Chap. II.] THE SACRED BO-TREE. 615 



believed to liave floiii'ished there twelve hundred years ago ; 

 the olives in the Garden of Gethsemane were full grown 

 when the Saracens were expelled from Jerusalem ; and 

 the cypress of Soma, in Lombardy, is said to have been 

 a tree in the time of Jiihus Csesar ; yet, the Bo-tree 

 is older than the oldest of these by a centuiy, and would 

 almost seem to verify the prophecy pronounced when 

 it was planted, that it w^ould " flourish and be green for 

 ever." 



The degree of sanctity with which this extraordinaiy 

 tree has been invested in the imagination of the Budd- 

 hists, may be compared to the feehng of veneration with 

 which Christians would regard the attested wood of the 

 cross. To it ^ kings liave even dedicated their dominions, 

 in testimony of their behef that it is a branch of the iden- 

 tical fig-tree under which Gotama Buddha rechned at 

 Uruwelaya^, when he underwent liis apotheosis. When 

 the king of Magadha, in comphance mth the request of 

 the sovereign of Ceylon, was wiUing to send him a por- 

 tion of that sanctified tree to be planted at Anarajapoora, 

 he was deterred by the reflection that " it ccuinot be meet 

 to lop it icith any iceapon ; " but, under the instruction of 

 the high priest, using vermihon in a golden pencil, he 

 made a streak on the branch, w^hich, '"''severing itselj\ 

 hovered over the mouth of a vase filled with scented 

 soil," into which it struck its roots and descended.''' 

 Taking the legend as a sacred law, the Buddhist priests 

 to the present day object rehgiously to " lop it witli any 

 weapon," and are contented to collect any leaves which, 

 severing themselves^ may chance to fall to the ground. 

 These are regarded as treasures by the pilgrims, wlio 

 carry them away to the remotest parts of the island. It 

 is even suspected, that ratlier than strip the branches, the 

 importunities of an impatient devotee are somolimes 



' Mahmcanw, eh. xvii. xix. j ' Ihld. i-li. xviii. p. 1 I;'. 



' Ihifl ell. i. (n.c. 5;\). ) 



u K 4 



