Chap. II.] THE SACRED BO-TREE. 617 



In the fifth centiiiy, Fa Hian found the Eo-tree in 

 vigorous health, and its guardians displaying toAvards 

 it the same vigilant tenderness which they exhibit at 

 the present day : " quand I'arbre fnt haut d'environ vingt 

 tchang il pencha du cote du sud-est. Le roi, craignant 

 qu'il ne tombat, le fit etayer par huit ou neuf pihers, qui 

 formerent une enceinte en le soutenant . . . Les religieux 

 de la Eaison (Buddhists), ont I'habitude de I'honorer sans 

 relache."^ 



The author of the Mahawanso^ who wrote between 

 the years 459 and 478 a.d., after relating the ceremo- 

 nial which had been observed nearly eight hundi^ed years 

 before at the planting of the venerated tree by Mahindo, 

 concludes by sajdng : " Thus this monarch of the forest, 

 endowed with miraculous powers, has stood for ages in 

 the dehghtful Maha-mego garden in Lanka, promoting 

 the spiritual welfare of its inhabitants and the propagation 

 of true rehgion." ^ 



In A.D. 804, the reigning king " caused a hall to be 

 built in honour of and near to the Bo-tree, at Anuradha- 

 poora-neuera ; " ^ and in a.d. 1153, Prakrama-Bahu 

 " made a house around Jaya-maha Bodhin-Wohanse, 

 i. e. the Bo-tree." * It wiU be observed that throughout 

 these notices (and they are but a few out of a multi- 

 tude) the object of veneration is always alluded to as 

 " the" Bo-tree, no doubt having ever been suggested as 

 to its identity ; and the Eajavali, a still later authority 

 than those already quoted, spealdng of Wijayo-Bahu 

 (who recovered the southern di\dsion of Ceylon from the 

 Malabars, a.d. 1240), says he was a " descendant of the 

 family who had brought the Bo-tree yet existing to 

 Ceylon." 5 



Eegarded with so much idolatry, tended with atten- 

 tion so unremitting, resorted to from all lands in 

 which the name of Buddha is held in veneration, and 



' Fa IIian, Foe Koue Ki, oli. I ^ Rajaratnacari, p. 79. 

 xxxviii. "• IbicL p. 89. 



"^ Mahawanao, ch. xix. | ^ Rajavali, p. 257. 



