Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c29.809

v2.c29.809

According to the Ceylon Chronicles,⁹ branches from the Bodhi-trees of all the Buddhas born during this kappa were planted in Ceylon on the spot where the sacred Bodhi-tree stands today in Anurādhapura. The branch of Kakusandha's tree was brought by a nun called Rucānandā, Konagamana's by Kantakānandā (or Kanakadattā), and Kassapa's by Sudhammā. Asoka was most diligent in paying homage to the Bodhi-tree, and held a festival every year in its honour in the month of Kattika.¹⁰ His queen, Tissarakkhā, was jealous of the Tree, and three years after she became queen (i.e., in the nineteenth year of Asoka's reign), she caused the tree to be killed by means of mandu-thorns.¹¹ The tree, however, grew again, and a great monastery was attached to the Bodhimanda. Among those present at the foundation of the Mahā Thūpa are mentioned thirty thousand monks, from this Vihāra, led by Cittagutta.¹²