It's not hard to say how much banyan trees mean to Indians. The love for the trees is so visible that one can spot them almost everywhere in the country, especially in suburbs and rural areas, as well as places of worship. Indeed, the banyan is the national tree of India.
Banyan trees are significant enough in India to be an integral part of our culture. There's even a Tamil saying that goes 'Aalum velum pallukuruthi; naalum rendum sollukuruthi,' meaning just as the twigs of banyan and neem trees make the teeth stronger, learning Tamil literary works 'Naaladiyar' and 'Thirukkural' will make one's vocabulary stronger.
In villages, there's a tradition of holding panchayat meetings under the banyan tree, proof -- check out 90s Indian movies. This tradition is still followed by people in the countryside.
North Indians even observe a festival called 'Vat Purnima,' where the married women in the house tie a ceremonial thread around a banyan tree and pray for the longevity of their husbands.
The tree which is celebrated by most Indians has many tearful stories to tell. Trees are the first victims in any natural disaster and it's a heart-wrenching sight for any nature lover to see them get reduced to a skeleton during such unfortunate events.
One such story is the destruction of a 200-year-old banyan tree in Tamil Nadu's Kovilpathu village. The state was battered in the recent Cyclone Gaja, which left a trail of destruction in many villages.
Residents of Kovilpathu had to endure the loss of their beloved more than 200-year-old banyan tree. The monumental tree was the landmark of this otherwise ordinary coastal village in Nagapattinam district. It was the guiding point for fishermen, which helped them locate the shore and reach it safely.
The villagers didn't just love their precious tree, they worshipped it. It meant so much to them that it is quite impossible to express their devotion towards the tree in just words. Speaking to the News Minute, one of the villagers said, “This tree has seen so much of our happiness. Why did I have to live to see this loss? I could’ve gone along with the tree.”
People are also upset that no government official has paid them a visit since the disastrous incident and a lot of daily wage labourers have lost their livelihoods in the cyclone. The villagers' attachment to the tree was summed up by a woman who said, "Our children may not feed us but the trees we’ve planted do.”
A village called Puthur en route to Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore underwent a similar trauma a little earlier. The villagers who lost their 300-year-old banyan tree during the southwest monsoon conducted a funeral for the tree. The tree which was planted and watered by their ancestors was given a touching farewell, with residents sticking obituary posters all over the village.
We might not believe in life after death but it was true in the case of this banyan tree in Tiruvannamalai. A video by 'My Nation' shows how a 30-year-old banyan tree hit by Cyclone Vardah bounced back to life in no time. The villagers call it a miracle and credited it to Lord Muniswaran's divine force.
In the past, when Telangana's famous tourist attraction 'Pillalamarri,' a 700-year-old banyan tree, was about to crash down, officials worked overtime to save it. In a moving incident, they even tied saline drips to the tree. Officials termed it a man-made disaster as the problem started when the place was turned into a tourist spot.
India shares a long, never-ending history with banyan trees. We hope that next time you spot one, you remember these stories and acknowledge the country's devotion to it.