Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.s3.70

c9.s3.70

12. Tree of Life. Originally a Vedic motif as Aśvatta, or Kalpa-Vṛiksha, Tree of Heaven or Soma Plant of Immortality; it is found in Nordic mythology as the Tree of Existence, Yggdrasil and also in Egypt and Western Asia. In the Vedic legend it was Suparṇa, the great Garuḍa, who transported the Elixir of Life from the region of the Gods. In art we find the Tree of Life being worshipped by two Suparṇas (Sanchi East Gate-way) and we clearly see the same motif in Egypt and Mesopotamia worshipped by two Harpies or winged human-faced birds. This Tree was later on styled as Śrī-Vṛiksha, Tree of Prosperity and depicted at Sanchi in a manner similar to that in Western Asia, i.e. by the technique of repeat motif. It is also seen in a conventionalised form on the door-way of the Deogarh temple. [Fig. 35].