India Today TV reached the old Bodhi Tree (Buddhist) temple in Sri Lanka's Anuradhaopura, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to pay a visit on Sunday morning. The temple, a UN World Heritage Site, is situated in Sri Lanka's ancient capital of Anuradhapura.
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00:00I am here in Anuradhapura. This is also a UN-declared World Heritage Site.
00:05This is an ancient capital of Sri Lanka and also a pilgrimage centre or a religious centre to the Buddhists here.
00:11This is the entrance to the main Bauddhi tree temple. Behind me is the main entrance.
00:16It is believed that the same tree that Buddha got enlightened back in India,
00:20one of the saplings was brought here to Sri Lanka by the daughter of Emperor Ashoka.
00:25Sangamitra, the daughter, is believed to have bought one of the saplings and planted it here.
00:30And now it has become a religious centre for all the Buddhists in Sri Lanka.
00:34Prime Minister Modi will be visiting this temple tomorrow offering his prayers, seeking blessings.
00:40From here he flies to Rameshwaram and visits a temple also back in India.
00:45Tomorrow morning he is expected to visit this temple.
00:49This is not the first time that the Prime Minister has visited this Anuradhapura site.
00:53In 2015, as soon as he took over as the Prime Minister, the first visit he did to Sri Lanka,
00:58he also came to Anuradhapura offering his prayers here.
01:02This is a very sacred site or the sacred pilgrimage site for the Buddhists here.
01:07It is also considered one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka as well.
01:12Prime Minister will be flying out of here to Rameshwaram also putting out a message that
01:17India and Sri Lanka are not just geographically close but are also civilizationally tied up together as well.
01:23We share a lot in common in terms of our spirituality and in terms of our devotion to the temples.
01:30Nagarjun Dwarkanath for India Today.