The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-03-18
misrellann.
"The Oldest Tree on Earth"


asapoora, Burmah planted,
the record says, 2S9 b. G.
SAWS Sir James Emerson is a
branch of the identical fig tree under
which Buddha reclined when
he underwent his apotheosis." The
quotation was probably originally taken
from Sir J.. Emerson Tennent, colonial
secretary and lieutenant governor of
Ceylon, from 1S47 to 1851, and author
of "Tennent's Ceylon" one of the
best books on that island yet written.
And "the oldest tree on earth " is,
according to Tennent and many other
authorities, the bo-tree of Anuradha-
pura, Ceylon. There may be" branches
of the identical fig tree" in Burmah.
Thousands of idol temples in Ceylon
and India, both Buddhist and Brah-
minical, have such sacred trees. And
they may have their record" too.
The Buddhist " sacred books " of that
region are said by Professor Max Muller
to be equal to thirty-fve large folio vol
vines, and to contain as many letters as
City English Bibles. "When he I'M
Serwent his apotheosis refers to some
sort of an event which, it is claimed by
those "sacred books" took place
either 2422 b. c., or SAG B. c., or at one
of eighteen different dates between
those two.
Here is the story as good authorities
among English scholars have trans
lated it for us, from those old books:
When Gotama (Sakya Num-" or
Siddartha," ETC., etc }, who is called
Buddha or Boodh, Qhe seventh
Boodh," "the twentieth Boodh" or
"the one hundred and thirtieth
Boedh) twas tired of life" Cor was
"satiated with dissipation or was
convinced that no bodily modification
ance of his race ", having reduced
apepper pod" he sank exhausted"
Cor retired and sat down " " alone
Cor with his followers,') under bo-
places in northern India. There he re-
manned eight years." (more or less)
until !" his apotheosis " Cor she became
Boodh"; or conquered all desire";
or possessed power to accomplish
and wisdom TO understand all things
or "obtained that view of truth which
delivers man from all evil" or be-
came a martyr" Nineteen years after
IndJ Jllllc ue uleu - VI - euleTeu NIT
vana," which is "not sleep, not
awake" "not death, not existence"
"not to live, not to die" ''not to
cease, not to be-" I" a nothing" but
not a not" OF course that bo-tree was
sacred. Well, in course of time, with
true missionary spirit, or driven by the
Brahmins out of India, Buddhism
came over into Ceylon, and with it
came, somewhere between 307 and 240
B. c., a branch of that bo-tree. 1t
was planted at Annradhapura, which
for 200 years was the capital of Cey-
lon. The records say it has been there
these 2200 years.
That such tree did exist there at
certain periods of those centuries
seems to be unquestionable, and the
best English scholars agree that the
tree still growing there may be the old
tree in the same sense that the old
frigate Constitution was cold
Ironsides," after one by one her every
spar, and plank and timber, had been
renewed. But Anuradhapura has been
captured and recaptured, destroyed and
rebuilt, time and again, and during
many of these centuries it has been in
the hands of those who have destroyed
other Buddhist sacred things. For in
stance, with that branch came a ga
left canine tooth of Boodh." II seems
TO be agreed that that tooth was carried
away to India and burnt to ashes long
ago. For ii gold tooth was substi-
tuted, which answered its purpose very
we'll for years; and when that was lost
the " Boodh's tooth " of Handy took its
place. The " accord says it is "the
identical " tooth. 1t is two inches long
and one inch in diameter ca wild
boar's tooth.) But it is kept upon a
golden lotus blossom, whose petals
sparkle with precious stones, which is
enclosed in six Baskets. Five of them
are of gold, and the outer one, of alter
nate plates of gold and silver, is five
feet in diameter. All of the caskets
are richly decorated with pearls and
rubies and other gems.
So it seems probable that the old tree
has been cut down and perhaps dug
up and destroyed more than once. But
it is what the Ceylonese call " self
supporting tree" one, like our locust,
tenacious of life." So it is certainly
possible that it is the old tree, and the
Oldest historic tree on earth. 1t is a
fig" or rather a banyan (Ficus re-
hQa0S0), the aspen leaf panyan, Win
graceful heart-shaped, pointed leaf.
The leaves may be guarded now, as
your article implies POSSIBLY as finan-
cial enterprise). have skeleton one.
There are three species of the ban
yam in Ceylon, including " the giant"
that strange, weird, immense vegetable
cuttlefish, the largest tree on earth,
Some one says gum lac is made from
them, but most authorities say they are
useless nuisances, fit emblems of heath
enism. This tree was described in
1883 as having "several stems or
branches, the largest of which was not
over two feet in diameter, projecting or
rambling about at their will, through
and over the walls of the old ruins that
surround them"
This city of Anuradhapura was an
immense and magnificent one. 1t was
square surrounded by wall sixteen
miles on each side, sixty-four miles