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The Bo tree at Hiriwadunna Viharaya |
Hiriwadunna Viharaya, also known as Hiriwadunna Sri Bodhiraja Aranya Senasanaya (Sinhala: හිරිවඩුන්න විහාරය), is a Buddhist temple situated in Hiriwadunna village in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka.
History
Several ruins of ancient structures belonging to the Anuradhapura Period are found scattered in the temple premises. The ancient Hiriwadunna Wewa built by King Vasabha (67-111 A.D.) is located near the temple site.
Distortion of the Historical Facts
The temple recently gained the public's attention when a group of people tried to promote the Bodhi tree on this site as the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment. They showed a stone artefact that partially emerged through the roots of the Bodhi tree as the Vajrasana of the Buddha on which he had sat while attaining enlightenment.
However, this misleading propaganda was heavily criticized by the country's archaeologists and historians who finally proved through excavation that the stone was not the Vajrasana of the Buddha but an ancient flower altar used to worship the Bodhi tree. It was decided to rebury that artifact as the removal of it from its original location could damage the weak root system of the old Bodhi tree.
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1) Bo tree(Asathu) by VKareendra is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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