History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c44.25.2

v3.c44.25.2

p. 14) quotes a portion of an ancient verse which conveys that if a person waters and tends mango trees, his pitṛs feel extremely pleased.²⁰⁸² Manu IV. 39 and Yāj. I. 133 require the snātaka to circumambulate well-known trees (like aśvattha) if he meets them on the way. The Kādambarī also refers to this practice of worshipping trees, particularly by women desiring to have a son.²⁰⁸³ The Mahābhārata (Anuśāsanaparva 58. 23-32) highly eulogizes plant life and divides plants into six kinds viz. vṛkṣa (tree), latā (creepers that cling to trees), vallī (creepers that spread on the ground), gulma (bushes), tvaksāra (trees whose bark is strong, while the inside is hollow, like bamboos) and grass and adds that he who plants trees is saved (in a future existence) by them just as sons do and that they should be tended like sons.²⁰⁸⁴ The Viṣṇu Dh.S.91.4 says the same thing. Hemādri (Dāna pp. 1030-31) cites a long passage from the Padmapurāṇa how by planting different trees and plants like aśvattha, aśoka, tamarind, pomegranate and others a man secures such rewards (respectively) as wealth, removal of sorrow, long life, a wife, &c. Vṛddha-Gautama (Jiv., part 2. p. 625) identifies the Aśvattha tree with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The Mahābhārata (Śānti 69. 42) forbids even the felling of the leaves of trees like the aśvattha that have a platform²⁰⁸⁵ built for them (caitya). Śāntiparva 184. 1-17 graphically describes how trees have life since they feel pain and pleasure and grow though cut.