This sacred city was established around a cutting from the 'tree of enlightenment', the Buddha's fig tree, brought there in the 3rd century B.C. by Sanghamitta, the founder of an order of Buddhist ...

His search took him six years, but he became enlightened while meditating under a fig tree. Following this, Siddhattha became known as the Buddha, which means the 'awakened' or 'enlightened' one.