Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c14.13

c14.13

It must not be thought that the only idea in this so-called ‘tree-worship’ is one of propitiation of a feared unseen power; combined with and softening this feeling, is the old Hindu feeling of sympathy for everything that has life, and desire to avoid injury to living things. Mayā-It has everywhere been held that, apart from the little organized life of the tree itself, mataya trees and forests are the abode of nature spirits (nymphs, dryads, dēvas, nats, etc.) approximating to, but scarcely reaching the human plane of evolution. Nowhere has this been more the case than in India, where, moreover, a logical perception of the unity of all life is expressed in a repugnance to the destruction of life in any form.