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Personalities
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Relations with Ceylon
Mauryan relations with Ceylon were extremely close and the Chronicles of Ceylon have much to say about the Mauryas. Not only did Ashoka's son Mahinda go as a Buddhist missionary to Ceylon, but the then king of Ceylon, Tissa, appears to have modelled himself on Ashoka. There were frequent exchanges of gifts and envoys. The Indian emperor sent a branch of the original Pipal tree under which Buddha had received enlightenment, which it is claimed still survives in Ceylon, although the parent tree in India was cut down in later centuries by an anti-Buddhist fanatic.
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