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A Miscellany of Trees
7. The Banyan Tree
 When we hear it mentioned, the sheer size of the Banyan comes before our mind. For a Chennaite, the banyan tree in the gardens of the Theosophical Society at Adyar is a landmark. It was said that at one time, about 10,000 people could sit in its shade to hear a discourse. Sometime in the 80s of the last century, it fell victim to a cloud burst and all efforts at revitalising its main trunk proved futile. Still, you have its branches supported by their own prop roots passing for so many independent trees. Anyone endowed with a mind capable of reconstructive imagination can visualise the magnificence of the original.
A man in whose presence everyone else around appears puny is compared to a Banyan tree. Such a one was Jawaharlal Nehru, whose contemporaries as great as Sardar Patel and Rajaji were not as awe-inspiring!
The Banyan is a truly Indian tree, seen all over the country. Its Indianess is much more apparent when we encounter references to the tree in the Rig Veda and the highly commendatory comments from ancient western scholars such as
Pliney.
The name banyan was given to the tree by the early English visitors to India. They saw Banias (traders) of the locality assemble in the shade of this tree to conduct a sort of stock-exchange. To my mind, this naming of the tree sounds obscene especially as I recall the tree's association with Lord Krishna, who is referred to as Vata Patra Sayi, one who lies on the leaf of this tree, Vata being the Sanskrit name of the tree and Patra, meaning leaf. And in what circumstances! A Cataclysm of great magnitude caused a total inundation of the earth and all life-forms on earth melted away into the limbo of time. At such a time, as if to reassure the living world, Krishna was seen floating on the Vata Patra in the form of a baby amusing itself by trying to bring one of its big toes to the mouth, so as to be able to suckle it, an act that pumps food and energy into the struggling life (eg: Noah's arc). And to call such a tree banyan after the Banias who were plotting to profit themselves at the expense of the rest of the society, is revolting to a sensitive mind. Yet, the name stuck and we have to carry on with the name.
Ala maram in Tamil, the banyan's scientific name is Ficus Bengha Lensis. We've already talked about its spread. Not a very tall tree, it gives off branches from about a height of 12 to 18 feet in all directions. These branches grow so long that they find it difficult to maintain that diagestropic position (parallel to the ground's surface) and so, roots grow out of the branches. In course of time, even as the branch is growing in thickness and weight, the roots too grow and, as is their wont, hit and grow into the ground, finally looking like so many pillars, earning for themselves the name of prop roots.
Considered sacred, the banyan is seldom axed and except under conditions of very severe drought, the leaves are not fed to cattle or goats. So much so, the dense foliage spread over a large area offers an excellent camping site for
travellers.
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