Sri Lankan monks battle monkeys to save Buddhism's holiest tree

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Buddhism's holiest tree in Sri Lanka's ancient capital, tightly guarded by monks and security forces after Tamil rebels attacked it 23 years ago, is under threat again -- this time from monkeys.

Pilgrims are frisked and scanned by metal detectors before being allowed to worship the "Sri Maha Bodi," grown from a sapling of a tree in India that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment more than 2,550 years ago.

But primates in the temple compound are free to swing from tree-to-tree, grab sweet offerings and in the process endanger what Sri Lankan Buddhists believe is the world's oldest religiously significant tree, a Banyan species propped up by iron supports at temple ruins dating back 2,300 years.

In the mainly...