The Staff, the Emperor and the Sacred Tree: Was Anuradhapura’s Submission to Asoka Written into the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi? Illustration of the period, not a historical photograph. The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura is venerated as a living symbol of Buddhism’s arrival in Sri Lanka. A modern interpretation asks whether the sacred tree also carried a political meaning: could it have represented the submission of Anuradhapura to the Maurya Empire under Emperor Asoka? That is the argument advanced by Ranjan Chinthaka Mendis, author of An Invisible History of Early Sri Lanka, in a post shared by the Facebook page of the same name. Drawing on accounts in the Mahavamsa and Vamsatthappakasini, Mendis reads the exchange of royal gifts, appointments and ceremonies as evidence of a relationship that went beyond friendship. His conclusion is a distinctive interpretation, not an established historical consensus. Three decorated staves and a question of ...