Sanghamitta

Sanghamitta, or Sanghamittā, is a Buddhist nun celebrated as a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka. She was the daughter of Emperor Ashoka and the sister of Mahinda, the monk who led the first mission to Sri Lanka.

According to traditional accounts, Sanghamitta accompanied Mahinda on the voyage to the island and helped establish the Bhikkhuni order there, thereby promoting the ordination and monastic life of Buddhist women. She is particularly associated with carrying a sacred sapling of the Bodhi tree from Bodh Gaya to Sri Lanka, to be planted as a living symbol of the Buddha’s enlightenment.

The sapling was planted at Anuradhapura, near the Mahameghavana (later site of the Sri Maha Bodhi tree). The Sri Maha Bodhi, considered a direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree, remains one of the most revered Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka.

Her mission is recorded in early Buddhist chronicles such as the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, though the historicity of specific details is debated among scholars. Nevertheless, Sanghamitta is widely venerated in Theravada Buddhism as a proponent of the bhikkhuni order and as a symbolic guardian of the monastic community.

In modern Buddhist practice, she is honored as a pioneer of female monasticism and as a symbol of intercultural transmission of Buddhist teachings.