Buddhist Temple, Kalani

c. 1880

Buddhist Temple, Kalani, c. 1880. Scowen & Co. (British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895). Albumen print from glass plate negative; image: 21.5 x 27.7 cm (8 7/16 x 10 7/8 in.); paper: 21.5 x 27.7 cm (8 7/16 x 10 7/8 in.); mounted: 29 x 37 cm (11 7/16 x 14 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2018.38 This image may actually show the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, a sacred fig tree planted in 288 BC in Mahamewna Gardens, Anuradhapura, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Grown from a cutting of the tree in India under which Buddha attained enlightenment, it is one of the most sacred Buddhist relics in Sri Lanka. Next to the tree are the buildings of a monastery and a whitewashed, dome-shaped structure with pointed spire, called a stupa.