Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive.)
CULTUS ARBORUM OR PHALLIC TREE WORSHIP.
CULTUS ARBORUM
A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF
Phallic Tree Worship
WITH ILLUSTRATIVE
Legends, Superstitions, Usages, &c.,
EXHIBITING ITS
Origin and Development
AMONGST THE
Eastern & Western Nations of the World
FROM THE EARLIEST TO MODERN TIMES;
WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS UPON AND
REFERRING TO THE PHALLIC CULTUS.
PRIVATELY PRINTED.
1890.
PREFACE.
_The present volume forms a companion to three already issued on "Ancient
and Modern Symbol Worship," denominated severally, "Phallism,"
"Ophiolatreia," "Phallic Objects and Remains," and "Tree Worship," they
all form parts of one whole, and constitute a Series on the various forms
and phases of what is known as "Phallic Worship."_
_The subject is an extensive one, and there still remain sections of it
which have not yet been dealt with, but which may be exhibited in future
volumes. Although in the compass of the present work it has been
impossible to treat the subject in anything like an exhaustive manner, a
great deal of matter has been incorporated in its closely-printed pages
which, attentively perused, will enable the reader to form a just opinion
of what is included in the title._
_At the end of this volume we have endeavoured to give the student of
Ancient Faiths a Bibliography of works on or connected with Phallism._
_Being the first attempt of the kind, omissions will doubtless be found,
although there are nearly five hundred references given, yet even as it
is, it will prove of great use and advantage to those making researches.
It is divided into two classes--Phallic works, and books bearing more or
less upon the subject._
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I. 1
Characteristics of Trees--Naturalness of Tree Worship--Origin
of the worship--The Tree of Life--Ancient Types--A Tree as a
Symbol of Life--Poetical Associations--Sacred Fig-tree--India
specially a land of Tree Worship--Trees identified with Gods--
Meritoriousness of planting Trees--Auspicious and inauspicious
Trees--Ceremonies connected with Tree Worship--Invocation of
Tree Gods--Banian Tree--Ritual directions--Santal Worship.
CHAPTER II. 16
The Bael-tree--Worship of the Left Hand--Trees of the Sun and
Moon--The Arbre Sec, or Dry Tree--The Holy Tree of Bostam--The
Bygas of the Eastern Sathpuras--Tree Worship in Mysore--The
Palm Tree--Worship of the Palm at Najran--The Tree of Ten
Thousand Images--Tree Worship in Persia--Sacred Old Testament
Trees--The Classics--Forests and Groves favourite places of
Worship--Origin of Groves--Votive Offerings to Trees.
CHAPTER III. 32
Arab Tree Worship--Story of Kaimun, the captive slave--Miracle
of the Date Tree--Persian bushes--Plane-tree--The Great
Cypress--The old man of Diarbekir--The Fervüers--Anecdote of
Xerxes--Anecdote of a merchant and his wife--The bush of the
"Excellent" Tree--The Cypresses of the Zoroaster--Motawakel--
The Triple-tree of Abraham--Tree of the Club of Hercules--The
Tree of Passienus Crispus--The Virgin Mary's Fig-tree--Tree of
Mohammed's Staff--The Neema-tree of the Gallas--Irish
Superstitions--Saint Valeri--People of Livonia--Destruction of
a Sacred Tree.
CHAPTER IV. 44
The Bogaha of Ceylon, or God-tree--The Maha Wanse and the
Bo-tree--Ceremonies connected with the transplantation of the
Bo-tree--Planting the great Bo-branch--Miracles of the
Bo-tree--The State Elephant--The Pipal Tree.
CHAPTER V. 58
Sacred Trees very ancient in Egypt--Hebrew Trees--The Sycamore
at Matarea--Ionic Forms--The Koran on Mary and the Palm-tree--
Sacredness of the Palm in Egypt--Tree Worship in Dahome--The
Sacred Tree of the Canary Isles.
CHAPTER VI. 64
Usefulness of the Ash-tree--Its position among Sacred Trees--
The Queen of Trees--Mythology of the Ash--Scotch Superstitious
Usages--The "Ash Faggot Ball" of Somersetshire--Pliny and
others on the Serpent and the Ash--The Ash as a medium of cure
of complaints--Anecdotes--Phallic Associations--The New-birth--
Ireland and the Ash--The Juniper-Tree--The Madonna and the
Juniper--The Elm-tree--Mythology of the Elm--The Apple-tree--
Mythological allusions to the Apple-tree--The Pine-tree--Wind
Spirits--German Superstitions--The Oak-tree--Universal
Sacredness of the Oak--The Oak of the Hebrew Scriptures--Classic
Oaks--Socrates and his Oath--Greek Sayings--The Trees Speaking--
Sacred Ash of Dodona--Legend of Philemon and Baucis--The
Hamadryads--The Yule Log--St. Boniface--Mysteries connected with
the Oak--Christmas-trees.
CHAPTER VII. 85
Icelandic Customs--The Sacred Ash--The Prose Edda and Tree
Worship--Icelandic Mythology of the Ash--The Norns--The
Czeremissa of the Wolga--The Jakuhti--Sacred Trees of
Livonia--Phallic Tree Worship and objects in Bavaria.
TREE WORSHIP.
CHAPTER I.
_Characteristics of Trees--Naturalness of Tree Worship--Origin of the
Worship--The Tree of Life--Ancient Types--A Tree as a Symbol of
Life--Poetical Associations--Sacred Fig Tree--India specially a Land
of Tree Worship--Trees identified with Gods--Meritoriousness of
Planting Trees--Auspicious and Inauspicious Trees--Ceremonies
connected with Tree Worship--Invocations of Tree Gods--Banian
Tree--Ritual Directions--Santal Worship._
In contemplating the various objects to which men, in their efforts to
construct a natural and satisfactory religion, have rendered divine honour
and worship, it is not surprising to find that trees, flowers, and shrubs
have shared largely in this adoration. While it was possible to offer such
a tribute to mere stocks and stones and the works of men's hands, the
transition to trees and their floral companions would be an easy one. Most
people will agree with the statement, often made, that "There are few of
the works of nature that combine so many and so varied charms and beauties
as a forest; that whether considered generally or particularly, whether as
a grand geographical feature of a country or as a collection of individual
trees, it is alike invested with beauty and with interest, and opens up to
the mind a boundless field for inquiry into the mysterious laws of
creation. But a forest is not merely an aggregate of trees, it is not
merely a great embodiment of vegetable life: it is the cheerful and
pleasant abode of numerous varieties of animal life, who render it more
animated and picturesque, and who find there shelter, food, and happy
homes."
"There is, perhaps, no object in nature that adds so much to the beauty,
that, in fact, may be said to be a necessary ingredient in the beauty of a
landscape, as a tree. A tree, indeed, is the highest and noblest
production of the vegetable kingdom, just as man holds the highest place
in the animal. Whether standing solitary, or arranged in clumps, or
masses, or avenues, trees always give freshness, variety, and often
grandeur to the scene.
"Unless a man be a forester or a timber contractor by profession, he
cannot walk through a forest in spring without having his mind stored with
new ideas and with good and happy thoughts. Here is an entirely new
animated world opened up to his admiring gaze; a world that seems to be
innocent and pure, for everything in it is rejoicing and glad. The first
glow and flush of life visible all around is so vigorous and strong, that
man partakes of its vigour and strength. He, too, feels an awakening of
new life, not of painful but of pleasant sensations; on every side his eye
falls on some form of beauty or of grandeur, and they quietly impress
pictures on his mind never to be effaced, for
'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.'"[1]
It is easy, therefore, to understand how in times and places where men in
their efforts to adore a Supreme Being, worshipped the beauties and
wonders of creation, trees should become the representatives of the Divine
if not actually the gods themselves. "The sun as the source of light and
warmth, the changes of the seasons, the growth of herbage, flowers and
trees, great rivers and oceans, mountains and deep glens--in short
whatever of the works of nature is most beautiful or awful, and acts upon
the intellectual or sensual perceptions, naturally becomes the object of
adoration. Among these objects trees took an early place. Their beauty
when single, their grandeur as forests, their grateful shade in hot
climates, their mysterious forms of life, suggested them as the abodes of
departed spirits, or of existing agencies of the Creator. If the solemn
gloom of deep forests and groves were consecrated to the most awful of
holy and unholy mysteries, the more open woodland glades became in
imagination peopled with nymphs, dryads, and fauns, and contributed to the
most joyous portions of adorative devotion. Thus the abstract sacred
character of trees is not difficult to conceive, and as the intellect
progressed among the early races of the world, we can follow among the
Greeks and the Aryans, as well as the Hebrews, its naturally poetic and
sacred development."[2]
Serpent worship is by no means so easy to account for as tree worship, but
it is a fact that in many places the two were intimately associated;
having dealt with the first of these in a former volume, we now
exclusively treat of the latter. Speaking of the naturalness of tree
worship, Fergusson pertinently remarks--"Where we miss the point of
contact with our own religious notion is when we ask how anyone could hope
that a prayer addressed to a tree was likely to be responded to, or how an
offering presented to such an object could be appreciated. Originally it
may have been that a divinity was supposed to reside among the branches,
and it was to this spirit that the prayer was first addressed; but anyone
who has watched the progress of idolatry must have observed how rapidly
minds, at a certain stage of enlightenment, weary of the unseen, and how
wittingly they transfer their worship to any tangible or visible object.
An image, a temple, a stone or tree may thus become an object of adoration
or of pilgrimage, and when sanctified by time, the indolence of the human
mind too gladly contents itself with any idol which previous generations
have been content to venerate."
"For the origin of the mysterious reverence with which certain trees and
flowers were anciently regarded, and of tree 'worship,' properly so
called, we must go back to that primæval period into which comparative
mythology has of late afforded us such remarkable glimpses; when the earth
to its early inhabitants seemed 'apparelled in celestial light,' but when
every part of creation seemed to be endowed with a strange and conscious
vitality. When rocks and mountains, the most apparently lifeless and
unchanging of the world's features, were thus regarded and were
personified in common language, it would have been wonderful if the more
life-like plains--the great rivers that fertilised, and the trees with
their changing growth and waving branches that clothed them--should have
been disregarded and unhonoured. Accordingly sacred ruins and sacred trees
appear in the very earliest mythologies which have been recovered, and
linger amongst the last vestiges of heathenism long after the advent of a
purer creed. Either as direct objects of worship, or as forming the temple
under whose solemn shadow other and remoter deities might be adored, there
is no part of the world in which trees have not been regarded with
especial reverence:--
'In such green palaces the first kings reigned;
Slept in their shade, and angels entertained.
With such cold counsellors they did advise,
And by frequenting sacred shades, grew wise.'
Paradise itself, says Evelyn, was but a kind of "nemorous temple or sacred
grove," planted by God himself, and given to man; and he goes on to
suggest that the groves which the patriarchs are recorded to have planted
in different parts of Palestine, may have been memorials of that first
tree-shaded paradise from which Adam was expelled.
"How far the religious systems of the great nations of antiquity were
affected by the record of the Creation and Fall preserved in the opening
chapters of Genesis, is not perhaps possible to determine. There are
certain points of resemblance which are at least remarkable, but which we
may assign, if we please, either to independent tradition, or to a natural
development from the mythology of the earliest or primæval period. The
Trees of Life and of Knowledge are at once suggested by the mysterious
sacred tree which appears in the most ancient sculptures and paintings of
Egypt and Assyria, and in those of the remoter East. In the symbolism of
these nations the sacred tree sometimes figures as a type of the universe,
and represents the whole system of created things, but more frequently as
a 'tree of life,' by whose fruit the votaries of the gods are nourished
with divine strength, and one prepared for the joys of immortality. The
most ancient types of this mystical tree of life are the date, the fig,
and the pine or cedar. Of these, the earliest of which any representation
occurs is the palm--the true date palm of the valley of the Nile and of
the great alluvial plain of ancient Babylonia--a tree which is exceeded in
size and dignity by many of its congeners, but which is spread over two,
at least, of the great centres of ancient civilization, and which, besides
its great importance as a food producer has a special beauty of its own
when the clusters of dates are hanging in golden ripeness under its
coronal of dark green leaves. It is figured as a tree of life on an
Egyptian sepulchral tablet certainly older than the fifteenth century
B.C., and preserved in the museum at Berlin. Two arms issue from the top
of the tree, one of which presents a tray of dates to the deceased, who
stands in front, whilst the other gives him water, 'the water of life.'
The arms are those of the goddess Nepte, who appears at full length in
other and later representations."[3]
Mr. Barlow informs us that the paradise here intended is the state or
place of departed righteous souls, who, according to Egyptian theology as
explained in the works of Rossellini, Wilkinson, Lepsius, Birch, and
Emmanuel de Rougè, have triumphed over evil through the power of Osiris,
whose name they bear, and are now set down for ever in his heavenly
kingdom. Osiris was venerated as the incarnation of the goddess of the
Deity, and according to the last-mentioned authority, was universally
worshipped in Egypt as the Redeemer of souls two thousand years before
Christ.
The head of this family was named Poer, and the members of it are shown
seated in two rows on thorns, one below the other; each is receiving from
the Tree of Life, or rather from the divine influence residing in the
tree, and personified as a vivifying agent under the figure of the goddess
Nupte or Nepte, a stream of the life-giving water, and at the same time an
offering of its fruit. The tree is the _ficus-sycamorous_, the sycamore
tree of the Bible, and it stands on a sort of aquarium, symbolical of the
sacred Nile, the life-supporting agent in the land of Egypt. The tree is
abundantly productive, and from the upper part of it, among the branches,
the goddess Nepte rises with a tray of fruit in one hand, and with the
other pours from a vase streams of its life-giving water.
Mr. Barlow further says--"In the 'Tree of Life' of the Egyptians, we have
perhaps the earliest, certainly the most complete and consistent
representation of this most ancient and seemingly universal symbol, the
Tree of Life, in the midst of paradise, furnishing the divine support of
immortality."[4]
Forlong says--"In his little work on Symbolism, under the head '_Sacred
Trees_,' Mr. Barlow has expressed what I have long felt. He says, 'the
most _generally received symbol of life_ is a tree, as also the most
appropriate.... There might be an innate appreciation of the beautiful and
the grand in this impression, conjoined with the conception of a more
sublime truth, and _the first principles of a natural theology_, but in
most instances it would appear rather to have been the result of an
ancient and primitive _symbolical_ worship, at one time _universally
prevalent_.'" (The italics are Forlong's.) As men came to recognise in
themselves two natures--the physical and spiritual, the life of the body
and the life of the soul--"So these came to be represented either by two
trees, as sometimes found, or in reference to universal life, by one tree
only." Some thousands of years before even the age _imputed_ to Genesis,
there were sculptured on the Zodiac of Dendera, Egypt, two sacred trees,
the Western and Eastern; the first was _truth_ and _religion_--the sacred
palm surmounted by the ostrich feather--the latter, the _vital or
generative force of nature_, beyond which Egypt thought she had risen,
therein surpassing her Eastern parent; at least so I feel inclined to
class them chronologically. "Besides the monumental evidence furnished,"
says Barlow, "of a sacred tree, a Tree of Life, there is an historical and
traditional evidence of the same thing found in the early literature of
various nations, in their customs and usages." All grand, extraordinary,
beautiful, or highly useful trees, have in every land at some time been
associated with the noble, wonderful, lovely and beneficial ideas which
man has attributed to his God or to nature. We can recognise the early
worship of trees in the reverence of thought which attaches to the two in
the centre of man's first small world, a garden of fruits and shade. "All
unhistorical though the tales may be," continues Forlong, "there is a deep
poetry underlying the story of the sacred garden. We naturally picture it
as a 'grove,' for man was not yet a cultivator of the ground; amidst the
deep shades of Eden, we are told, walked the great Elohim with the man and
woman--naked--as created by him through his Logos, _Ruach_, Spirit, or
Spouse, but yet 'without the knowledge' which 'the sacred tree of
knowledge' was soon to impart."
Further on Forlong remarks--"The numerous tales of holy trees, groves and
gardens repeated everywhere and in every possible form, fortify me in my
belief that tree worship _was first known_, and after it came Lingam or
Phallic, with, of course, its female form Adama."
"The serpent being Passion, and symbolic of the second faith, followed, we
may say, almost simultaneously; thus we find the sacred garden-groves of
all Edens first mentioned, then the instructor, the serpent, and latterly
creative powers in Adam and Adama, or in Asher and Ashera, which
last female worship the Old Testament translators call the 'Grove.' We are
told it was always set up with Asher, Babel, &c., under 'every green tree'
by ancient Israel, and up to a few hundred years before Christ, and not
seldom even after Christ.
"All Eastern literature teems with the stories told of and under the
sacred fig tree, _Ficus Religiosa_, Gooler, a _Ficus Indica_. Under its
holy shade, gods, goddesses, men and animals disport themselves, and talk
with each other on sacred and profane themes. From it, as from many
another holy tree, ascended gods and holy men to heaven, and it and many
others are to be yet the cradles of coming Avatars. To the present hour we
find thousands of barren women still worshipping and giving offerings
throughout the year to this Peepal, or male fig tree of India, to obtain
offspring: nor is the female tree, the _Ficus Indica_, neglected; at
stated periods this Bar, or true Banian, must be also worshipped
with offerings by all who wish such boons. Under this sacred tree did the
pious _Sakyamooni_ become a _Boodh_, or enlightened one; and it is from
the rubbing together of the wood of trees, notably of the three Banian
trees--Peepal, Bar, and Gooler (_Ficus Sycamores_), _the favourite
woods for Phallic images_, that holy fire is drawn from heaven, and before
all these species do women crave their desires from God."
With regard to the Ficus, Forlong remarks that others besides Jews have
seen divers reasons why it is said to have been the first covering used by
the human race. "The symbolic trefoil or _fleur de lys_ with its seed
springing from its stems, is still used as a Phallic ornament, and the
leaf, especially of the Bo, is very like the old form of Ph: it has a long
attenuated point, and is ever quivering on the stillest days. The tree has
many peculiarities, not only in its leaves and modes of leafing, but in
its fruit and modes of multiplying, which could not fail to make it of a
very holy and important character in the pious, poetical and imaginative
mind of the East. Among others the fruit or seed hangs direct from its
limbs, yet it is commonly said to be germinated by seed from heaven; birds
carry off the seed and deposit it on all high places, and in the trunks of
other trees; these this Ficus splits asunder and entwines itself all
around, descending by the parent trunk as well as aerially, by dropping
suckers until it reaches _Mother-Earth_, by which time it has most likely
killed the parent tree, which has up to that period nourished it. Thus the
Ficus tribe is often hollow in the centre, and if the hollow exist near
the base, it is always a very holy spot where will usually be found a
Lingam or Yoni stone, or both, or a temple of Matra-Deva--Deva or
Siva--the great God of Creation."[5]
"In a country like India, anything that offers a cool shelter from the
burning rays of the sun is regarded with a feeling of grateful respect.
The wide-spreading Banyan tree is planted and nursed with care, only
because it offers a shelter to many a weary traveller. Extreme usefulness
of the thing is the only motive perceivable in the careful rearing of
other trees. They are protected by religious injunctions, and the planting
of them is encouraged by promises of eternal bliss in the future world.
The injunction against injuring a banyan or fig tree is so strict, that in
the Ramayana even Rávana, an unbeliever, is made to say 'I have not cut
down any fig tree, in the month of Vaisakha, why then does the calamity
(alluding to the several defeats his army sustained in the war with
Rámachandra and to the loss of his sons and brothers) befall me?'"
The medicinal properties of many plants soon attracted notice, and were
cultivated with much care. With the illiterate the medicinal virtues of a
drug are increased with its scarcity; and to enhance its value it was soon
associated with difficulties, and to keep it secret from public knowledge,
it was culled in the dark and witching hours of night.
Trees have frequently been identified with gods: thus in the Panma Purána,
the religious fig tree is an incarnation of Vishnu, the Indian fig tree of
Rudra, and the Palasa of Brahma.
In the Varáka Purana, the planter of a group of trees of a particular
species is promised heavenly bliss, and it is needless to point out that
from the names of the trees recommended, the extensive utility of the act
must be acknowledged. Thus it is said, "He never goes to hell who plants
an asvatha, or a pichumarda, or a banian, or ten jessamines, or two
pomegranates, a panchámra, or five mangoes."
The Tithitatva gives a slightly different list, substituting two
champakas, three kesara, seven tala-palms, and nine cocoanuts, instead of
the banian, the jessamines, the pomegranates, and the _panchámra_.
As early as the Ramayana, the planting of a group of trees was held
meritorious. The celebrated Panchavati garden where Sitá was imprisoned,
has been reproduced by many a religious Hindu, and should any of them not
have sufficient space to cultivate the five trees, the custom is to plant
them in a small pot where they are dwarfed into small shrubs. Such
substitutes and make-shifts are not at all uncommon in the ecclesiastical
history of India. In Buddhist India, millions of miniature stone and clay
temples, some of them not higher than two inches, were often dedicated
when more substantial structures were not possible. The Panchavati
consists of the asvatha planted on the east side, the vilva or Ægle
marmelos on the north, the banian on the west, the _Emblica officinalis_
on the south, and the asoka on the south-east.
The Skanda Purána recommends a vilva in the centre, and four others on
four sides; four banians in four corners, twenty-five asokas in a circle,
with a myrobalan on one side, as the constituents of a great punchavati.
Superstition has always been active in drawing nice distinctions between
the auspicious and the inauspicious, and it is curious to observe how the
auspicious qualities of some plants have been extolled. Some are
considered auspicious when planted near a dwelling house.
No tree with fruit or blossoms can be cut down, as the sloka threatens the
cutter with destruction of his family and wealth. Therefore never cut down
any tree that bears good flowers or fruits if you desire the increase of
your family, of your wealth and of your future happiness.
Superstition has associated supernatural properties with many plants, and
several have been identified with the gods.
The _durvá_, a kind of grass very common in all parts of India, is
excellent food for cattle. It is an essential article in the worship of
all gods. It is said to have originated from the thigh of Vishnu.
The religious fig tree makes one rich, the _Jonesia Asoka_ destroys all
sorrow, the _Ficus Venosa_ is said to be useful in sacrifices, and the
_Nim_ gives much happiness. _Syzygium Jambolanum_ promises heavenly bliss,
and the pomegranate a good wife. _Ficus glomerata_ cures diseases, and
_Butea frondosa_ gives the protection of Brahma. The _Calotropis gigantea_
is useful as it pleases the sun, every day the bel tree pleases _Siva_,
and the _Patalá_ pleases _Párvati_. The Asparas are pleased with _Bombax
malabaricum_, and the Gandharvas with Jasminum, the _Terminalia_ chebula
increases the number of servants, and the _Mimusops elenchi_ gives
maid-servants. The _Tál_ is injurious to children, and the Mimusops
elenchi productive of large families. The cocoanut gives many wives, and
the vine gives a beautiful body; the _Corolia latifolia_ increases
desires, and the Pandanus odoratissimum destroys all. The tamarind tree is
considered most inauspicious, and according to the _Vaidya Sastras_, is
very injurious to health. The _Carica papeya_ plant is more so. The
Sunflower, Helianthus, is supposed to emit gases that destroy miasma.
The following trees are said to have peculiar virtues. The Indian fig
tree, if on the east side of a house, is always auspicious; so also is the
Udumvava tree if on the west, and the pipul if on the south, &c.
The following are supposed to have a peculiar influence on particular
spots. The cocoanut tree near the dwelling-house confers wealth on the
family, and if on the east or north-east of an encampment, the tree is the
donor of sons. The mango tree, the best of trees, is auspicious at every
place, and if situated on the east, gives wealth to men. The _Bel_ tree,
the jack tree, and the citron tree, and the plum tree, are in all
situations conducive to prosperity.
The _Durvashtami_ is one of the many vratas observed by Hindu females.
It is celebrated on the eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the
month of Bhádro. On the day fixed for worshipping Durvá a fast is
observed, and Durvá, Gauri, Ganesá and Siva are worshipped with rice,
fruits and flowers. Durvá is described as dark as the petals of a blue
lotus, held on the heads of all the gods, pure, born from the body of
Vishnu, anointed with nectar, free from all sickness, immortal,
incarnation of Vishnu, and giver of good children, and virtue, wealth and
salvation.
A thread with eight knots, and fruits, &c., are presented to Durvá, and
the following prayer is then read--
"Durvá, you are called immortal, and you are worshipped both by gods and
asuras. Having blessed us with prosperity and children, fulfil all our
wishes. As you extend over the earth with your suckers and branches, in
the same way give me healthy and immortal children."
After the usual puja, the thread with eight knots is tied on the left arm
and the worshipper listens to the legend of Durvá repeated by the
officiating priest.
The Asokáshtami, the Arunvdaya Saptami, and the Madanotsava, are three
other vratas in which trees are worshipped.
From the Sakrotthana, the rising of India after the new moon preceding the
Durgá-puja, the whole fortnight is devoted to one or other form of tree
worship. Asokashtami is observed on the eighth day of the bright fortnight
of Chaitra.
In the month of Chaitra on the thirteenth lunar day, the Madanotsava is
celebrated and the Asoka tree is worshipped.
But the most important instance of tree worship is the Durgápujá. Although
the festival is a rejoicing at the promising crops in the field, and
although it may be traced to the solar myth and Ushá or dawn worship, it
is undoubtedly one of the most extensive festivals of tree worship.
Along with the goddess Durgá, the _Nava_ patrici or the nine leaves are
worshipped.
On the morning of the first day of the puja, nine branches with leaves are
tied together with a plant of _Clitoria ternata alba_, and a twig bearing
a pair of fruits with suitable mantras, is stuck in the bundle. Before
cutting the twig, the following mantras are repeated--
"Sriphala tree, you are born on the mountain Mandar, Meru Kailsa, and at
the top of the Himavat, you are always a favourite of Ambica. Born on the
top of the Scri hill Sriphala! You are the resting place of prosperity, I
take you away to worship you as Durgá herself.
"Om Vilva tree, most prosperous, always a favourite of Sankara, I worship
the devi, having taken away your branch. O Lord, you must not mind the
pain generated by the separation of your branch. I bow to the Vilva tree
born on the Hymalaya mountain, favourite of Parvasa and embraced by Siva.
You are auspicious in action and a favourite of Bhagavati; for the sake of
Bhavani's words, give me all success." The bundle is then anointed with
various cosmetics and aromatic drugs and oils, and is placed by the side
of the idols. The several plants are then separately invoked, and the
goddesses presiding over each are worshipped.
The following are the mantras for worshipping them:--
"Om, salutation be to Brahmani, the goddess dwelling in the plantain
tree. Om, Devi Durga, welcome, come near us. In the Brahma form distribute
peace to all. Om, salutations be to you.
"Om, salutation be to Kalika, the goddess dwelling in the Arum plant. Om,
good-natured in the war of Mahisha dema, you became arum plant. Om, the
beloved of Hara, come hither for my blessing.
"Om, salutation be to Durga, the goddess dwelling in the turmeric plant.
Om, Haridra, you are Hara incarnate. Om, good-natured you are Umá
incarnate. For the destruction of my ill-luck do receive my pujá and be
propitiated.
"Om, salutation be to Kartika, the goddess dwelling in the Sesvania plant.
Om, during the destruction of Sumbha and Nisumbha demons, goddess of
success, you were worshipped by India and all gods. Be pleased with us.
"Om, salutation be to Sivá, the goddess dwelling in the vilva tree. Om,
beloved of Mahadeva and beloved of Vishnu, beloved of Umá, vilva tree
salute you.
"Om, salutation be to Raktadantika (blood-teethed), the goddess dwelling
in the pomegranate tree. Om, formerly in the war, you became Dádimi in the
presence of Raktavija demon, you acted the part of Umá, therefore bless
us.
"Om, salutation be to Sokarahita (devoid of sorrow), the goddess dwelling
in the Asoka tree. Om, Asoka tree, you please Siva and you destroy all
sorrow. Make me sorrowless in the same way as you please Durvá.
"Om, salutation be to Chámundá, the goddess dwelling in the Man tree. Om,
on whose leaves rests the Devi, beloved of Sachi, for my prosperity
receive my pujá.
"Om, salutations be to Lakshmi, the goddess dwelling in the rice plant.
Om, for the preservation of the life of all beings you were created by
Brahma. Om, preserve me in the same way as you please Umá." (See the Vastu
Yaga and its bearings upon Tree and Serpent Worship in India, by
Pratapachandra Ghosha).
The Banian or Indian fig tree, is perhaps the most beautiful and
surprising production of nature in the vegetable kingdom. Some of these
trees are of an amazing size, and as they are always increasing, they may
in some measure be said to be exempt from decay. Every branch proceeding
from the trunk throws out its own roots, first in small fibres, at the
distance of several yards from the ground. These, continually becoming
thicker as they approach the earth, take root and shoot out new branches,
which in time bend downwards, take root in the like manner, and produce
other branches, which continue in this state of progression as long as
they find soil to nourish them.
The Hindoos are remarkably fond of this tree, for they look upon it as an
emblem of the Deity, on account of its out-stretching arms and its shadowy
beneficence. They almost pay divine honours, and "find a Fane in every
Grove."
Near these trees the most celebrated pagodas are generally erected; the
Brahmins spend their lives in religious solitude under their friendly
shade, and the natives of all castes and tribes are fond of retreating
into the cool recesses and natural bowers of this umbrageous canopy, which
is impervious to the fiercest beams of the tropical sun.
The particular tree here described grows on an island in the river
Nerbedda, ten miles from the city of Baroach, in the province of Guzzurat,
a flourishing settlement formerly in possession of the East India Company,
but ceded by the government of Bengal at the treaty of peace concluded
with the Mahrattas in 1783, to Mahadjee, a Mahratta chief.
This tree, called in India _Cubeer Burr_, in honour of a famous saint, was
much larger than it has been of late; for high floods have at different
times carried away the banks of the island where it grows, and along with
such parts of the tree as had extended their roots thus far; yet what has
remained is about two thousand feet in circumference, measuring round the
principal stems; but the hanging branches, the roots of which have not yet
reached the ground, cover a much larger extent. The chief trunks of this
single tree amount to three hundred and fifty, all superior in size to the
generality of our English oaks and elms; the smaller stems, forming into
stronger supports, are more than three thousand; and from each of these
new branches, hanging roots are proceeding, which in time will form trunks
and become parents to a future progeny.
_Cubeer Burr_ is famed throughout Hindostan for its prodigious extent,
antiquity and great beauty. The Indian armies often encamp around it; and,
at certain seasons, solemn Jattras or Hindoo festivals are held here, to
which thousands of votaries repair from various parts of the Mogul empire.
Seven thousand persons, it is said, may easily repose under its shade.
There is a tradition among the natives, that this tree is three thousand
years old; and there is great reason to believe it, and that it is this
amazing tree that Arrian describes when speaking of the gymosophists in
his book of Indian affairs. These people, he says, in summer wear no
clothing. In winter they enjoy the benefit of the sun's rays in the open
air; and in summer, when the heat becomes excessive, they pass their time
in moist and marshy places under large trees, which according to Nearchus,
cover a circumference of five acres, and extend their branches so far that
ten thousand men may easily find shelter under them.
English gentlemen, when on hunting and shooting parties, are accustomed to
form extensive encampments, and to spend several weeks under this
delightful pavilion of foliage, which is generally filled with a great
variety of feathered songsters. This tree not only affords shelter but
sustenance to all its inhabitants; being loaded with small figs of a rich
scarlet colour.[6]
Trees have always been among the chief divinities of India. In the
"Institutes of Menu," chap. 3, we find directions to the Brahman for his
oblations, and, after a number of preliminaries, the injunctions
proceed--"Having thus, with fixed attention, offered clarified butter in
all quarters, proceeding from the east in a southerly direction, to India,
Yama, Varuna, and the god Soma, let him offer his gifts to animated
creatures, saying, I salute the Maruts or Winds, let him throw dressed
rice near the door, saying, I salute the water-gods, in water; and oil his
pestle and mortar, saying, I salute the gods of large trees."
An instance of tree worship amongst the Santals or hill tribes of
Beerbhoom is recorded in Hunter's "Annals of Rural Bengal," as
follows--"Adjoining the Santal village is a grove of their natural tree,
the Sal (Shorea Robusta), which they believe to be the favourite resort of
all the family gods of the little community. From its silent gloom the
bygone generations watch their children and children's children playing
their several parts in life, not altogether with an unfriendly eye.
Nevertheless the ghastly inhabitants of the grove are sharp critics, and
deal out crooked limbs, cramps and leprosy, unless duly appeased. Several
times a year the whole hamlet, dressed out in its showiest, repairs to the
grove to do honour to the _Lares Rurales_ with music and sacrifice. Men
and women join hands, and, dancing in a large circle, chant songs in
remembrance of the original founder of the community who is venerated as
the head of the village Pantheon. Goats, red cocks, and chickens are
sacrificed; and while some of the worshippers are told off to cook the
flesh for the common festival at great fires, the rest separate into
families and dance round the particular trees which they fancy their
domestic Lares chiefly inhabit. Among the more superstitious tribes, it is
customary for each family to dance round every single tree, in order that
they may not by any chance omit the one in which their gods may be
residing."