It is often seen that police or other security forces deployed for the security reasons of president, prime minister or other leaders, but it is a bit strange when one hears that a tree is given 24 hours of protection.
Yes, this is absolutely true. There is a tree on the hills of Salamatpur between Bhopal and Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh, which is protected like a VIP leader. Now you must be wondering what is so special in that tree. So let us tell you about it in detail.
Four or five police personnel are deployed round-the-clock to protect this tree. Apart from this, a separate water tanker comes from the Sanchi municipality for its irrigation. At the same time, officials of the agriculture department also come here every week to check the tree. It is believed that Rs 12-15 lakh is spent every year for the maintenance of this tree.
Actually, it is a peepal tree, which is known as Bodhi tree. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa planted it in 2012. Lord Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree 531 years BC. This tree has a very special importance in Buddhism.
It is believed that in the third century BC, Emperor Ashoka sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra with a branch of the Bodhi tree to Sri Lanka to propagate Buddhism. He planted that Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, which still exists today.
The Bodhi tree under which Lord Buddha attained enlightenment is actually in the Gaya district of Bihar. Attempts were also made to destroy the tree, but it was a miracle that a new tree would grow every time.
However in 1876, the tree was destroyed due to natural calamity, after which in 1880, the British officer Lord Cunningham brought the branch of Bodhivriksha from Anuradhapuram in Sri Lanka and restored it to Bodh Gaya. Since then, that tree is standing tall there.