Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi

Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) in Mahamewna Gardens, Anuradhapura, 205km north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo. It’s famous as the oldest living tree planted by humans, having been in situ since the third century BC, making it close to close to 2,250 years old. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.

Revered by Buddhists, ‘Jaya’ is visited annually by millions of pilgrims to pay homage and seek blessing (mainly in April and December). Hindus, Jains and Sikhs consider it sacred as well.

The tree is said to come from a clipping of Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India’s Bihar region, where Buddha gained enlightenment after seven sedentary days. Legend says it was brought by Princess Sangamitta, daughter of Emperor Ashoka.

Sacred fig is a semi-evergreen native to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent that grows up to 30m high, 3m in trunk circumference and lives for 900 to 1,500 years. With distinctive ‘drip-tip’ leaves and small, round fruit (figs) that turn from green to purple as they ripen, it can tolerate a wide temperature range (0-35 C) and most soil types but prefers a deep, well-drained sandy loam.

Semi-evergreen means that it briefly loses its foliage – a feature of certain tropical and sub-tropical trees. It does so when very dry, making it ‘drought deciduous’.

Other names for sacred fig include peepal, pipala, bo and of course bodhi tree. In India (and Nepal) it is known as ashvattha and is the state tree of Bihar, Haryana and Odisha.

Image by Hirushini Dematagoda, own work CC BY-SA 4.0

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