Gaya, Feb. 16: The sapling of the sacred Bodhi tree arrived at Bodhgaya from Anuradhapurum in Sri Lanka by a special flight this morning.

The sapling, which is around two feet in height, was taken to the world heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara campus for a puja, but was not planted there. At present, the sapling had been kept at the Jayashree Mahavihara on the campus of Mahabodhi Society of India (MSI), Bodhgaya branch campus.

Earlier, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, D.M. Jayaratne, was scheduled to reach Bodhgaya today on a two-day visit with the sapling, which was to be planted on the Mahabodhi Mahavihara campus.

However, it led to a controversy as the former member secretary of Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC), Kalicharan Singh Yadav, raised objection that when a Bodhi tree already existed on the Mahavihara campus, planting of another sapling might divert the faith of devotees. The peepal trees on the Mahabodhi Mahavihara campus and at Anuradhapurum belong to the same generation under which Prince Siddhartha sat on meditation and attained enlightenment to be called Buddha.

Meanwhile, a 150-member delegation led by Sriniwas Nayak Thero — chief monk of the Srilankan monastery at Anuradhapurum and the MSI general secretary D. Rewath Thero arrived in Gaya by a special flight with the Bodhi tree sapling.

From the airport, the delegation arrived at the MSI Bodh Gaya branch where puja of the sapling was performed at the Jayashree Mahavihara. MSI spokesperson A.H. Khan told The Telegraph that around 2pm, the Bodhi tree sapling was taken to Mahabodhi Mahavihara accompanied by a procession of schoolchildren, 2,500 monks and other devotees starting from the MSI branch.