Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/242

240 consent to her deputation to Ceylon, and proceeded with much ceremony to sever a branch of the holy tree.

The severance was effected, signalized by many miracles, and the envoys, accompanied by Sanghamitrâ, were dispatched to the port of T-ﬁmalipti, escorted by an army commanded by King Asoka in person.

'The vessel in which the bo-tree was embarked briskly dashed through the Water; and in the great ocean, through the circumference of a league, the waves were stilled; flowers of the five different colours blossomed around it, and various melodies of music rang in the air.' The holy branch, thus miraculously wafted to the shore of the island, was received with due honour, and was planted in the Mahâmegha garden, which the king had dedicated to the use of the Order. The branch threw off eight vigorous shoots, which were distributed and planted in as many localities.

In those days also the king of Ceylon built for Mahendra the Mahavihara, the ﬁrst monastery of the island, and the construction of the Chetiyagiri (Mihintalé) monastery followed soon after.

The princess Anulâ, in company with ﬁve hundred virgins and five hundred women of the palace, was duly ordained as a nun by Sanghamitrâ, and straight-way attained the rank of Aralhat. The king erecteda nunnery for Sanghamitrâ, who there abode in peace, until she died in the ﬁfty-ninth year after her ordination, that being the ninth year of the reign of the Ceylonese King Uttiya. Her brother Mahendra