Short answers, pulled from the story.
Ficus religiosa is called the bodhi tree because Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment, known in Pali as bodhi, while meditating beneath one at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India. In Buddhist tradition, a tree is only a true Bodhi Tree if it can trace its parentage through an unbroken lineage back to that original tree.
The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, is estimated to be more than 2,250 years old. It was grown from a branch of the original Bodhi Tree and rooted at Anuradhapura in 288 BCE, making it the oldest living human-planted flowering plant in the world.
Ficus religiosa is considered sacred by four major religions that originated on the Indian subcontinent: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Hindu and Jain ascetics often meditate beneath it, and it holds a central place in Buddhist scripture and ritual across South and Southeast Asia.
The earliest known record of Ficus religiosa in human culture dates to the third millennium BCE, when peepal leaf motifs appeared on seals and pottery of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Large bowls decorated with stylised pipal leaf designs have been found in particularly high numbers at the site of Nausharo.
Ficus religiosa is the state tree of three Indian states: Odisha, Bihar, and Haryana.
Yes. The Global Compendium of Weeds lists Ficus religiosa as an environmental or naturalised weed. A PIER risk assessment for Hawaii assigned it an invasiveness score of 7, predicting it will become a major pest in suitable climates due to its fast growth, climate tolerance, and lifespan reported to exceed 3,000 years.