Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c8.s1.31

c8.s1.31

*Kalpa-Vriksha*, the Wish-fulfilling Tree, was churned as a jewel from the Ocean. It is the symbol of Mind, where *Kalpa* signifies ‘thought’ or ‘idea’. What one wishes under the *Kalpa-Vriksha* tree one obtains. Mind is the instrument of such a will. Life itself is a *Kalpa-vriksha*. One gets out of it as one wills. Home also is a veritable *Kalpa-vriksha*, its various branches are father, mother, brothers, sisters, producing all that the young man or woman wishes, of which food, ornaments, clothes and articles of beauty are only gross forms. The *Kalpa-vriksha* is a tree of heaven, with Gods seated on its branches and leaves. It is the tree of dense foliage (*Supalāśa*). The tree has four main boughs in four directions, which link it with the four-fold pattern of life and the world. Pairs of eternal Man and Woman (*Mithuna* are produced on this heavenly tree, viz. the home with its sacrament of marriage which brings about the union of the two parents. In the Uttara Kuru idealogy *Kalpa-vriksha* plays an important part, being described in the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Mahā-vāṇija Jātaka, Purāṇas, Jaina texts and classical Saṃskṛit literaure. It is depicted in detail at Bharhut, Bhaja, Sāñchī, etc. The *Mithuna* motif continuing on the door-jambs of temples and caves was derived from the same source. The Jaina texts speek of kinds of *Kalpa-vriksha* trees. The *Kalpa-latā* or meandering creeper was a rendering of this motif very popular in early Indian Art, showing a wealth of ornaments and fabrics pendant from the tendrils of the creeper. Another derived motif was the *Nārī-latā* or *Kāma-latā* depicted on a pillar from Garhwal.