A History of Agriculture in India v1.c27.s2: Sacred Trees
A History of Agriculture in India v1.c27.s2
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Sacred Trees
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Gautama was born under an *asoka*-tree, received enlightenment under a *pipal*-tree, preached his new gospel in mango groves, and under shady banyans, and died in a *sal* grove. Never before or after has a religion been so much associated with vegetation.
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Buddhism adopted the cult of tree-worship from the older religions which prevailed in the country. The trees which are associated with the birth of the Buddha are *sal*, *asoka* and *plaksha*, and hence they were regarded as sacred by the Buddhists.
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To understand the association of trees with the Buddha, it is necessary to know the facts regarding his life. Gautama belonged to the Sakya Tribe of the Aryans. His father was Suddodhana, the Raja of Kapilavastu, a petty principality on the border of Nepal. Green rice fields surrounded by *sal* forest with the backdrop of the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas provided an inspiring environment to Kapilavastu. Here, Gautama was born in 563 B.C. The birth of the Buddha has been thus described: ‘Queen Mahamaya bearing the Bodhisattva for ten months like oil in a bowl, when her time was come, desired to go to her relatives’ house, and addressed king Suddodhana, “I wish, O king, to go to the Devadaha, the city of my family”. The king approved, and caused the road from Kapilavastu to Devadaha to be made smooth and adorned with vessels filled with plantains, flags, and banners, and seating her in a golden palanquin borne by a thousand couriers sent her with a great retinue. Between the two cities and belonging to the inhabitants of both is a pleasure grove of *sal*-trees named the *Lumbini* grove. At that time from the roots to the tips of the branches it was one mass of flowers, and from within the branches and flowers hosts of bees and flocks of birds sported, singing sweetly.
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‘When the queen saw it, a desire to sport in the grove arose. The courtiers brought the queen and entered the grove. She went to the foot of a great *sal*-tree, and desired to seize a branch. The branch like the tip of a supple reed bent down and came within reach of her hand. Stretching out her hands she seized the branch. Thereupon she was shaken with the throes of birth. So the multitude set up a curtain for her and retired. Holding the branches and even while standing she was delivered.’¹
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¹ Thomas, E.J. *The Life of Buddha*, p. 33
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In another account it is stated that Maya saw in a dream the descent of the Bodhisattva in the form of an elephant. ‘On waking she goes with her women to a grove of *asoka* trees and sends for the king, who is unable to enter, until the gods of the Pure Abode inform him of what has happened.’ It is further mentioned that ‘she seizes not a *sal* branch, but a *plaksha* at the moment of birth’. *Sal* (*Shorea robusta*) and *plaksha* (*Butea monosperma*) are both common trees in the Nepal *tarai* in which the birth-place of the Buddha is situated.
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The Lumbini garden was visited by the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang. He came to India in A.D. 630 and stayed until A.D. 645. He mentions an *asoka*-tree under which the Buddha was born. “To the north-east of the arrow well about 80 or 90 li, we come to the Lumbini (Lavani) garden. Here is the bathing tank of the Sakyas, the water of which is bright and clear as a mirror, and the surface covered with a mixture of flowers. To the north of this 24 or 25 paces there is an *asoka*-flower tree, which is now decayed; this is the place where Bodhisattva was born.”
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Gautama was married to Yasodhara, by whom he had a son, Rahula. Apart from his wife, the palace was full of beautiful women who served as cooks and servants. When Gautama realized that life was not merely a cycle of pleasures, but also had its miseries, like disease, old age, and death, the idea of renunciation of worldly life came to him. The *Buddhacharita* mentions a garden full of beautiful women to which King Suddodhana sent him. “Behold the god of love, says the *Buddhacharita*, ‘behold Kama, they murmured on seeing his arrival. Curious and with wide-eyed admiration they gathered round him, and saluted him with their smooth hands, like the cups of the lotus-flower. By the King’s instructions, Udayin, a friend of his childhood, encouraged them to exert all their fascinations. Some, wreathing their arms round Siddhartha like twining plants, sought to hold him by force; others, whether carelessly or feigning to be almost carried away by their transports, allowed the gauzy draperies which veiled their youthful forms to slip aside; others swung their tempting forms on the branches of the mango-trees; and, lastly, yet another sang in the prince’s ear the song of the forest, full of furtive desires and of the emanations of the spring. But his consciousness of the vanity of all things now rendered him insensible to these blandishments, and he returned to the palace, resolved to abandon the world.”¹ Accompanied by his groom Chandaka, and riding his favourite horse Kanthaka, he left the palace (Fig. 164). This sculpture from Sanchi also depicts domestic architecture during the Buddhist period. The lower part of the house was built of stones and bricks, and the balconies and upper storeys were made of wood.
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¹ Rene Grousset, *The Civilization of the East India*, Vol. II, p. 38
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It was under a pipal-tree (*Ficus religiosa*) at the place, now known as Bodh Gaya, that Gautama received enlightenment. This tree was also seen by Hiuen Tsang, who has given the following account. “From this south-west 14 or 15 li, not far from the place of penance, there is a Pippala (Pi-po-lo) tree under which is a ‘diamond throne’. All the past Buddhas seated on this throne have obtained true enlightenment, and so will those yet to come. Pray, then, proceed to that spot. The Bodhi tree above the diamond throne is the same as the Pippala tree. In old days, when Buddha was alive, it was several hundred feet high. Although it has often been injured by cutting, it is 40 or 50 feet [12 to 15 metres] in height. Buddha sitting under this tree reached perfect wisdom, and therefore it is called the *Samyak Sambodhi*, tree of knowledge (Pu-ti-Bodhi). The bark is of a yellowish-white colour, the leaves and twigs of a dark green. The leaves wither not either in winter or summer, but they remain shining and glistening all the year round without change. But at every successive Nirvana-day (of the Buddhas) leaves wither and fall, and then in a moment revive as before. On this day (of the Nirvana) the princes of different countries and the religious multitudes from different quarters assemble by thousands and ten thousands unbidden, and bathe the roots with scented water and perfumed milk; whilst they raise the sounds of music and scatter flowers and perfumes, and whilst the light of day is continued by the burning torches, they offer their religious gifts.
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"On the left side of the road, to the north of the place where the Buddha walked, is a large stone, on the top of which, as it stands in a great vihara, is a figure of the Buddha with his eyes raised and looking up. Here in former times Buddha sat for seven days contemplating the Bodhi tree; he did not remove his gaze from it during this period, desiring thereby to indicate his grateful feelings towards the tree by so looking at it with fixed eyes."³
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³ Beal, S. *Chinese Accounts of India*, Vol. II, p. 350
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A sapling of the Bodhi-tree was taken by prince Mahindra, son of Asoka, to Ceylon, about 250 B.C. and was planted at Anuradhapura. Its great branches are supported by pillars. It is the oldest historical tree in the world.⁴
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⁴ Wells, H.G. *The Outline of History*, p. 392
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The banyan, together with the Ganges and the Himalayas, completes the picture of India. "It is probably the most astounding piece of vegetation on the face of the earth", observes Lassen. "From one single root it produces a vast green temple of many halls, with cool, shady bowers impervious to the light, and seems created expressly and exclusively for the purpose of supplying shelterless primeval humanity with ready-made dwellings. For neither is its wood of much use, nor are its fruits eatable for man, and if it inspires the Hindus and their neighbours with profound veneration, it is owing to the surpassing marvel of its wellnigh preternatural growth, its indestructible duration and everlasting self-renewal: to which traits and mysterious gloom of its galleries and avenues adds not a little, yielding a most grateful retreat from the torrid summer heat. The trunk of the tree, at a moderate height from the ground, branches out into several stout limbs which stretch from it horizontally; from these, slender shoots—the so-called "air-roots"—grow downwards until they reach the ground, where they take root, whereupon they increase in thickness and become strong supports for the mother-limb. The central trunk repeats the branching out process at a greater height, and the second circle of limbs in its turn sends down a number of air-roots which form an outer circle of props or pillars. As the central trunk increases in height, it goes on producing tier upon tier of horizontal limbs, and these add row after row to the outer circle of pillars, not indeed with perfect regularity, but so as to form a grove of leafy halls and verdant galleries multiplying ad infinitum. For this evolution is carried on on a gigantic scale. The highest tier of horizontal limbs is said to grow sometimes at an elevation of two hundred feet [61 metres] from the ground and the whole structure is crowned with the dome of verdure in which the central trunk finally culminates. The leaves, which grow very close together, are five inches long by three and a half broad [12 × 9 cm], and their fine green color pleasantly contrasts with the small red figs.”⁵
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⁵ Ragozin, Z.A. *Vedic India*, pp. 26,27
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In every village, the planting of banyan- and pipal-trees was enjoined. Apart from shade, it was also a measure for saving crops and fruits from destructive birds. Banyan- and pipal-trees, when covered with figs, provide food for thousands of birds. Thus, indirectly they save crops and fruit-trees from damage by birds which are kept busy eating their figs for weeks. They also provide a home for birds and to preserve a tree is to save a large number of them that find shelter in it.
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The remains of the Buddha were enshrined in a number of stupas by Asoka. The famous Stupa of Bharhut, discovered by Cunningham in 1873, was situated in the State of Nagod, now merged in Madhya Pradesh. Bharhut is the site of an old city called Bhaironpur, which extended for 12 kos. Cunningham dated the Stupa between 200 and 250 B.C. Later research has assigned 184-72 B.C. as its probable period. The discovery of Bharhut Stupa is a landmark in the history of India. Its sculptures provide us with a glimpse of religion, manners, customs, dress, fashions as well as the architecture of India during the Sunga period.
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Apart from the Jatakas or legends of the previous lives of the Buddha, a number of trees are represented in the sculptures. Cunningham identified seven Bodhi trees. Of these, *pipal* (*Ficus religiosa*) is the Bodhi tree of Sakya Muni. The other five trees of the other Buddhas are: banyan or *Nyagrodha* (*Ficus benghalensis*), the Bodhi tree of Kasyapa; gular or udumbara (*Ficus glomerata*), the Bodhi tree of Kanaka Muni; Sirisa (*Albizia lebbeck*), the Bodhi tree of Krakuchhanda; Sal (*Shorea robusta*), the Bodhi tree of Vishwabahu; Patali tree (*Bignonia suaveolens*), the Bodhi tree of Vipaswi. All these trees are shade-giving, and it is not surprising that in a hot country man expressed his gratitude to them in this manner, and gave them the title of ‘Bodhi’. Apart from these six trees, Pundarika or White Lotus, is the symbol of Sikhi. While his remaining identifications are correct, what Cunningham identified as Patali tree is in fact the asoka tree, *Sarasa asoca* (*S. indica*). The sacred Bodhi trees at Bharhut are so accurately sculpted that it is easy to identify them (Fig. 165b).
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The Buddha faced many trials. Devadatta, a jealous kinsman, let Fig. 165b. Sacred trees of the Buddhists. 1, Asoka-tree (Saraca asoca; syn. S. indica); 2, Banyan (Ficus benghalensis); 3, Cluster-fig (Ficus glomerata), Bharhut; 4, Lebbeck-tree or siris (Albizia lebbeck), Bharhut; 5, Sal (Shorea robusta), Bharhut; 6, Iron-wool or Nagkesar (Mesua ferrea), Bharhut; 7, Pipal (Ficus religiosa), Sanchi; and 8, Foliage of pipal, Bharhut (After R.V. Sitholey)
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Fig. 164. The great departure. In the background are several-storeyed buildings. Women seated in wooden balconies watch the procession. North gate, Stupa I, Sanchi, first century B.C. (Courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India)
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Fig. 165a. An illustration to a Jataka story, showing, among others, banana plants (Musa paradisiaca)
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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loose a dangerous elephant to destroy him. In his mad onslaught, the elephant trampled a man, but when he faced the Buddha he knelt down at his feet (Fig. 166). This medallion from Amaravati shows the mastery of Indian sculptors in depicting elephants. Incidentally, it also conveys to us an idea of architecture during the Buddhist period. The lower parts of houses were made of stones or bricks. Multi-storeyed houses were common in towns, and they had beautifully carved wooden balconies from which women watched royal processions and street scenes.
Cites (2)
- *Buddhacarita — Sanskrit
- Anurādhapura