You all must have heard about the Bodhi tree. The Bodhi tree, where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment. By the way, ‘Bodhi’ means ‘knowledge’ and tree means tree i.e. ‘tree of knowledge’. Actually, the Bodhi tree is a peepal tree located in the Mahabodhi temple complex in Bodh Gaya in Gaya district of Bihar. Under this tree, Lord Buddha attained enlightenment in 531 BC. This tree also has a very strange story, about which you hardly know. You would be surprised to know that an attempt was also made to destroy this tree twice, but each time miraculously this tree had grown again.

Let us tell you that the first attempt to destroy the Bodhi tree was made in the third century BC. Although Emperor Ashoka was a Buddhist follower, but it is said that one of his queen Tishirakshita secretly cut down the tree. At that time, Emperor Ashoka had traveled to other states. However, his attempt was unsuccessful. The Bodhi tree was not completely destroyed. After a few years, a new tree had grown from the root of the Bodhi tree. That tree is considered to be the second generation tree of the Bodhi tree, which had been around for 800 years. The second attempt to destroy the Bodhi tree was made by King Shashank of Bengal in the seventh century. It is said that he was a staunch enemy of Buddhism. To destroy the Bodhi tree completely, he thought of uprooting it from the root, but when he failed, he cut the tree and set its roots on fire. But it was a miracle that even then the Bodhi tree was not destroyed and after a few years a new tree emerged from its root, which is considered to be the third generation tree. This tree lived for about 1250 years.

However, for the third time the Bodhi tree was destroyed in the year 1876 due to natural calamity, after which an English lord Cunningham had brought a branch of Bodhivriksha from Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka in 1880 and restored it to Bodhgaya. This is the fourth tree of the generation of the Bodhi tree, which is present in Bodh Gaya till date. In fact, in the third century BC, Emperor Ashoka sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka by giving them twigs of the Bodhi tree to propagate Buddhism. He planted that tree in Anuradhapura, which is still present there. Let us tell you that Anuradhapura is one of the oldest cities in the world. Apart from this, it is also one of the eight World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.

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