Sacred Trees

Nature plays an important part in mediating between the human and the divine in Indian religion, and so many plants and animals are venerated. Among these are trees, such as the pipal or asvattha (Ficus religiosa) and banyan (Ficus indica), the acacia (various species of Acacia), and the neem (Azadirachta indica). Often these are the abode of spirits, both benign and malevolent. From the

A cylindrical tablet showing a goddess fighting two tigers, with the sun above her and an elephant beneath. On the other face of this tablet is a scene in which a figure is spearing a water-buffalo, with his foot on its neck. Both scenes probably illustrate mythological themes.

(J. M. Kenoyer, Courtesy Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan)

Evidence of Harappan art it is apparent that these trees were already attracting such veneration. A number of tablets show an individual with a pot, apparently making an offering to a tree, usually a pipal. A few seals show figures that may be identified as gods and goddesses inside these trees, particularly the pipal, or under an arch of pipal leaves. These leaves had been a familiar decoration on pottery of the northwest since much earlier times; they were often combined with the horns of bulls or water buffaloes, and together they form headdresses worn by a number of deities. Sometimes the trees are shown standing in a pot or within an enclosure or a brick ring, as sacred trees were sometimes protected in later times. Several brick rings that may have protected such trees are known from Mohenjo-daro.