History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c44.25.1

v3.c44.25.1

Trees have been highly prized in India at all times. They were useful in sacrifices for making the yūpa (the post to which the sacrificial animal was tied), for idhma (samidhs which were thrown into fire), for the several ladles like sruva, juhū etc. The Tai. Br. I. 1. 3 speaks of seven holy trees. The Tai. S. III. 4. 8. 4 states that idhma (samidhs) should be of the nyagrodha, udumbara, aśvattha and plakṣa trees, as they are the abodes of Gandharvas and Apsarases.²⁰⁸⁰ Besides trees with their verdant foliage looked beautiful and the leaves of some of them (such as the mango tree) are hung up even now in pandals and at entrances of houses as auspicious in marriage and other ceremonies. Hemādri cites a passage from the Brahmapurāṇa that the twigs and leaves of the Aśvattha (the pipal tree), udumbara, plakṣa, cūta (mango) and nyagrodha are styled pañcabhaṅga²⁰⁸¹ and are auspicious in all rites. The palāśa tree was held to be so sacred that one was not to make seats, sandals or tooth brush from it or its branches and twigs (Baud. Dh. S. II. 3. 25). Trees gave shelter against heat and also yielded flowers and fruits (for worship of gods and pitṛs). When felled their wood was useful in building houses, for making implements of husbandry and for producing heat and warmth. In his 7th Pillar Edict (of Delhi-Topra) Aśoka mentions the construction of wells at a distance of 8 krośas and the planting of banyan trees and mango groves (C. I. I. vol. I pp. 134-135). The Mahābhāṣya (vol. I.