BC, records that after the Bhikkuni Sangha was established, there was widespread following in the country among women of all ages and from all levels of society. The women who ordained were highly learned in the scriptures and they readily taught their knowledge of the Vinaya or rules of discipline to others. Bodhi tree and celebrations Sangamittā carried the right south branch of the Bodhi-Tree (selected by Ashoka from the Maha Bodhi-Tree in Gaya) on a ship to Anurādhapura, during the 12th year of Ashoka's reign. The sapling was planted by Devānāmpiya Tissa in the Mahāmeghavana in Anurdhapura. It seems that "the Buddha, on his death bed, had resolved five things, one being that the branch which should be taken to Ceylon should detach itself". The journey route followed by Sangamitta who carried the tree branch was from Gayā to Pātaliputta and then to Tāmalittī in Bengal. Here, it was placed in a golden vase in the ship and transported to Jambukola across the sea. The entourage reached Anurādhapura, staying en route at Tivakka. The planting of the Bodhi Tree was a grand ceremony performed by the king himself with assistance from the nobles of Kājaragāma, Candanagāma and Tivakka, in the presence of Sangamitta and her brother Mahindra. The tree took eight roots, yielded fruits and seeds. As fresh eight saplings emerged, they were moved and planted at Jambukola (present Colombogaon in north Sri Lanka), in the village of Tivakka, at Thūpārāmā, at Issaramanārāma, in the court of the Pathamacetiya, in Cetiyagiri, in Kājaragāma and in Candanagāma. The tree, as it stands, is on raised mound. In 1907, it was in height with in girth. Th tree and the shrine have been built around a compound wall measuring x and in height, primarily to protect the tree and the shrine built around it. Ten more trees of the same species are also seen within precincts of the enclosure. A damaged Buddha statue made in bricks (attributed its creation during Tissa's rule) is a marker to locate the main Bodhi-Tree here. 32 more saplings, from four other fruits, were also planted in the near vicinity. The Bodhi-Tree at Anuradhapura was well tended by successive royal family members of Sri Lanka over the centuries, so much so that a village near Anurādhapura was also earmarked to provide for maintenance of the tree. A comment by Historian H. G. Wells on this oldest