And all the gods have known.
What mortal can now harm,
Or foeman vex us more?
Through thee beyond alarm,
Immortal God! we soar."
Then there is the peepul or bo-tree (Ficus religiosa), which is held in
high veneration by the followers of Buddha, in the vicinity of whose
temples it is generally planted. One of these trees in Ceylon is said to be
of very great antiquity, and according to Sir J. E. Tennant, "to it kings
have even dedicated their dominions in testimony of their belief that it is
a branch of the identical fig-tree under which Gotama Buddha reclined
when he underwent his apotheosis."
The peepul-tree is highly venerated in Java, and by the Buddhists of
Thibet is known as the bridge of safety, over which mortals pass from
the shores of this world to those of the unseen one beyond. Occasionally
confounded with this peepul is the banyan (Ficus indica), which is
another sacred tree of the Indians. Under its shade Vishnu is said to have
been born; and by the Chinese, Buddha is represented as sitting beneath
its leaves to receive the homage of the god Brahma. Another sacred tree
is the deodar (Cedrus deodara), a species of cedar, being the Devadara,
or tree-god of the Shastras, which in so many of the ancient Hindu
hymns is depicted as the symbol of power and majesty. [3] The aroka, or
Saraca indica, is said to preserve chastity, and is dedicated to Kama, the
Indian god of love, while with the negroes of Senegambia the baobab-
tree is an object of worship. In Borneo the nipa-palm is held in
veneration, and the Mexican Indians have their moriche-palm (Mauritia
flexuosa). The Tamarindus Indica is in Ceylon dedicated to Siva, the god
of destruction; and in Thibet, the jambu or rose-apple is believed to be
the representative of the divine amarita-tree which bears ambrosia.
The pomegranate, with its mystic origin and early sacred
associations, was long reverenced by the Persians and Jews, an old
tradition having identified it as the forbidden fruit given by Eve to
Adam. Again, as a sacred plant the basil has from time immemorial been
held in high repute by the Hindus, having been sacred to Vishnu. Indeed
it is worshipped as a deity itself, and is invoked as the goddess Tulasî for
the protection of the human frame. It is further said that "the heart of
Vishnu, the husband of the Tulasî, is agitated and tormented whenever
the least sprig is broken of a plant of Tulasî, his wife."
Among further flowers holding a sacred character may be mentioned
the henna, the Egyptian privet (Lawsonia alba), the flower of paradise,
which was pronounced by Mahomet as "chief of the flowers of this
world and the next," the wormwood having been dedicated to the
goddess Iris. By the aborigines of the Canary Islands, the dragon-tree