Did you know that while walking at night and yawning standing under a Peepul tree, advice is just snap your fingers instantaneously to avoid ‘pret’ (ghost) entering your throat and spoiling your digestion?

Peepul tree (Ficus religiosa)

Peepul tree, with botanical name Ficus religiosa, or sacred fig, also known as the Bodhi tree, Aswattamara (ಅಶ್ವತ್ಥ or ಅರಳಿ ಮರ in Kannada), popular as Indian Banyan Tree (Ficus benghalensis), is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indo China that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. "Banyan Tree " , its name, originally given as Ficus benghalensis, originated in India, where early travellers observed that the shade of the tree was frequented by Banyans (a corruption of Baniyas, a community of Indian traders).

In the Peepul tree’s botanical name Ficus religiosa, suffix 'religiosa' is connected to the East with many religious rites and ceremonies. For the ancient serpent worshippers, it was a Fig tree under which the sacred was represented as living. Its name as Bo-tree, a species of ficus, which became universally famous as its spread a grateful shade over the great Gautama Buddha, who obtained enlightenment in the lotus position as he passed from misery to existence to Nirvana concept of Buddhism. In the land of superstitions, in India, the Peepul trees has been considered as the special abode of spirits (ghosts) - the rakshasa; some people also believe that ghosts live on its branches and people are said to offer milk and flowers to the tree to ward off ghosts. In the villages of Northwest provinces, it is the Peepul tree again under which are deified the Shiva Lingam and the Yoni. From the earliest times in the Bible, Adam and Eve are said to have made themselves aprons of fig leaves, which is nothing more than an allusion to Hinduism’s ancient Phallic symbolism and practice.

In Hinduism’s Itihasa, the epic Ramayana, Panchavati in the Dandakaranaya forests is where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana spent major part of their 13 years in exile, and the name Panchavati is derived from the five sacred Peepul trees (Ficus Religiosa) ಅಶ್ವತ್ಥ (ಅರಳಿ ಮರ), or Banyan tree. Ficus Benghalensis) ವಟ (ಆಲದ ಮರ) found around it. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains consider Peepul tree as 'tree of life'. For Hindus, its roots are Brahma, the trunk is Vishnu, and leaves are Shiva. Another story related to the Mahabharata epic is that Krishna gave the Bhagavad Gita sermon to Arjuna under a Banyan tree in a place called Jyotisar, near Kurukshetra where the Mahabharata war was fought. In Hinduism, the leaf of the banyan tree is also said to be the resting place for the god Krishna. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also says, "I am the Peepul tree among the trees, Narada among the sages, Chitraaratha among the Gandharvas, and sage Kapila among the Siddhas." Hindus do pradakshina (circumambulation, or meditative pacing) around the sacred fig tree as a mark of worship. Usually seven pradakshinas are done around the tree in the morning time chanting "vriksha rajaya namah", meaning "salutation to the king of trees."

Historically, the first Europeans to come across banyan trees were Alexander the Great and his army, who invaded India in 326 BCE. The notes they took back to Greece informed Theophrastus, the founder of modern botany, and — ultimately — led 17th-century English poet John Milton to romantically write in " Paradise Lost" that Adam and Eve made the first clothes from banyan leaves. Its historical significance in naming the tree as the National Tree of India in 1950, as a memorial, is due to the fact that during India’s struggle for independence from Britain, the British hanged hundreds of rebels to their deaths from banyan trees.

In literature, the famous novelist Ruskin Bond, a tree lover, in his book titled “The Tree Lover” eulogised the Peepul tree as: ”Peepul trees are great showoffs. Even when there is no breeze, their broad chested, slim waisted leaves will spin like tops, determined to attract your attention and invite you into the shade”.

Thus, Banyan trees form an authentic backdrop to countless scenes in novels and also films and is sacred to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains alike, so it is rare to find a village without one, or to find a peepul without a shrine at its base. To 'visit the peepul tree' is even a poetic synonym for going to pray.

Banyan tree is linked to an infamous Kannada proverb, "Appa hakida alada mara " (My father planted this Banyan Tree)- which is indicative of what happens to young people who grow within a family of small business owners. "Our elders were doing the same job (business). I have continued it. For me continuing this business was the only option, because it is a family business".

There are many species of the genus Ficus, said to be more than 750 species, widely spread throughout the East. - from bushes to wines to very large trees even 100 ft in height. They are a large dry season-deciduous or semi-evergreen tree. One species which is well known in India attains vast growth as well as height, the great Banian Tree (Ficus indica) whose bended twigs root and form around the mother tree a pillared shade - but wonderfully diversified in appearance size and manner of growth. Peepul tree is so full of vitality that it is next to impossible to kill a full grown tree. They are exceptionally adopted to the process of germination and growth. Its seeds carried by bird-pigeon (mina) would land in Teak tree crevices and grow and clasp itself to its root stems even destroying the foster mother tree of Teak. Another destructive characteristic is of its seeds carried by birds landing in the crevices of large shrines which eventually grow so big thus destroying the very temple or pagoda to doom. Fici has no major commercial value, being soft, spongy and easily decaying.

Ficus religiosa has a very long lifespan, ranging on average between 900 and 1,500 years. In some of its native habitats, it has been reportedly found living for over 3,000 years. It is thus grown by specialty tree plant nurseries for use as an ornamental tree, in gardens and parks in tropical and subtropical climates.

Banyans are called ecological fulcrums as they produce vast crops of figs that sustain many species of birds, fruit bats, primates and other creatures, which in turn disperse the seeds of hundreds of other plant species.

In rural areas in India, till very recently, dried fig leaves were made into plates for eating. The plate is made of Banyan tree leaf, simply joined together with small wooden sticks which are taken from brooms stick ,toothpick, below trees etc. It is again becoming popular among those who appreciate the concept of using natural plate materials as a biodegradable way, in an original and organic way.

In traditional Indian medicine of Ayurveda, Banyan or Peepul (leaves, bark and roots and fruits) is used for about fifty types of disorders including asthma, diabetes, diarrhea, epilepsy, gastric problems, inflammatory disorders, infectious and sexual disorders. Farmers in North India cultivate it for its fig fruits which are edible and nutritious. Buddhists make Prayer beads from the seeds of Ficus religiosa, as they consider it sacred because of the closeness to Buddha himself and his enlightenment.

A highly Imposing shade tree with an interesting growth habit, its stems and limbs send out numerous aerial roots that grow downward and help support the wide canopy. Thus, Banyans have become the world’s biggest trees in terms of the area they cover and such biggest ones alive today are:

In India - The Great Banyan tree at the botanical garden, Howrah in West Bengal, the garden also known as ‘East India Company’s Garden’ or the ‘Company Bagan’; Thimmamma Thimmamma's Banyan Tree in Andhra Pradesh, covering 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres) that can shelter 20,000 people; Dodda Alada Mara (The Big Banyan Tree) in the village of Ramohalli, on the outskirts of Bangalore which has a spread of circa 2.5 acres; the Bodhi Fig Tree ("tree of awakening"), a large and ancient sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa, also called the Bo Tree, located in Bodh Gaya,where Gautama Buddha meditated; the Banyan tree that stands on a raised plinth in Jyotisar in Haryana, which is believed to be an offshoot of the holy Banyan tree under which Lord Krishna delivered the sermon of Bhagavad Gita; One large banyan tree, Kalpabata, inside the premises of Jagannath Temple in Puri,, considered sacred by the devotees. and supposed to be more than 500 years old.

Famous Banyan trees outside India are: The Banyan Tree in Lahaina, in Hawai Islands USA. planted by William Owen Smith in 1873 in Lahaina's Courthouse Square that has grown to cover two-thirds of an acre; the Lolani Palace banyans in Honolulu, Hawaii, planted in 1880 by Queen Kapiolani (planted two banyan trees within the Iolani Palace grounds) that have since grown into large groupings of trees on the old historic palace grounds; a large banyan tree in Cypress Gardens, at the Legoland theme park located in Winter Haven, Florida that was planted in 1939 in a 5-gallon bucket; Ficus religiosa trunk in the muddy water of the Mekong River, in Laos.

- Narasipur Char