History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c13.5

v1.c13.5

The two oldest rails of which we have any knowledge in India are those at Bodh-Gayâ and at Bharaut. The former, General Cunningham thought, cannot be of much later date than Asoka.² The latter has been ascribed to the period of the Sunga dynasty, or about two centuries before the Christian Era.) On the whole, I am inclined to believe that the Bodh-Gayâ rail was really erected by Asoka, or during his reign. At all events, we know from the fifteenth chapter of the 'Mahâwansa' that even if he did not worship this tree, he is said to have reverenced it to such an extent that, as tradition reports, when he sent his daughter Sanghamittâ to aid in the conversion of Ceylon to the Buddhist creed, he cut off and entrusted her with a branch of this tree planted in a golden vessel. That tree was replanted with infinite ceremony at Anurâdhapura, and it, or its lineal descendant, remains the principal *numen* of the island to this day. Hiuen Tsiang tells us that Asoka built a small vihâra to the east of the tree on the spot where the present temple stands;¹ and nothing is consequently more probable than that he should have added this rail, which is concentric with his vihâra, but not with the tree.