Ficus religiosa

Ficus religiosa

Ficus religiosa or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent.

Quotes

• Ride hither to the offering of the pleasant juice, the holy Fig-tree which victorious priests surround: victorious be they still for us. At once the cows yield milk, the barley-meal is dressed. For thee, O Vāyu, never shall the cows grow thin, never for thee shall they be dry.
  • Rigveda 1.135.8

• The Holy Fig tree is your home, your mansion is the Parna tree: Winners of cattle shall ye be if ye regain for me this man.
  • Rigveda 10.97.5

• Looking back as far as we can see, in the Rig Veda we find Earth and Heaven often addressed in union as a single being (dyáváprithiví) and honoured together; they are ‘parents of the gods’ (7.53), ‘father and mother’ but also the ‘twins’ (1.159); together they ‘keep all creatures safe’ (1.160). ... In fact, the Rig Veda sees the cosmos as a thousand-branched tree (3.8.11, 9.5.10). Building on this symbol, the Gítá uses the striking image of the cosmic ashvattha (the pipal or holy fig tree, Ficus religiosa) with its roots above and branches below, to remind us of the real source of this manifestation. Elsewhere in the Mahábhárata, it is said that he who worships the ashvattha worships the universe: such is the often forgotten concept behind the worship of sacred trees in India, particularly in temples—once again, the universal at the centre of daily life.
  • For the Love of Nature by Michel Danino, in : Indian Culture and India’s Future (DK Printworld, New Delhi, 2011)

• They said, ‘Cook for a whole year a mess of rice sufficient for four persons; and taking each time three logs from this Asvattha tree, anoint them with ghee, and put them on the fire with verses containing the words “log” and “ghee”: the fire which shall result therefrom will be that very fire (which is required).
  • Satapatha Brahmana XI.5, as translated by Julius Eggeling [1903(1963): 68-74] quoted in Is There Vedic Evidence for the Indo-Aryan Immigration to India? By V. Agarwal

• They said, ‘But that also is, as it were, recondite. Make thyself rather an upper arani of Asvattha wood, and a lower arani of Asvattha wood: the fire which shall result thereform will be that very fire.’ XI.5.1.16 He then made himself an upper arani of Asvattha wood, and a lower arani of Asvattha wood; and the fire which resulted therefrom was that very fire: by offering therewith he became one of the Gandharvas. Let him therefore make himself and upper and a lower arani of Asvattha wood, and the fire which results therefrom will be that very fire: by offering therewith he becomes one of the Gandharvas.”
  • Satapatha Brahmana XI.5, as translated by Julius Eggeling [1903(1963): 68-74] quoted in Is There Vedic Evidence for the Indo-Aryan Immigration to India? By V. Agarwal

• …a peepul tree, a kind of aspen, which strikes its roots into every crack and fissure of a building, and soon loosens the stones. The seeds are carried by birds, and are often deposited on the bark of another tree, where they take root, and completely smother their abode. There is among the natives a superstition that if a man who has planted a tree, dies in debt, the creditor comes in the form of a peepul, roots itself in the tree and destroys it.
  • Honoria Lawrence, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books.