THE BO-TREE. 201 



with peculiar sanctity ; so much so, that at almost every 

 temple a Bo-tree is found growing" hard by, before 

 which prayers are daily offered up by the faithful. 

 About the tree itself, in the equatorial regions at all 

 events, there is nothing very remarkable in appearance. 

 To what then shall we attribute its supposed sacred 

 character? According to the Buddhist records it is 

 because " Gotama " received Buddhahood while re- 

 clining under the Bo-tree in Uruwala. But there can, 

 we think, be little doubt that in this instance we must 

 seek for the real source of its sacred character in its 

 kno\vn destructive powers, which appear to the native 

 mind to be clearly supernatural; and thus the scene 

 of " Gotama Buddha " (the last of the series of 24 

 Buddhas) receiving perfection, is fixed as having taken 

 place beneath the shade of this remarkable tree. 



The seeds of the Bo-tree have a peculiar faculty for 

 germinating in the crevices of ancient walls and buildings ; 

 there they develop, and the roots inserting themselves 

 among the masonry, take fast hold, while others run 

 down the face of the wall and root themselves in 

 the ground at its base, till the tree, which quickly 

 attains considerable size, being acted upon by the wind, 

 gradually loosens the stone work, and so in an incredibly 

 short space of time, in this region of marvellously 

 rapid growths, reduces the finest works of human 

 skill and labour to absolute ruin. An attentive observer 

 may note illustrations of this kind almost all over India. 

 The Peepul (Pipal Hindi], otherwise the Bo-tree, does 

 not cast down " air roots " from its branches, like the 

 Banyan; but once the seed has germinated, either in 

 a wall, or in the fork of another tree, its roots will 

 gradually run down its surface, for any distance it 



