This is the story of a fig tree at Buddha Gaya, which became a subject of veneration after Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment or Buddhahood while seated in absorption and meditation under its spreading branches. The sapling was planted during the 1042 AD and it is believed to be one of the 32 saplings of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. It was developed into a religious place in 1931 by the Kalutara Buddhist Society. It became one of the major symbols of the presence of the Buddha and an object of worship.
The development activities of the historic Kalutara Bodiya in the recent past with the Kalutara Buddhist society which was instituted in 1931 through the unwavering efforts made by Sir Cyril De Zoysa. In 1877, there was a bump when a British governor at that time who was planning on extending the southern railway from Moratuwa to Kalutara realized that the Bodhi tree was an interference to the proposed bridge – but the local Kalutara people were not going to simply stand in the background and let anything happen to this beloved tree, consequently holding massive protests against the intended project. Unable to control the outrage, the Queen of England ultimately decided to conserve all the Buddhist religious properties in the country.
