Buddhism, Planted in Sri Lanka Along With Bodhi Tree

FRONTLINE
By Benoy K. Behl

Sanghamitra brings the holy bodhi tree to Sri Lanka (Early 20th C)

SRI LANKA --- In the 3rd century BCE, Sanghamitra, daughter of Emperor Asoka, carried a cutting of the revered Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya to Sri Lanka. Buddhism was symbolically planted, along with the holy tree, on the island. Both the faith and the venerated tree continue to flourish today. The deeply venerated tree is at Anuradhapura in central Sri Lanka and it may be the oldest recorded living tree in the world. It stood at Bodhgaya since at least the 6th century BCE. This was a time when no portraits were made in Indic art and the names of artists were not put on their works. [link]