File picture of the Peepal sapling, part of the Mahabodhi tree of Anuradhapura.

Patna, Aug. 5: A heritage sapling that was wilting away in the yet-to-be-complete Buddha Smriti Park is showing signs of life.

The Peepal sapling, which is a branch of the Mahabodhi tree of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, was in poor shape for the last one-and-a-half months.

“Gardeners looking after the sapling have reported that it has developed some tinge of green. There are chances of leaves sprouting from these green spots of the sapling,” urban development department principal secretary Girish Shanker told The Telegraph.

The Peepal sapling was planted by Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on the park premises on May 27 this year.

The Dalai Lama planted two Peepal saplings during the inaugural ceremony. One was a branch of the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya under which Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment.

The other, which is showing signs of survival, was a branch of the Peepal tree of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. The branch of the Bodh Gaya Peepal tree remained healthy, but the Anuradhapura sapling was in bad shape and chances of its survival had appeared slim.

The urban development department had denied negligence on part of the personnel deputed to look after the saplings. Officials had claimed that the Anuradhapura sapling was not in good shape right from the beginning.

The department had said the saplings were transported to India in a metal pot which had little soil and that had adversely affected their condition.

The Anuradhapura Peepal tree is of special importance for Buddhists, because this grew from a branch of the Bodhi tree which was taken from Bodh Gaya to Sri Lanka by Sanghamitra, daughter of Emperor Ashoka.

The branch was planted at Mahameghavana Park in Anuradhapura, one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, and over the years it developed into a healthy tree and became a symbol of special reverence for Buddhists.

Alarmed over the poor condition of the sapling, the bosses in the state urban development department swung into action in June this year and got in touch with the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee for importing a replacement of the Anuradhapura sapling from Sri Lanka, in case it wilted.

The signs of revival notwithstanding, the urban development department is still sticking to its plan of importing one more sapling from Sri Lanka. “We are in the process of procuring an import licence for getting the sapling from Sri Lanka. The formalities are likely to be completed within a month,” said Shanker, the urban development principal secretary.

The urban development department has been entrusted with the task of constructing the Buddha Smriti Park, which is coming up on a 22-acre plot along Frazer Road. This plot earlier housed a jail.

The partially completed Buddha Smriti Park was inaugurated by the Dalai Lama on May 27, Buddha Purnima. Construction work of the park, which will have a meditation centre, a library and a museum, is likely to be completed by the end of this month.

The park is being set up at a cost of about Rs 125 crore and has been designed in such a way that one can easily understand the evolution of Buddhism as a movement in time and space.

Relics of the Buddhist era brought from Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and South Korea were installed in the park built by the Bihar government to commemorate the 2554th birth anniversary of Gautam Buddha. A 200 feet high stupa has been built in the park and the Dalai Lama named it “Patliputra Karuna”.