as the tomb of King Batiya Tissa, 

 the only person permitted by the priests to enter the sub- 

 terranean chamber beneath the Euanwelh dagoba^ ; — the 

 spot on which the bodies of the kings were consumed ; — 

 the "Place of Lamentation" for the royal family; — the 

 " Eangse-malle-chetiya," an assembly-hall for the priests ; 

 and the " Palace of the Peacock," built in the first centuiy 

 of the Christian era.^ 



But that which renders the fallen city illustrious 

 even in ruins, is the possession of the Jaya Sri Maha 

 Bodin-Wohanse, "the Victorious, Illustrious, Supreme 

 Lord, the Sacred Bo-Tree," the planting of which 

 forms the grandest episode in the sacred annals of 

 Ceylon.^ 



The Bo-tree of Anarajapoora is, in aU probabihty, the 

 oldest historical tree in the world. It was planted 288 

 years before Christ, and hence it is now 2147 years old. 

 Ages varying from one to five thousand years have been 

 assigned to the baobabs of Senegal, the eucahjptus of Tas- 

 mania, the dragon-tree of Orotava, the Wellingtonia of 

 CaHfornia, and the chesnut of Mount Etna.* But all these 

 estimates are matters of conjecture, and such calculations, 

 however ingenious, must be purely inferential ; whereas 

 the age of the Bo-tree is matter of record^ its conservancy 

 has been an object of solicitude to successive dynasties. 



' Malmimnso, ch. xxxiv. p. 212. 



^ Rqjaratnacari, p. 73. 



^ Mahawanso, ch. xviii. xix. ; Ra- 

 jaratnacari, p. 34; Rqjavali, p. 184. 

 For an account of the anival of the 

 Bo-tree from Map-adlia, and its 

 phmtinp: at Anarajapoora, see ante, 

 Vol. I. Pt. III. ell. iii. p. 341. 



* De Canbolle has propounded 

 the theory that trees do not die of 

 old a</c in the proper sense of the 

 term, and that if uninjured exter- 

 nally there is no necessary limit to 

 the duration of tree life. " On doit 

 d'ailleurs envisao-er un arhre comme 



im etre multiple, compost d'autant 

 d'individus qu'il y a des bourgeons ; 

 a peu pres comme une masse de 

 pol\'j)es est formee par une infinite 

 d'individus aggiomeros. D'apresces 

 considerations on a conclu avec 

 raison, que I'lige auquel peuvent 

 parvenir les arbres est ilUmite, et 

 qu'ils ne perissent que par la rupture 

 des branches qui entraine la carie 

 du tr<)n(% ou par d'autres causes tout 

 a fait accidentelles. L'observation," 

 &c. liihl. Univ. de Getu-rc, toni. 

 xlvi. p. .304. 



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