Sacred Plants of India by Nanditha Krishna & M. Amirthalingam

Author:Nanditha Krishna & M. Amirthalingam
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789351186915
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita (54.119) gives detailed instructions on tank construction and recommends certain plant species to be planted on the embankment. According to him, the bank should be planted or shaded with the mixed plant species, which include white marudah, banyan, mango, pipal, Indian oak, Indian black plum, palmyra palm, ashoka, Indian butter tree, and Indian medaller among other plants (Bhat 1981, 1066).

Madhuvana is the region of Asura Madhu and his son Lavana (Brahmanda Purana, 3.63.186), sacred to Hari on the bank of the Yamuna. Here, Ambarisha offered prayers by abhisheka to Hari. Here Satrughna killed Lavana and founded the city of Madhura (Bhagavata Purana, 9.4. 30–31), which is modern Mathura.

According to the Bhagavata Purana, Dhruva performed tapas and was visited by Hari in the forest of madhu, a reference to the city of Madhura on the Yamuna. The Harshacharita also refers to this tree.

There is a folk tale about the birth of the mahua. One day, Shiva thought about humans. He wondered how they would offer wine to gods and goddesses without mahua trees. He called the parrot, the tiger, and the boar and instructed them to become mahua trees. In the month of Chaitra (mid-April to mid-May), flowers blossomed on the mahua trees. Flocks of tiny birds came to peck at the flowers and eat them. After eating no more than two or three flowers, they began calling out loudly and raising a din. The people decided that there was definitely some intoxicant in the flowers, or else the birds wouldn’t make such a noise. People now began making wine from the same flowers, and began using the brew at all festivals and ceremonies. If a man drinks a tiny quantity of mahua wine, he becomes a parrot and says the same thing over and over again. If he drinks a little more, he becomes a tiger: he doesn’t speak, he roars. If he drinks still more, he becomes a boar and rolls on the ground.

According to a local myth, Baba Gorakhnath resides in the mahua tree and is worshipped in Moradabad, Bijnaur, Rampur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and Jyotibaphule Nagar districts.

The tree is worshipped by the Mundas and Santhals of Bihar during weddings. It is highly respected by many tribes of Madhya Pradesh. The bride and bridegroom of the Bhuyias hold a small branch during their wedding. The Gonds hang the dead bodies of their relatives on a branch of this tree before burying them.

In ancient India, beautiful garlands were made out of mahua flowers at the time of the swayamvara (the ancient practice of choosing a husband from among a list of suitors by a girl of marriageable age) (Upadhyay 1964, 15–34).

Kalidasa has spoken very highly of the beauty and delicacy of the flowers and describes Parvati wearing a garland of mahua flowers at her wedding in his drama Kumarasambhava.

The tree is considered a boon by tribals who are forest dwellers and they are keen conservators of this tree. However, the conservation of the tree has been marginalized as non-tribals do not favour propagation of this tree.

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