The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s1.71

c5.s1.71

Anuradhapura—The ancient capital of Ceylon. The branch of the celebrated Bo-tree (Pipal-tree) of Buddha-Gaya was brought and planted here by Mahinda and his sister Sanghamitta, who were sent by their father Asoka to introduce Buddhism into Ceylon. The tree still exists in the Maha-vihara. The left canine tooth of Buddha which was removed from Dantapura (Puri) in the fourth century to Anuradhapura, existed in a building erected on one of the angles of Thuparamayo (Thuparama) Dagoba (a corruption of Dhatugarbha), which was built by Devanampiyatissa about 250 B.C., as a relic shrine of either the right jaw-bone or the right collar-bone of Buddha. See Dantapura. The town contains also the "Loya Maha Paya" or Great Brazen Monastery and the "Ruanweli" Dagoba described in the Mahavamsa. The latter was built by the king Dutthagamini in the second century of the Christian era. The Isibhumanganan was the site of Mahinda's funeral pile, and in the Ghantakara-vihara the Attha-katha (the commentary of the Tripitaka) was translated from Singhalese into Pali by Buddhaghosha (A.D. 410-432), a Brahmin who came from a village named Ghosha in the neighbourhood of Buddha-Gaya, during the reign of Mahanama or Mahamuni (Gray's Buddhaghosuppatti): he was converted to Buddhism by Revata (Turnour's Mahavamsa, ch. 37).