Sangamitta - Middle Life

Middle Life

Mahindra’s mission in Sri Lanka was very successful. Among his new converts was Princess Anula, King Tissa’s sister-in-law who became Sotapanna and requested ordination. King Tissa wrote to Emperor Ashoka to depute Sangamitta for the purpose. Mahindra also wrote to his father to depute his sister Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka as requested by King Tissa.

Following this invitation from the King and also the request made by his son Mahindra, Ashoka sent Sanghamitta with a retinue of 10 other learned bhikkunis (priestesses) to accompany her and to give ordination to the Sri Lanka's princess Anula and other women. Ashoka was initially distraught at the prospect of sending his daughter away but Sangamitta herself persisted that she would like to go to Sri Lanka. She appealed to her father stating:

"Great King! the injunction of my brother is imperative and the females who are to be ordained in Lanka are many; on that account it is absolutely essential that I should go there.

The purpose was also to establish the Bhikkuni Order to spread Buddhism in that country with the devoted participation and assistance of women. Ashoka finally agreed to send her. She travelled to Sri Lanka by sea carrying a sapling of Bodhi-Tree in a golden vase. She landed at Jambukola in the North. King Tissa himself received Sangamitta and the sapling of the Bodhi-Tree with deep veneration. They were then ceremonially escorted by the king and his people to Anuradhapura. They entered at the northern gate of Anuradhapura along a road sprinkled with white sand. The Bodhi sapling was planted with great fanfare in the Mahāmeghavana Grove in Aunradhapura. It is still seen at the same location.

In Dipavamsa chronicle, the number of nuns who accompanied Sangamitta has been mentioned differently – three figures have been quoted but the figure of 11 including Sangamitta is inferred as the plausible number. The names of the young nuns who accompanied here on the ship were: Uttara, Hema, Pasadpala, Aggimitta, Dasika, Pheggu, Pabbata, Matta, Malla, and Dhammadasiya. In addition, the delegation headed by the Sri Lankan Amabassador Prince Athitha, which returned to Sri Lanka, comprised the Chief priestess Sangamitta and ten other priesteses, eight people of royal lineage of Magadha (Bogut, Sumitta, Sangot, Devgot, Damgot, Hirugot, Sisigot and Jutindhara), eight members of nobility (families of ministers), eight Brahmins, eight Vaishyas (traders), herdsmen, Hyaenna, Sparrow-hawk, Nagas, Yakkas, craftsmen, weavers, potters and many members of other castes.

A legend mentioned related to the journey of Sangamitta to Sri Lanka is that Nagas encircled the Bodhi tree. Sangamitta drove them away by assuming the form of Garuda (half-man half-bird form). Sanghamitta was 32 years of age when she took this journey. Her son Samanera was already in Sri Lanka as he had joined his uncle Mahindra's mission to spread Buddhism. Sangamitta performed the formal Pabbajja ordination of Princess Anula. Anula was the first Sri Lankan woman to be ordained as a bhikkuni; concurrently her companions numbering more than 1000 who were also observing Dasa Sil were bestowed with Pabbajja ordination. This formally created the "first ecclesiastical life of the Bhikkuni Sasana in Sri Lanka". The ordination covered not only the royalty but also common people of various strata of the society. She pursued every effort to enhance the status of woman, with sustained devotion, dedication and diligence.

Sangamitta, on arrival at Anuradhapura, was put up initially at the ‘Upasika Viharaya’ along with the bhikkunis who had accompanied her. An additional 12 buildings (ashramas) were built to accommodate the bhikkunis. Subsequently, the King also built a separate house for Sangamitta known as 'Hathalakha-Vihara' acceding to the request of the nuns to reside in a secluded place where they could exclusively concentrate on devotional religious pursuits.

Dipavamsa, a chronicle written in 400 BC, records that after the Bhikkuni Sangha was established, there was wide spread following in the country among women of all ages and from all levels of society. The women who ordained were highly learned in the scriptures and they readily taught their knowledge of the Vinaya or rules of discipline to others.

Bodhi tree and celebrations

Sangamittā carried the right south branch of the Bodhi-Tree (selected by Ashoka from the Maha Bodhi-Tree in Gaya) on a ship to Anurādhapura, during the 12th year of Ashoka's reign. The sapling was planted by Devānāmpiya Tissa in the Mahāmeghavana in Anurdhapura. It seems that "the Buddha, on his death bed, had resolved five things, one being that the branch which should be taken to Ceylon should detach itself". The journey route followed by Sangamitta who carried the tree branch was from Gayā to Pātaliputta and then to Tāmalittī in Tamil Nadu. Here, it was placed in a golden vase in the ship and transported to Jambukola across the sea. The entourage reached Anurādhapura, staying en route at Tivakka.

The planting of the Bodhi Tree was a grand ceremony performed by the king himself with assistance from the nobles of Kājaragāma, Candanagāma and Tivakka, in the presence of Sangamitta and her brother Mahindra. The tree took eight roots, yielded fruits and seeds. As fresh eight saplings emerged, they were moved and planted at Jambukola (present Colombogaon in north Sri Lanka), in the village of Tivakka, at Thūpārāmā, at Issaramanārāma, in the court of the Pathamacetiya, in Cetiyagiri, in Kājaragāma and in Candanagāma.

The tree, as it stands, is on raised mound. In 1907, it was 32 feet (9.8 m) in height with 8.17 feet (2.49 m) in girth. Th tree and the shrine have been built around a compound wall measuring 61 feet (19 m) x 57 feet (17 m) and 21 feet (6.4 m) in height, primarily to protect the tree and the shrine built around it. Ten more trees of the same species are also seen within precincts of the enclosure. A damaged Buddha statue made in bricks (attributed its creation during Tissa's rule) is a marker to locate the main Bodhi-Tree here. 32 more saplings, from four other fruits, were also planted in the near vicinity.

The Bodhi-Tree at Anuradhapura was well tended by successive royal family members of Sri Lanka over the centuries, so much so that a village near Anurādhapura was also earmarked to provide for maintenance of the tree.

A recent comment by Historian H. G. Wells on this oldest historical tree in the world, which is well maintained states:

In Ceylon there grows to this day a tree, the oldest historical tree in the world, which we know certainly to have been planted as a cutting from the Bodhi-Tree in the year 245 BC. From that time to this it has been carefully tended and watered.