If the stories about the original Bo-tree at Buddha Gaya can be believed, it is said to have been planted by Brahma himself. The Buddhists attribute it to Dutugemunu, King of Ceylon. One account of the transfer of the branch to Ceylon is as follows : "At the time on which Dewenipiyatissa reigned in Colombo (b. c. 306) one of the four branches of the original tree in Dambadiwa is said to have been surrounded by a yellow line, when it was commanded by a son of the King; who had become a rahat, to depart to this island. Then, in an instant, as if cut by instrument, it came through the sky and was planted at Anuradhapura. Many of the Sinhalese go on pilgrimage to the place and think that the very tree produced from the miraculous branch is still alive, and that the other Bo-trees in the island are derived from this source." Here is another account: "Shortly after the building of the Thuparama dagoba had commenced, some of the King's female relations expressed a wish to become nuns. Mahinda accordingly sent for his sister, Sanghamitta, who had entered the order at the same time with himself.

Taking leave of her father, she brought over with her a band of nuns and instructed the new disciples in the precepts of Buddhism, their principal occupation being the hearing and repeating of the sacred books. Sanghamitta also brought over with her a branch of the sacred Bo-tree, the tree then growing at Buddha Gaya on the site of the present temple, and then believed, not perhaps without reason, to be the very tree under which Gautama had experienced that mental conflict which is called his attainment of Buddhahood.

"That precious memorial of their revered teacher was planted at Anuradhapura, a little to the south of the Ruwanwella dagoba, and, strange as it may seem, there it still grows. The tree could scarcely have lived so long had it not been for the constant care of the monks. As it showed signs of decay, terraces were built up around it, so that it now grows more than 20 feet into the surrounding soil; for the tree being of the Fig genus (Ficus religiosa) its living branches could then throw out fresh roots. Where its long arms spread beyond the enclosure, rude pillars of iron or masonry have been used to prop them up, and it is carefully watered in seasons of drouth. The whole aspect of the tree and its enclosure bears evident signs of extreme age; but we could not be sure of its identity were it not for the complete chain of documentary evidence which has been so well brought together by Sir Emerson Tennent." According to Tennent, "The Bo-tree of Anuradhapura is, in all probability, the oldest historical tree in the world. It was planted before Christ, and indeed is now (or rather was when Tennent wrote his book) 2147 years old.

Ages, varying from one to four thousand years have been assigned to the Baobabs of Senegal, the Eucalyptus of Tasmania, the Dagon-tree of Ora-tava, the Wellingtonia of California, and the Chestnut of Mount Etna. But all these estimates, however ingenious, must be inferential, whereas this age of the Bo-tree is a matter of record. Its conservancy has been an object of solicitude to successive dynasties, and the story of its vicissitudes has been preserved in a series of continuous chronicles amongst the most authentic that have been handed down by mankind. Compared with it, the Oak of Ellerslie is but a sapling, and the Conqueror's Oak in Windsor Forest barely numbers half its years. The Yew trees of Fountains Abbey are believed to have flourished there 1200 years ago; the Olives in the garden of Geth-semane were full grown when the Saracens were expelled from Jerusalem, and the Cypress of Sorna in Lombardy is said to have been a tree in the time of Julius Caesar : yet the Bo-tree is older than the oldest of these by a century, and would seem to verify the prophecy pronounced that it will flourish and be green forever." - Ceylon Paper.