Indian HC visits descendants of Sanghamitta Maha Theri's entourage

Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha recently visited Vihara Kallanchiya and met the Maha Duraya Jayawardhana and Heads of the nine villages responsible in the current generation for safeguarding the sacred Maha Bodhi tree.

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Jayawardhana explained to the High Commissioner that they belong to the lineage of Prince Bodhi Guptha. Their forefathers had told them that the members of the original entourage accompanying Sanghamitta Maha Theri hailed from North India. He emphasised that each generation of the families in the nine villages had dutifully and reverently accepted the responsibility from the preceding one.

The Indian HC issued the following statement after Jha's recent visit to the North Central Province: “Sanghamitta Maha Theri travelled from India to Sri Lanka in 236 BC, during the reign of King Devanampiyathissa, arriving in Sri Lanka with a sapling from the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree on a Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day.