'S. "m iL^ i V '^1 V CULTUS ARBORUM OR Phallic Tree Worship. CULTUS ARBORUM A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF (ppaffic tui TJJore^ip WITH ILLUSTRATIVE Legends, Superstitions, Usages, &.C., EXHIBITING ITS Origin and Development AMONGST THE Castor ^ Mt^Uxn llatiflns oi tlje ait orltr FROM THE EARLIEST TO MODERN TIMES ; WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS UPON AND REFERRING TO THE PHALLIC CULTUS. PRIVATELY PRINTED. 1890. PREFACE. "T^HE lyvesent volume forms a compcmion to three already issued 071 ^'Ancie7it and 2Ioder7i Symlol Worship" denomiyiated severally, '' Fhallism,'' '' Ophiolatreia,'' '' Fhallic Objects and Remains,'' and " Tree Worship," they all form parts of one ivliole, a7id constitute a Series on the various forms and 2^hases of what is k7ioivn as ^^ Fliallic Worship.'' The subject is an extensive one, and there still re7nain sectio7is of it which have 7iot yet been dealt with, but which may be exhibited in fiture volumes. Although iii the co7npass of the p)resent work it has been irnpossible to treat the subject i7i a7iy thing like an exhaustive 7nan7ier, a great deal of matter has been inco7'porated in its closely-p)7'inted pjages which, atte7itively perused, will enable the 7'eader to form a just op)i7iion of what is included in the title. At the end of this volu7ne we have endeavoured to give the student of Ancient Faiths a Bibliography of works on or connected with Fhallis7n. Being the first atte7npt of the kind, 07nissions will doubtless be found, altho^igh there are nearly five hundred refe7^ences given, yet even as it is, it will prove of great use and advantage to those 7naki7ig researches. It is divided i7ito tivo classes — Fhcdlic works, a7id books bearing more or less up07i the subject. CONTENTS, PAGE. Chapter 1 1 Characteristics of Trees — Naturalness of Tree Worship— Origin of the worship — The Tree of Life— Ancient Types — A Tree as a Symbol of Life — Poetical Associations — Sacred Fig-tree — India specially a land of Tree Worship — Trees identified with Gods — Meintoriousness of planting Trees— Auspicious and inauspicious Trees — Ceremonies connected with Tree Worship — Invocation of Tree Gods— Banian Tree— Ritual directions— Santal Worship. Chapter II 16 The Bael-tree— Worship of the Left Hand— Trees of the Sun and Moon— The Arbre Sec, or Dry Tree— The Holy Tree of Bostam— The Bygas of the Eastern Sathpuras— Tree Worship in Mysore — The Palm Tree— Worship of the Palm at Najran— The Tree of Ten Thousand Images— Tree Worship in Persia — Sacred Old Testament Trees— The Classics— Forests and Groves favourite places of Worship— Origin of Groves — Votive Offerings to Trees. Chapter III ^2 Arab Tree Worship — Story of Kaimun, the captive slave — Miracle of the Date Tree— Persian bushes — Plane-tree — The Great Cypress— The old man of Diarbekir— The Ferviiers — Anecdote of Xerxes — Anecdote of a merchant and his wife — The bush of the "Excellent" Tree— The Cypresses of the Zoroaster— Motawakel —The Triple-tree of Abraham— Tree of the Club of Hercules — The Tree of Passieuus Crispus— The Virgin Mary's Fig-tree- Tree of Mohammed's Staff— The Neema-tree of the Gallas— Irish Superstitions— Saint Valeri — People of Livonia — Destruction of a Sacred Tree. Chapter IV 44 The Bogaha of Ceylon, or God-tree — The Maha Wanse and the Bo-tree — Ceremonies connected with the transplantation of the Bo-tree — Planting the great Bo-branch — Miracles of the Bo-tree ^The State Elephant— The Pipal Tree, viii. CONTKNTS. PAGE. ClIAPTEll V 58 Sacred Trees very ancient in Kj?ypt — Hebrew Trees — The Sycamore at Matarea — Ionic Forms — Tlie Koran on Mary and the Palm-tree— Sacredness of the Palm in Ei^rypt— Tree Worship in Dahome— The Sacred Tree of the Canary Isles. Chapter VI 64 Usefulness of the Ash-tree— Its position among Sacred Trees — The Queen of Trees— Mythology of the Ash — Scotch Superstitious Usages— The "Ash Faggot Ball" of Somersetshire — Pliny and others on the Serpent and the Ash— The Ash as a medium of cure of complaints — Anecdotes — Phallic Associations — The New- birth— Ireland and the Ash— The Juniper-Tree— The Madonna and the Juniper— The Elm-tree— Mythology of the Elm — The Apple-tree — Mythological allusions to the Apple-tree — The Pine- tree — Wind Spirits — German Superstitions — The Oak-tree — Universal Sacredness of the Oak— The Oak of the Hebrew Scriptures— Classic Oaks— Socrates and his Oath — Greek Sayings — The Trees Speaking— Sacred Ash of Dodona— Legend of Philemon and Baucis — The Hamadryads — The Yule Log — St. Boniface — Mysteries connected with the Oak— Christmas-trees. Chapter VII 85 Icelandic Customs— The Sacred Ash— The Prose Edda and Tree Worship— Icelandic Mythology of the Ash —The Norns — The Czeremissa of the Wolga— The Jakuhti— Sacred Trees of Livonia — Phallic Tree Worship and objects in Bavaria. TREE WORSHIP. CHAPTER I. Characteristics of Trees — Naturalness of Tree Worship — Origin of the Worshi}? — The Tree of Life — A^icient Types — A Tree as a Symbol of Life — Poetical Associations — Sacred Fig Tree — • India fj^ecially a Land of Tree Worship — Trees idejitified with Gods — Meritoriousness of Planting Trees — Auspicious and Inauspicious Trees — Ceremonies connected with Tree Worshi}} — Invocations of Tree Gods — Banian Tree — Ritual Directions — Santal Worshij). IN contemplating the various objects to which men, in their efforts to construct a natural and satisfactory religion, have rendered divine honour and worship, it is not surprising to tind that trees, flowers, and shrubs have shared largely in this adoration. While it was possible to offer such a tribute to mere stocks and stones and the works of men's hands, the transition to trees and their floral companions would be an easy one. Most people will agree with the statement, often made, that "There are few of the works of nature that combine so many and so varied charms and beauties as a forest ; that whether considered, generally or particularly, whether as a grand geographical feature of a country or as a collection of individual trees,, it is alike invested with beauty and with interest, and opens up to the mind *a boundless field for inquiry into the- mysterious laws of creation. But a forest is not merely an aggregate of trees, it is not merely a great embodiment of vegetable life : it is the cheerful and joleasant abode of numerous varieties of animal life, who render it more animated and picturesque, and who find there shelter, food, and happy homes." "There is, perhaps, no object in nature that adds so much to the beauty, that, in fact, may be said to be a necessary ingredient in the beauty of a landscape, as a tree. B 2 TREE WORSHIP. A tree, indeed, is the higliest and noblest production of the vegetable kingdom, just as man holds the highest place in the animal. Whether standing solitary, or arranged in clumps, or masses, or avenues, trees always give freshness, variety, and often grandeur to the scene. "Unless a man be a forester or a timber contractor by profession, he cannot walk through a forest in spring without having his mind stored with new ideas and with good and happy thoughts. Here is an entirely new animated world opened up to his admiring gaze ; a world that seems to be innocent and pure, for everything in it is rejoicing and glad. The first glow and llush of life visible all around is so vigorous and strong, that man partakes of its vigour and strength. He, too, feels an awakening of new life, not of painful but of pleasant sensations ; on every side his eye falls on some form of beauty or of grandeur, and they quietly impress pictures on his mind never to be effaced, for * A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.' " * It is easy, therefore, to understand how in times and places where men in their efforts to adore a Supreme Being, worshipped the beauties and wonders of creation, trees should become the representatives of the Divine if not actually the gods themselves. "The sun as the source of light and warmth, the changes of the seasons, the growth of herbage, flowers and trees, great rivers and oceans, mountains and deep glens — in short whatever of the works of nature is most beautiful or awful, and acts upon the intellectual or sensual perceptions, naturally becomes the object of adoration. Among these objects trees took an early place. Their beauty when single, their grandeur as forests, their grateful shade in hot climates, their mysterious forms of life, suggested them as the abodes of departed spirits, or of existing agencies of the Creator. If the solemn gloom of deep forests and groves were consecrated to the most awful of holy and unholy mysteries, the more open woodland glades became in imagination peopled with nymphs, dryads, and fau4is, and contributed to the most joyous portions of adorative devotion. Thus the abstract sacred character of trees is not difficult to conceive, and as the intellect progressed among * " English Forests and Forest Trees." TREE WORSHIP. 3 the early races of the world, we can follow among the Greeks and the Aryans, as well as the Hebrews, its naturally poetic and sacred development," * Serpent worship is by no means so easy to account for as tree worship, but it is a fact that in many places the two were intimately associated ; having dealt with the Urst of these in a former volume, we now exclusively treat of the latter. Speaking of the naturalness of tree worship, Fergusson pertinently remarks — " Where we miss the point of contact with our own religious notion is when we ask how anyone could hope that a prayer addressed to a tree was likely to be responded to, or how an offering presented to such an object could be appreciated. Originally it may have been that a divinity was supposed to reside among the branches, and it was to this spirit that the prayer was first addressed ; but anyone who has watched the progress of idolatry must have observed how rapidly minds, at a certain stage of enlightenment, weary of the unseen, and how wittingly they transfer their worship to any tangible •or visible object. An image, a temple, a stone or tree may thus become an object of adoration or of pilgrimage, and when sanctified by time, the indolence of the human mind too gladly contents itself with any idol wiiich previous generations have been content to venerate." "For the origin of the mysterious reverence with which certain trees and flowers were anciently regarded, and of tree 'worship,' properly so called, we must go back to that primaeval period into which comparative mythology has of late afl'orded us such remarkable glimpses ; when the earth to its early inhabitants seemed ' apparelled in celestial light,' but when every part of creation seemed to be endowed with a strange and conscious vitality. When rocks and moun- tains, the most apparently lifeless and unchanging of the world's features, were thus regarded and were personified in common lancjuage, it would have been wonderful if the more life-like plains — the great rivers that fertilised, and the trees with their •changing growth and waving branches that clothed them — should have been disregarded and unhonoured. Accordingly sacred ruins and sacred trees appear in the very earliest mythologies which have been recovered, and linger amongst the last Edin. Rev., 1869. TREE WORSHIP. vestiges of heathenism long after the advent of a purer creed. Either as direct objects of worship, or as forming the temple under whose solemn shadow other and remoter deities might be adored, there is no part of the world in whicli trees have not been regarded with especial reverence : — ' In such green palaces the first kings reigned ; Slept in their shade, and angels entertained. With such cold counsellors they did advise, And by frequenting sacred shades, grew -wise.' Paradise itself, says Evelyn, was but a kind of " nemorous temple or sacred grove," planted by God himself, and given to man ; and he goes on to suggest that the groves which the patriarchs are recorded to have planted in difierent parts of Palestine, may have been memorials of that first tree-shaded paradise from which Adam was expelled. "How far the religious systems of the great nations of antiquity were affected by the record of the Creation and Fall preserved in the opening chapters of Genesis, is not perhaps possible to determine. There are certain points of resemblance which are at least remarkable, but Avhich we may assign, if we please, either to independent tradition, or to a natural development from the mythology of the earliest or primaeval period. The Trees of Life and of Knowledge are at once suggested by the mysterious sacred tree which appears in the most ancient sculptures and paintings of Egypt and Assyria, and in those of the remoter East. In the symbolism of these nations the sacred tree sometimes figures as a type of the universe, and represents the whole system ot created things, but more frequently as a 'tree of life,' by whose fruit the votaries of the gods are nourished with divine strength, and one prepared for the joys of immortality. The most ancient types of this mystical tree of life are the date, the fig, and the pine or cedar. Of these, the earliest of which any representation occurs is the palm — the true date palm of the valley of the Nile and of the great alluvial plain of ancient Babylonia — a tree which is exceeded in size and dignity by many of its congeners, but which is spread over two, at least, of the great centres of ancient civilization, and which, besides its great importance as a food producer has a special beauty of its own when the clusters of dates are hanging in golden ripeness under TREE WORSHIP. 5 its coronal of dark green leaves. It is figured as a tree of life on an Egyptian sepulchral tablet certainly older than the fifteenth century B.C., and preserved in the museum at Berlin. Two arms issue from the top of the tree, one of which presents a tray of dates to the deceased, who stands in front, whilst the other gives him water, ' the Avater of life.' The arms are those of the goddess Nepte, who appears at full length in other and later representations." * Mr. Barlow informs us that the paradise here intended is the state or place of departed righteous souls, who, according to Egyptian theology as explained in the works of Rossellini, Wilkinson, Lepsius, Birch, and Emmanuel de Rouge, have triumphed over evil through the power of Osiris, whose name they bear, and are now set down for ever in his heavenly kingdom. Osiris was venerated as the incarnation of the goddess of the Deity, and according to the last-mentioned authority, was universally worshipped in Egypt as the Redeemer of souls two thousand years before €hrist. The head of this family was named Poer, and the members of it are shown seated in tv/o rows on thorns, one below the other; each is receiving from the Tree of Life, or rather from the divine influence residing in the tree, and personified as a vivifying agent under the figure of the goddess Nupte or Nepte, a stream of the life-giving water, and at the same time an offering of its fruit. The tree is the ficus-sycamorous^ the sycamore tree of the Bible, and it stands on a sort of aquarium, symbolical of the sacred Nile, the life-supporting agent in the land of Egypt. The tree is abundantly productive, and from the upper part of it, among the branches, the goddess Nepte rises with a tray of fruit in one hand, and with the other pours from a vase streams of its life-giving water. Mr. Barlow further says— "In the 'Tree of Life' of the Egyptians, we have perhaps the earliest, certainly the most complete and consistent representation of this most ancient and seemingly universal symbol, the Tree of Life, in the midst of paradise, furnishing the divine support of immortality." f Forlong says — "In his little work on Symbolism, under * See Quar. Rev., 114. f " Symbolism." 6 TREE WORSHIP. the head ' Sacred Trees,' Mr. Barlow has expressed what T have long felt. He says, ' the most generally received symbol of life is a tree, as also the most appropriate. . . . There- might be an innate appreciation of the beautiful and the grand in this impression, conjoined with the conception of a more sublime trutii, and the first jn-inciples of a natural theology, but in most instances it would appear rather to have been the result of an ancient and primitive symbolical worship, at one time universally prevaleyit.^' (The italics are Forlong's.) As men came to recognise in themselves twa natures — the physical and spiritual, the life of the body and the life of the soul — " So these came to be represented either by two trees, as sometimes found, or in reference ta universal life, by one tree only." Some thousands of years before even the age imputed to Genesis, there were sculp- tured on the Zodiac of Dendera, Egypt, two sacred trees^ the Western and Eastern ; the first was truth and religio7i — the sacred palm surmounted by the ostrich feather — the latter, the vital or generative force of nature, beyond which Egypt thought she had risen, therein surpassing her Eastern parent ; at least so I feel inclined to class them chronologically. " Besides the monumental evidence furnished," says Barlow, "of a sacred tree, a Tree of Life, there is an historical and traditional evidence of the same thing found in the early literature of various nations, in their customs and usages." All grand, extraordinary, beautiful, or highly useful trees, have in every land at some time been associated with the noble, wonderful, lovely and beneficial ideas which man has attributed to his God or to nature. We can recognise the early worship of trees in the reverence of thought which attaches to the two in the centre of man's first small world, a garden of fruits and shade. "All unhistorical though the tales may be," continues Forlong, " there is a deep poetry undei-lying the story of the sacred garden. We naturally picture it as a ' grove,' for man was not yet a cultivator of the ground ; amidst the deep shades of Eden, we are told, walked the great Elohim with the man and woman — naked — as ci-eated by him through his Logos, Ruacli, Spirit, or Spouse, but yet ' without the knowledge ' which ' the sacred tree of knowledge ' was soon to impart." Further on Forlong remarks — " The numerous tales of holy trees, groves and gardens repeated everywhere and in TREE WORSHIP. 7 every possible form, fortify me in my belief that tree worship was first known, and after it came Lingam or Phallic, with, of course, its female form Adama." " The serpent being Passion, and symbolic of the second faith, followed, we may say, almost simultaneously ; thus we find the sacred garden-groves of all Edens first mentioned, then the instructor, the serpent, and latterly creative powers in Adam and Adama, or in Asher and Ashera, which last female worship the Old Testament translators call the 'Grove.' We are told it was always set up with Asher, Babel, &c., under ' every green tree ' by ancient Israel, and up to a few hundred years before Christ, and not seldom even after Christ. " All Eastern literature teems with the stories told of and under the sacred fig tree, Ficus Beligiosa, Cooler, a Ficus hidica. Under its holy shade, gods, goddesses, men and animals disport themselves, and talk with each other on sacred and profane themes. From it, as from many another holy tree, ascended gods and holy men to heaven, and it and many others are to be yet the cradles of coming Avatars. To the present hour we find thousands of barren women still worshipping and giving ofterings throughout the year to this Peepal, or male fig tree of India, to obtain offspring : nor is the female tree, the Ficus Indica, neglected ; at stated periods this Bar, or true Banian, must be also worshipped with offerings by all who wish such boons. Under this sacred tree did the pious Sdkyamooni become a Boodh, or enlightened one ; and it is from the rubbing together of the wood of trees, notably of the three Banian trees — Peepal, Bar, and Cooler (Ficus Sycamores), the favourite woods for Phallic images, that holy fire is drawn from heaven, and before all these species do women crave their desires from Cod." With regard to the Ficus, Forlong remarks that others besides Jews have seen divers reasons why it is said to have been the first covering used by the human race. "The symbolic trefoil or fleur de lys with its seed springing from its stems, is still used as a Phallic ornament, and the leaf, especially of the Bo, is very like the old form of Ph : it has a long attenuated point, and is ever quivering on the stillest days. The tree has many peculiarities, not only in its leaves and modes of leafing, but in its fruit and modes 8 TREE WORSHIP. of multiplying, Avhich could not fail to make it of a very holy and important character in the pious, poetical and imaginative mind of the East. Amonc; others the fruit or seed hangs direct from its limbs, yet it is commonly said to be germinated by seed from heaven ; birds carry off the seed and deposit it on all high places, and in the trunks of other trees ; these this Ficus splits asunder and entwines itself all around, descending by the parent trunk as well as aerially, by dropping suckers until it reaches Mother-Earthy by which time it has most likely killed the parent tree, which has up to that period nourished it. Thus the Ficus tribe is often hollow in the centre, and if the hollow exist near the base, it is always a very holy spot where will usually be found a Lingani or Yoni stone, or both, or a temple of Matra-Deva — Deva or Siva — the great God of Creation." * " In a country like India, anything that offers a cool shelter from the burning rays of the sun is regarded with a feeling of grateful respect. The wide-spreading Banyan tree is planted and nursed with care, only because it offers a shelter to many a weary traveller. Extreme usefulness of the thing is the only motive perceivable in the careful rearing of other trees. They are protected by religious injunctions, and the planting of them is encouraged by promises of eternal bliss in the future world. The injunction against injuring a banyan or fig tree is so strict, that in the Ramayana even Ravana, an unbeliever, is made to soy * I have not cut down any fig tree, in the month of Vaisakha, why then does the calamity (alluding to the several defeats his army sustained in the war with Ramachandra and to the loss of his sons and brothers) befall me ? ' " The medicinal properties of many plants soon attracted notice, and were cultivated with much care. With the illiterate the medicinal virtues of a drug are increased with its scarcity ; and to enhance its value it was soon associated with difficulties, and to keep it secret from public know- ledge, it was culled in the dark and witching hours of night. Trees have frequently heen identified with gods : thus in the Panma Purana, the religious fig tree is an incarnation of Vishnu, the Indian fig tree of Rudra, and the Palasa of Brahma. * " Rivers of Life," vol. 1. TREE WORSHIP. ^ In the Varaka Parana, the planter of a group of trees of a particular species is promised heavenly bliss, and it is needless to point out that from the names of the trees recommended, the extensive utility of the act must be acknowledged. Thus it is said, " He never goes to hell who plants an asvatha, or a pichumarda, or a banian, or ten jessamines, or two pomegranates, a panchamra, or five mangoes." The Tithitatva gives a slightly different list, substituting two champakas, three kesara, seven tala-palms, and nine cocoanuts, instead of the banian, the jessamines, the pome- granates, and tlie panchdmra. As early as the Ramayana, the planting of a group of trees was held meritorious. The celebrated Panchavati garden where Sita was imprisoned, has been reproduced by many a religious Hindu, and should any of them not have sufficient space to cultivate the five trees, the custom is to plant them in a small pot where they are dwarfed into small shrubs. Such substitutes and make-shifts are ^ not at all uncommon in the ecclesiastical history of India. In Buddliist India, millions of miniature stone and clay temples, some of them not higher than two inches, were often dedicated when more substantial structures w^ere not possible. The Panchavati consists of the asvatha planted on the east side, the vilva or Mgla marmelos on the north, the banian on the west, the Emblica officinalis on the south, and the asoka on the south-east. The Skanda Purana recommends a vilva in the centre, and four others on four sides ; four banians in four corners, twenty-five asokas in a circle, with a myrobalan on one side, as the constituents of a great punchavati. Superstition has always been active in drawing nice distinctions between the auspicious and the inauspicious, and it is curious to observe how the auspicious qualities of some plants have been extolled. Some are considered auspicious when planted near a dwelling house. No tree with fruit or blossoms can be cut down, as the sloka threatens the cutter with destruction of his family and wealth. Therefore never cut down any tree that bears good flowers or fruits if you desire the increase of your family, of your wealth and of your future happiness. Superstition has associated supernatural properties with many plants, and several have been identified with the gods. 10 TREE WORSHIP. The durvd, a kind of grass very common in all parts of India, is excellent food for cattle. It is an essential article in the worship of all gods. It is said to have originated from the thigh of Vishnu. The relif];ious fi<][ tree makes one rich, the Jonesia Asoha . . . destroys all sorrow, the Ficus Venosa is said to be useful in sacrifices, and the Nim gives much happiness. Syzygium Jamholanum promises heavenly bliss, and the pomegranate a good wife. Ficus glomerata cures diseases, and Butea frondosa gives the protection of Brahma. The Calotropis gigantea is useful as it pleases the sun, every day the bel tree pleases Siva, and the Patald pleases Pdrvati. The Asparas are pleased with Bomhax malabaricum, and the Gandharvas with Jasminum, the Terminalia chebula increases the number of servants, and the Mimusops elenchi gives maid-servants. The Tdl is injurious to children, and the Mimusops elenchi productive of large families. The cocoanut gives many wives, and the vine gives a beautiful body ; the Corolia latifolia increases desires, and the Pandanus odoratissimum destroys all. The tamarind tree is considered most inauspicious, and according to the Vaidya Sastras, is very injurious to health. The Carica papeya plant is more so. The Sunflower, Helianthus, is supposed to emit gases that destroy miasma. The following trees are said to have peculiar virtues. The Indian fig tree, if on the east side of a house, is always auspicious ; so also is the Udumvava tree if on the west, and the pipul if on the south, &c. The following are supposed to have a peculiar influence on particular spots. The cocoanut tree near the dwelling- house confers wealth on the family, and if on the east or north-east of an encampment, the tree is the donor of sons. The mango tree, the best of trees, is auspicious at every place, and if situated on the east, gives wealth to men. The Bel tree, the jack tree, and the citron tree, and the plum tree, are in all situations conducive to prosperity. The Durvdshtami is one of the many vratas observed by Hindu females. It is celebrated on the eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Bhadro. On the day fixed for worshipping Durva a fast is observed, and Durva, Gauri, Ganesa and Siva are worshipped with rice, fruits and flowers. Durva is described as dark as the petals of a blue lotus, held on the heads of all the gods, pure, TREE WORSHIP. 11 born from the body of Yishnii, anointed with nectar, free- from all sickness, immortal, incarnation of Vishnu, and giver of good children, and virtue, wealth and salvation. A thread with eight knots, and fruits, &c., are presented to Durva, and the following prayer is then read — " Durva, you are called immortal, and you are wor-^ shipped both by gods and asuras. Having blessed us with prosperity and children, fulfil all our wishes. As you extend over the earth with your suckers and branches, in the same way give me healthy and immortal children." After the usual puja, the thread with eight knots is, tied on the left arm and the worshipper listens to the legend of Durva repeated by the officiating priest. The Asokashtami, the Arunvdaya Saptami, and the Madanotsava, are three other vratas in which trees are- worshipped. From the Sakrotthana, the rising of India after the new moon preceding the Durga-puja, the whole fortnight is devoted to one or other form of tree worship. Asokashtami is observed on the eighth day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra. In the month of Chaitra on the thirteenth lunar day^ the Madanotsava is celebrated and the Asoka tree is. worshipped. But the most important instance of tree w^orship is the- Durgapuja. Although the festival is a rejoicing at the promising crops in the held, and although it may be traced to the solar myth and Usha or dawn worship, it is un- doubtedly one of the most extensive festivals of tree worship. Along with the goddess Durga, the Nava patrici or the nine leaves are worshipped. On the morning of the first day of the puja, nine branches with leaves are tied together with a plant of Clitoria ternata alba, and a twig bearing a pair of fruits with suitable mantras, is stuck in the bundle. Before cutting the twig, the following mantras are repeated — " Sriphala tree, you are born on the mountain Mandar, Meru Kailsa, and at the top of the Himavat, you are always a favourite of Ambica. Born on the top of the Scri hill Sriphala ! You are the resting place of prosperity, I take you away to worship you as Durga herself. " Om Vilva tree, most prosperous, always a favourite 12 TREE WORSHIP. of Sankara, I worsliip the devi, having taken away your branch. O Lord, you must not mind the pain generated by the separation of your branch. I bow to the Vilva tree born on the Hymalaya mountain, favourite of Parvasa and embraced by Siva. You are auspicious in action and a favourite of Bhagavati ; for the sake of Bhavani's words, give me all success." The bundle is then anointed with A'arious cosmetics and aromatic drugs and oils, and is placed by the side of the idols. The several plants are then separately invoked, and the goddesses presiding over each are worshipped. The following are the mantras for worshipping them : — " Om, salutation be to Brahmani, the goddess dwelling in the plantain tree. Om, Devi Durga, welcome, come near us. In the Brahma form distribute peace to all. Om, salutations be to you. " Om, salutation be to Kalika, the goddess dwelling in the Arum plant. Om, good-natured in the war of Mahisha dema, you became arum plant. Om, the beloved of Hara, come hither for iny blessing. " Om, salutation be to Durga, the goddess dwelling in the turmeric plant. Ora, Haridra, you are Hara incarnate. Om, good-natured you are Uma incarnate. For the destruction of my ill-luck do receive my puja and be propitiated. " Om, salutation be to Kartika, the goddess dwelling in the Sesvania plant. Om, during the destruction of Sumbha and Nisumbha demons, goddess of success, you were worshipped by India and all gods. Be pleased with us. " Om, salutation be to Siva, the goddess dwelling in the vilva tree. Om, beloved of Mahadeva and beloved of Vishnu, beloved of Uma, vilva tree salute you. " Om, salutation be to Raktadantika (blood-teethed), the goddess dwelling in the pomegranate tree. Om, formerly in the war, you became Dadimi in the presence of Raktavija demon, you acted the part of Uma, therefore bless us. " Om, salutation be to Sokarahita (devoid of sorrow), the goddess dwelling in the Asoka tree. Om, Asoka tree, you please Siva and you destroy all sorrow. Make me sorrowless in the same way as you please Durva. " Om, salutation be to Chamunda, the goddess dwelling in the Man tree. Om, on whose leaves rests the Devi, beloved of Sachi, for my prosperity receive my puja. TREE WORSHIP. 13. " Om, salutations be to Lakshmi, the goddess dwelling in the rice plant. Om, for the preservation of the* life of all beings you were created by Brahma. Om, preserve me in the same way as you please IJQia." (See the Yastu Yaga and its bearings upon Tree and Serpent Worship in India, by Pratapachandra Ghosha). The Banian or Indian fig tree, is perhaps the most beautiful and surprising production of nature in the vegetable kingdom. Some of these trees are of an amazing size, and as they are always increasing, they may in some measure be said to be exempt from decay. Every branch proceeding from the trunk throws out its own roots, first in small fibres, at the distance of several yards from the ground. These, continually becoming thicker as they approach the earth, take root and shoot out new branches, which in time bend downwards, take root in the like manner, and produce other branches, which continue in this state of progression as long as they find soil to nourish them. The Hindoos are remarkably fond of this tree, for they look upon it as an emblem of the Deity, on account of its out-stretching arms ai^d its shadowy beneficence. They almost pay divine honours, and " find a Fane in every Grove." Near these trees the most celebrated pagodas are generally erected ; the Brahmins spend their lives in religious solitude under their friendly shade, and the natives of all castes and tribes are fond of retreating into the cool' recesses and natural bowers of this umbrageous canopy,, which is impervious to the fiercest beams of the tropical sun. The particular tree here described grows on an island in the river Nerbedda, ten miles from the city of Baroach, in the province of Guzzurat, a fiourishing settlement formerly in iDossession of the East India Company, but ceded by the government of Bengal at the treaty of peace concluded with the Mahrattas in 1783, to Mahadjee, a Mahratta chief. This tree, called in India Cubeer Burr, in honour of a famous saint, was mucli larger than it has been of late ; for high floods have at different times carried away the banks of the island where it grows, and along with such parts of the tree as had extended their roots thus far; yet what has remained is about two thousand feet in circum- ference, measuring round the principal stems ; but the hanging branches, the roots of which have not yet reached the 14 TREE WORSHIP. ground, cover a much larger extent. The chief trunks of this single tree amount to three hundred and fifty, all superior in size to the generality of our English oaks and «lms; the smaller stems, forming into stronger supports, are more than three thousand ; and from each of^ these new branches, hanging roots are proceeding, which in time will form trunks and become parents to a future progeny. Cuheer Burr is famed throughout Hindostan for its prodigious extent, antiquity and great beauty. The Indian armies often encamp around it ; and, at certain seasons, solemn Jattras or Hindoo festivals are held here, to which thousands of votaries repair from various parts ^ of the Mogul empire. Seven thousand persons, it is said, may ^asfly repose under its shade. There is a tradition among the natives, that this tree is three thousand years ^ old ; and there is great reason to believe it, and that it is this amazing tree that Arrian describes when speaking of the gymosophists in his book of Indian affairs. These people, he says, in summer wear no clothing. In winter they enjoy the benefit of the sun's rays in the open air ; and in summer, when the heat becomes excessive, they pass their time in moist and marshy places under large trees, which according to JSTearchus, cover a circumference of five acres, and extend their branches so far that ten thousand men may easily find shelter under them. English gentlemen, when on hunting and shooting parties, are accustomed to form extensive encampments, and to spend several weeks under this delightful pavilion of foliage, which is generally filled with a great variety of feathered songsters. This tree not only affords shelter but sustenance to all its inhabitants ; being loaded witli small figs of a rich scarlet colour."^ Trees have always been among the chief divinities of India. In the " Institutes of Menu," chap. 3, we find directions to the Brahman for his oblations, and, after a number of preliminaries, the injunctions proceed — " Having thus, with fixed attention, offered clarified butter in all a^»ie«es, •2-2 TREE WORSHIP. and attended by ^vin^ed deities, or ministers holding the jnne-cone symbol of life, which in Assyrian sculpture takes the place of the crux-ansata in the hands of the Egyptian deities. " The palmetto passed from the Assyrians to the Greeks,. and formed the crowning ornament of their most beautiful temples. It appears also to have been a symbol among the- Etruscans, and, together with the palm tree, will be found on Etruscan sacred utensils." * Sir William Ousley, from whose travels we quote in other parts of this volume, describes the tree worship at Najran in Arabia, in which the tree was a palm or Sacred Bate, having its regular priests, festivals, rites and services, and he quotes from a manuscript of the ninth century after Christ, and adds this note from a writer on Indian and Japanese symbols of divinity. " The trunk of a tree on whose top sits Deus the supreme Creator. Some other object might be worthy of observation ; but I fix my attention on the trunk of a tree. Moreover, whether you go to the Japanese or to the Thibetans, everywhei-e will meet you green tree worship (which has been) transmitted and preserved as symbolic perhaps of the creation and preservation of the world." This passage, in the opinion of Forlong, shows clearly the Lingam signification of the trunk: — "The Koreish tribe, from which the Arabian prophet sprang, were from earliest known times worshippers of the palm tree, and here, as in other lands, had it been succeeded by the Lingam, and latterly by solar and ancestral worship. The Arabs used to hang on the palm not only garments or pieces of gar- ments, but arms or portions of their warrior gear, thereby showing that they saw in the palm virility — a Herakles or Mercury." f A very remarkable tree found in Thibet was described by Abbe Hue in his travels in that and other countries in the years 1841-6, it was called the "Tree of Ten Thousand Images," and his account of it is as follows — " The moun- tain at the foot of which Tsong-Kaba was born, became a famous place of pilgrimage. Lamas assembled there from all parts to build their cells, and thus by degrees was formed * Barlowe's " Symbolism." f Forlong. TREE WORSHIP, 23 that flourishing Lamasery, the fame of which extends to the remotest confines of Tartary. It is called Kounboum, from two^ Thibetian words signifying Ten Thousand Images, and having allusion to the tree which, according to the legend, sprang from Tsong-Kaba's hair, and bears a Thibetian character on each of its leaves." " It will here be naturally expected that we say some- thing about this tree itself. Does it exist? Have we seen it? Has it any peculiar attributes? What about its marv(illous leaves ? All these questions our readers are entitled to put to us. We will endeavour to answer as categorically as possible. "Yes, this tree does exist, and we had heard of it too often during our journey not to feel somewhat eager to visit it. At the foot of the mountain on which the Lamasery stands, and not far from the principal Buddhist temple, is a great square enclosure formed by brick walls. Upon entering this we were able to examine at leisure the marvellous tree, some of the branches of which had already manifested themselves above the wall. Our eyes were first directed with earnest curiosity to the leaves, and we were filled with an absolute consternation of astonishment at finding that, in point of fact, there were upon each of the leaves well-formed Thibetian characters, all of a green colour, some darker, some lighter than the leaf itself. Our first impression was a suspicion of fraud on the part of the Lamas ; but after a minute examination of every detail, we could not discover the least deception. The characters all appeared to us portions of the leaf itself, equally with its veins and nerves ; the position was not the same in all ; in one leaf they would be at the top of the leaf; in another in the middle ; in a third, at the base or at the side ; the younger leaves represented the characters only in a partial state of formation. The bark of the tree and its branches, which resemble that of the plane tree, are also covered with these characters. When you remove a piece of old bark, the young bark under it exhibits the indistinct out- lines of characters in a germinatory state, and what is very singular, these new characters are not unfrequently different from those which they replace. We examined everything with the closest attention, in order to detect some case of trickery, but we could discer-n nothing of the sort, and the 24 TREE WORSHIP. perspiration absolutely trickled clown our faces under the influence of the sensations which this most amazing spectacle created. More profound intellects than ours may, perhaps, be able to supply a satisfactory explanation of the mysteries of this singular tree ; but as to us, we altogether give it up. Our readers possibly may smile at our ignorance, but we care not, so that the sincerity and truth of our state- ment be not suspected. " The Tree of Ten Thousand Images seemed to us of great age. Its trunk, which three men could scarcely embrace with outstretched arms, is not more than eight feet high ; the branches instead of shooting up, spread out in the shape of a plume of feathers, and are extremely bushy ; few of them are dead. Tlie leaves are always green ; and the wood which has a reddish tint, has an exquisite odour, somethinsf like that of cinnamon. The Lamas informed us that in summer, towards the eighth moon, the tree produces large red flowers of an extremely beautiful character. They informed us also that there nowhere else exists another such tree ; that various attempts have been made in various Lamaseries of Tartary and Thibet to propagate it by seeds and cuttings, but that all these attempts have been fruitless. " The Emperor Khang-TIi, when upon a pilgrimage to Kounboum, constructed, at his own private expense, a dome of silver over the Tree of Ten Thousand Images ; moreover, he made a present to the Grand Lama of a fine black liorse, capable of travelling a thousand lis a day, and of a saddle adorned with precious stones. The horse is dead, but the saddle is still shown in one of the Buddhist temples, where it is an object of special veneration. Before quitting the Lamasery, Khang-Hi endowed it with a yearly revenue for the support of 350 Lamas.'' Sir William Ousely says that when in Persia he en- deavoured to obtain information from the people respecting the ideas generally formed of Peries or Fairies ; imaginary creatures, beautiful and benevolent ; also of the Ghiiles or " Demons of the Desert," a hideous race, that sometimes haunt cemeteries, and particularly infest a dreary tract in the North of Persia, not far from Teheran, bearing the portentous name of Melek al moivt dereh, or "Valley of the Angel of Death." Concerning the Jiris or Genii, he found they were not restricted to any particular region, but TREE WORSHIP. 25 that the gigantic monsters called Dives or Dibes, resided peculiarly among the rocks and forests of Mazenderan or Hyrcania. He then proceeds : — " Those preternatural beings, and others which shall be hereafter mentioned, were the subjects of our conversation when we passed by an old and withered tree half covered with rags, fastened as votive offerings, to the branches ; it being one of those entitled by the Persians dirahht i fdzel, ' excellent or beneficial trees,' and held in superstitious veneration. I had already seen four or five near A'bdui, and two or three previously in other places, since our departure from Bushehr ; and now ascertained that their supposed sanctity did not depend either on the species, the size, or beauty of the trees ; nor on their age, although most were old ; but often proceeded from accidental, and even trivial circumstances ; yet since the reverence paid to trees seemed nearly as ancient, and as widely diffused as any other form of superstition, I have been frequently induced to make it the • object of personal inquiry among Asiatics, and of literary research at home. The result now before me would constitute a volume of no inconsiderable size, for the subject may be traced from this present day to the earliest ages of which written records furnish an account ; through every country of the old, and, probably, of the new world. The sacred Hebrew scriptures allude to it in many places ; we find it mentioned by Greek and Roman authors ; various anecdotes respecting it occur in Eastern manuscripts ; and it has been noticed by several European travellers and antiquaries." Further in his work, the same author observes : — " However replete with interesting objects, the ample field of antiquarian research offers but few to our notice under a more attractive form than trees, whether we regard them as distinguishing remarkable spots, the scenes of memorable transactions, as dedicated to certain divinities, or, as in some cases, almost identified with those divinities themselves." "It is not my intention, nor is it necessary here, to trace back the history of that veneration with which parti- cular trees have been honoured in all ages, and, I believe, in all countries. The Biblical reader will easily recollect many important trees besides that which stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, emphatically styled the ' tree of life,' 26 TREE WORSHIP. and the ' tree of knowledge of good and evil' He will recollect the idolatrous worship in groves, and under every green tree (Exod. xxxiv. 13, Deut. xvi. 21, &c.) The oak by Shechem, under which Jacob hid all the idols and ear- rings (Gen. XXXV. 4). The oak near Bethel which marked the grove of Deborah, and was significantly called Alton- haclmth (Gen. xxxv. 8). The palm tree under which Deborah, the prophetess, dwelt (Judges iv. 5). The oak under which sat 'the man of God' (Kings xiii. 14). The oak in Ophrah, under which the angel of God appeared unto Gideon and conversed with him (Judges vi. 11, 14, 16). The oak that was in the very Sanctuary of the Lord (Joshua xxiv. 26). " These and other trees which we may suppose lofty and umbrageous, such as the oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good (Hosea iv. 3), must immediately recur to a Biblical reader ; but the course of this article will remind him also of that humble bush which the Lord conse crated by his presence, w^hen he revealed himself to Moses in flaming tire on the mountain of Horeb (Exod. iii. 2, 4). With whatever veneration our first parents regarded the trees of Paradise, it appears that some which grew in natural and common earth were actually worshipped by the perverse Israelites of early ages, according to a learned Jew, one of those Rabbinical writers whose authority is most respected."^ " But the immediate object of this article and the narrow limits of an appendix do not allow me to expatiate farther amidst the groves of Scriptural history or of Jewish superstition. Nor can I enjoy more than a hasty glance at those trees reputed sacred in classical antiquity ; of which such number ofier themselves to the imagination as would constitute whole forests. So frequently were groves and woods dedicated to religious purposes that at last those very terms (in Greek alsos, lucus in Latin), implied consecration. "Turning for a moment or two to the " Archieologia Grseca" of the learned Dr. John Potter, we find numerous interesting items of information suitable for insertion here. " The temples in the country w^ere generally surrounded with groves sacred to the tutelar deity of the place, where, before the invention of temples, the gods were worshipped. " The most usual manner of consecration of images and * Moses Maimonides. TREE WOKSniP. 27 altars was by putting a crown upon them, anointing them with oil, and then ottering prayers and oblations to them. Sometimes they added an execration against all that should presume to profane them, and inscribed upon them the name of the deity and the cause of their dedication. In this manner the Spartan virgins, in Theocritus's eighteenth Idyllium, promise to consecrate a tree to Helena ; for it was customary to dedicate trees or plants after the same manner, and with altars and statues : ' We first a crown of creepinj^ lotus twine, And on the shadowy plane suspend, as thine ; We first beneath the shadowy plane distil From silver vase the balsam's liquid rill ; Graved on the bark the passenger shall see Adore me, traveller ! I am Helen's Tree.' Ovid likewise, in the eighth book of his Metamorphoses, speaks of adorning them with ribands : * An ancient oak in the dark centre stood, The covert's glory, and itself a wood : Ribands embrac'd its trunk, and from the boughs Hung tablets, monuments of prosperous vows.' It may here be farther observed, that altars were often erected under the shade of trees. Thus we find the altar of Jupiter Herceus placed within the court of Priam us, king of Troy : ' Within the courts, beneath the naked sky, An altar rose ; an aged laurel by ; That o'er the hearth and household gods displayed A solemn gloom, a deep majestic shade.' But where groves of trees could be had, they were preferred before any otlier place. It was so common to erect altars and temples in groves, and to dedicate them to religious uses, that all sacred places, even those where no trees were to be seen, were called groves, as we learn from Strabo."^ And it seems to have been a general custom which prevailed, not only in Europe, but over all the eastern countries, to attribute a sort of religion to groves. Hence, among other precepts, whereby the Jews were kept from the imitation of * Geograph. Lib., ix. 28 TREE WORSHIP. the Pagan religion, this was one : ' Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God' (Deut. xvi. 21). " This practice is thought to have been introduced into Greece from Phcenicia by Cadmus. And some are of opinion that hence Ascra, a village in Boeotia, where Hesiod was born, received its name. Several causes are assigned w4iy groves came into so general request, " At first, the pleasantness of such places was apt to allure the people, and to beget in them a love for the religious worship which was paid there ; especially in hot countries, where nothing is more delightful and refreshing than cool sliades ; for which cause the sacred groves con- sisted of tall and beautiful trees, rather than such as yield fruit. Hence Cyril does expressly distinguish the tree tit for groves from that which bears fruit, it being the custom to plant groves, not with vines or fig trees, or others which produced fruit, but only with trees which afford no fruit for human use, merely for the sake of pleasure. Thus one of the temples of Diana is described by Herodotus as standing within a grove of the largest trees. And th^ way to Mercury's temple was set up on both sides with trees reaching up to heaven, as we are told by the same historian. The same is farther confirmed by the descriptions of groves which remain in the ancient poets. "Secondly, the solitude of groves was thought very fit to create a religious awe and reverence in the minds of tlie people. Thus we are told by Pliny, that in groves, ijjsa silentia adoramus, the very silence of the place becomes the object of our adoration. Seneca also observes, that when we come into such places, ilia proceritas sylvcc, et secretum loci, et admiratio umbrw, Jldem numiiiis facit, the height of the trees, the solitude and secrecy of the place, and the horror which the shade strikes into us, does possess us with an opinion that some deity inhabits there. "It may not be impertinent to add one testimony more from Ovid, who speaks thus : ' A darksome grove of oak was spread out near, Whose gloom impressive told, A God dwells here.' " Thirdly, some are of opinion that groves derived their religion from the primitive ages of men, who lived in such TREE WORSHIP. 29 places before the building of houses. Thus Tacitus reports of the ancient Germans, that they had no other defence for their infants against wild beasts or the weather than what was afforded ramorutn nexu, by boughs of trees compacted together. All other nations lived at first in the same manner ; which was derived from Paradise, the seat of the first parents of mankind. And it is not unworthy of observation, that most of the ceremonies used in religion were first taken from the customs of human life. . . . "In latter ages, when cities began to be filled with people, and men to delight in magnificent edifices and costly ornaments, more than the country and primitive way of living, groves by degrees came into disuse. Yet such of the groves as remained from former times were still held in great veneration, and reverenced the more for the sake of their antiquity. As in the earlier times it was accounted an act of sacrilege to cut down any of the consecrated trees, which appears from the punishment inflicted by Ceres upon Erich- thonius for this crime, whereof there is a prolix relation in Callimachus ; so in latter ages, the same was thought a most grievous wickedness : whereof it will be suflicient to. mention this one example, where Lucan speaks of Caesar's servants, in allusion to the fable of Lycurgus, who en- deavouring to destroy the vines of Bacchus, cut oflf his own legs : * But valiant hands Then falter'd. Snch the reverend majesty That wrapt the gloomy spot, they feared the axe That struck those hallow'd trees would from the stroke Recoil upon themselves.' — Elton." Ousel ey proceeds — " The trunk or stump of a single tree afi*orded most obvious materials for a bust or statue ; and even unfashioned by human art, became on some occasions an object of idolatrous worship, whilst any rude flat stone, or heap of earth at its base, served as an altar, and the surrounding grove as a temple. That groves in ancient times were considered as temples we learn from Pliny. Treating of the respect paid to trees, he says that they were formerly Temples of the Gods, and that even in his time the rustics, observing ancient usage, dedicated to the Deity any tree of pre-eminent beauty or excellence. There is authority for believing that images were placed in groves 30 TREE WORSHIP. sooner than witliin the walls of religious edifices ; also that in the formation of statues, wood was employed before stone or marble, as appears from Pausanias, and is declared by- many antiquaries, as for instance Caylus, Winkelmann, and Ernesti. " That various trees were consecrated, each to a par- ticular divinity, we know from numerous passages so familiar to every classical readei*, that I need scarcely quote on this subject Virgil and Pliny. The statue of each god was often (perhaps generally though not necessarily), made from the tree esteemed sacred to him. But I shall not here trace the idol worshipped while yet merely a rude trunk or stock, and in that state called Sanis, through the Xoanon, when the wood was pared or shaven until it became a Deikelon or Bretas, having assumed a likeness, however faint, of the human form. This progress has been described by several writers on the Religion and Arts of Greece, such as Vossius, Gronovius, Grsenius and Spence, as well as those already mentioned. " But it must not be here forgotten that as votive offerings, or as tokens of veneration, wreaths and fillets, and chaplets or garlands were often suspended from the sacred branches ; a more elegant and far more innocent form of homage to a Divinity than (as among some nations) the staining of trees with blood which had just flowed from the expiring victim, not unfrequently human. " Concerning those offerings and wreaths and chaplets, a multiplicity of Greek and Latin extracts might here be adduced, and illustrated by means of the devices on medals, and sculptured marbles, the paintings on vases, and other precious monuments of antiquity. But the limits usually assigned to an appendix admit few quotations." Sir William proceeds to notice those lines wherein, mentioning the intended consecration of a shady plane-tree to Helen (who was daughter of Jupiter, and worshipped as a goddess in the Troad, in Rhodes and Lacedemon), Theocritus* describes the Spartan virgins declaring that they would begin the ceremony by placing on it a twisted or woven w^reath of the humble growing lotus. * Id., iiviii. 43. TREE WORSHIP. 31 And Ovid's"^ mention of the wreaths hanging from a sacred tree, and the addition of recent offerings ; and his story of Eresicthon,t who impiously violated the ancient woods of Ceres, cutting down the sacred oak, which was in itself equal to a grove, and hung round with garlands, fillets and other votive offerings. And those lines in which Statins I records a vow, promising that an hundred virgins of Calydon, who ministered at the altars, should fasten to the consecrated tree chaplets and fillets, white and purple interwoven. And the same poet's account of the celebrated Arcadian oak, sacred to Diana, but itself adorned as a divinity, and so loaded with rustic offerings that there was " scarcely room for the branches." The palm was deemed sacred in Egypt according to Porphyry ; and Herodotus mentions those palms that sur- rounded the temple of Perseus (Lib. ii., cap. 91); the grove of immense trees, and the trees reaching to heaven, about tlie temple of Bubastis or Diana (Lib. ii., c. 138) ; and those at the great temple of Apollo (Lib. ii., c. 156). Sir William Ousley says — " We may believe, also, that a sacred mulberry tree gave its name, Hiera Sycaminos^ to a town or station near the river ISTile. " Hiera Sycamines, fifty-four miles above Syene, according to Pliny, Nat. Hist., Lib. vi. c. 29 ; also in Ptolemy's Georgr., Lib. iv., c. 5 ; and in the Peutingerian or Theodosian tables." * Metam. Lib., viii. 689. t Metam. Lib., viii. + Theb. Lib., n. 736. CHAPER III. Arab Tree Worshij) — Story of Kaiinun, the Caj^tive Slave — • Miracle of the Date Tree — Persian Bushes — Plane Tree — The Great Cypress— The Old Man of Diarhekir—The Feroiiers— Anecdote of Xerxes — Anecdote of a MercJiant and his Wife — The Bush of the " Excellent Tree " — The Cyi^resses of Zoroaster — MotawaM — The Trijole Tree of Abraham— Tree of the Club of Hercules — The Tree Menelais — The Tree of Passie7ius Crispus — The Virgin Mary's Fig Tree — Tree of Mohammed's Staff— The Neema Tree of the Gallas — Irish Superstitions— Saint Valeri — Peojjle of Livonia — Destruction of a Sacred Tree. AMONG the Pagan Arabs of a very early date according to Ousley, was a tree worshipped by certain tribes as an idol, under the name of Aluzza or Alozza, according to original authority, cited by the learned Pococke. This is said to have been the Egyptian Thorn or Acacia, a reference to which is found in the Preliminary Discourse to Sale's translation of the Koran. ''Al Uzza, as some affirm, was the idol of the tribes of Koreish and Kenanah, and part of the tribe of Salim ; others tell us it was a tree called the Egyptian Thorn or Acacia, worshipped by the tribe of Ghatsan, first consecrated by one Dhalem, who built a chapel over it called Boss, so contrived as to give a sound when any person entered." The manuscript chronicle of Tabri, written in the ninth century, says that the people of Najran (in Yemen or Arabia Felix) had been idolaters, like all the neighbouring tribes, until a remarkable event induced them to embrace Christianity. " And they had," says he, " outside the city, a date tree of considerable base ; and every year on a certain day, they held a solemn festival ; and on that day all the people assembled round the tree, and they covered it with garments of rich embroidery, and brought all their idols under it ; and they went in ceremonious procession about that tree, and offered up prayers, and an evil spirit or devil spoke to them from the midst of it, and they having paid reverence to that tree, returned. It afterwards TREE WORSHIP. 33 happened," continues the historian, " that a man of Syria, named Kaimun, a descendant from the Apostles of Jesus, came into Arabia, fell among thieves, was taken and sold as a slave in the land of Najran. Here his master sur- prised him at midnight, reading the Gospel by a ray of celestial light, which illuminated the whole house, and Kaimun soon after, through divine assistance, caused the tree which had been worshipped as a divinity, to come forth, root and branch, from the earth ; such a miracle elBPected an instantaneous conversion of the people, who destroyed all their idols and became zealous disciples of Jesus." " Whatever circumstances in this anecdote may appear marvellous, there is little reason to doubt that a tree was once among the objects of idolatrous veneration at Najran; and as we learn from authentic history, the people of that place were cruelly persecuted for their adherence to Chris- tianity, by Dhu Nawa's, also named Yusef (Joseph), a prince of the Jewish religion, who reigned in the sixth century; about seventy years before Mahommed. That the ancient Arabians practised pagan rites, we learn from Zakaria Cazvini, who wrote in the thirteenth century. They observed, says he, at first, the religion of Abraham, but afterwards sunk into gross idolatry ; some worshipping a stone, and some a tree. He then relates the story of that tree-idol, Aluzza, above mentioned, with a slight variation of circum- stances, not claiming particular notice." The trees and bushes which the modern Persians regard with particular respect, have been noticed by most travellers in that country. Mr. Morier, in his journey through Persia in the years 1808-9 (vol. i., p. 230), says that according to superstitious belief, the rags deposited on certain bushes by persons suffering from diseases, and taken thence by other patients, who in turn substitute their own, prove an infallible remedy. In his second volume also (p. 239), he mentions the tomb of some Persian saint, and growing close to it, a small bush on which were fastened various rags and shreds of garments ; these, as was generally fancied, had acquired from their vicinity to the saint, virtues peculiarly efficacious against sickness. In the eighteenth century, it was remarked by Chardin at Ispahan, that the religious Mahommedans chose rather to D 34 TREE WORSHIP. pray under a very old tree than in the neighbouring mosque. They devoutly reverence, says he, those trees which seem to have existed during many ages, piously believing tliat the holy men of former times Iiad prayed and meditated under their shade. He noticed also at Ispahan a large and ancient plane, all bristling with nails and points, and hung with rags as votive offerings from dervishes, who, like monks of the Latin church, were professed mendicants, and came under the tree to per- form their devotions. He next describes another plane, said to be in his time above one thousand years old ; it was black with age, and preserved with extreme care. This attention, adds he, arises from a superstitious respect entertained by the Persians for those ancient trees already mentioned. They call them Dracte fasel^ or the excellent trees, venerating them as having been miraculously preserved by God so many years, because they had afforded shade and shelter to his faithful servants, the Dervishes and others professing a religious life. Another plane, one of these excellent trees, held in veneration, to which the devout resorted, is then described by this celebrated traveller (tome viii., p. 187). One, also, at Shirdz, to which they tied chaplets, amulets, and pieces of their gar- ments ; while the sick (or some friends for them) burned incense, fastened small lighted tapers to the tree, and practised other superstitions in hopes of thereby restoring health. Throughout all Persia, adds Chardin, these Dracte fasels are venerated by the multitude, and they appear all stuck over with nails used in fixing in them shreds of clothes and other votive offerings. Under their shade the pious love to repose whole nights, fancying they behold resplendent lights, the souls of Aoulia or blessed saints, who had under the same trees performed their devotions. To those spirits, persons afflicted with tedious maladies devote themselves ; and if they recover, the cure is attributed to their influence and proclaimed a miracle. The plane trees of Persia, the reverence paid to them as divinities, and the worship accorded them on account of their great age, are mentioned also by others, notably by Father Angelo, who resided in the country for a considerable period. Ousley says — " Pietro della Valle, in 1022, celebrated the great Cypress of Passa, anciently Pasagarda according to the general opinion ; and, nearly two hundred years after, I beheld this beautiful tree with admiration equal to that TREE ^VORSHIP. 35 expressed by the Italian traveller. He mentions that it was regarded with devotion by the Mahomedans ; that tapers were often lighted in the capacious hollow of its trunk, as in a place worthy of veneration ; the people respecting large and ancient trees, supposing them to be frequently the receptacles of blessed souls, and calling them on that account, Fir or ' aged,' a name equivalent to the Arabic Sheikh: also Imam, signifying a priest or pontiff; so they 'entitle those of their sect whom they imagine to have died in the odour of sanctity. Therefore when they say that such a tree or such a place is a Pir, they mean that the soul of some holy elder, a venerable personage whom they believe blessed, delights to reside in that tree or to frequent that spot. This most excellent traveller then observes that the veneration paid to trees may be considered as a rem- nant of ancient paganism, and aptly quotes various lines from Virgil in confirmation thereof" Similar testimony to the above is supplied by Barbaro, who, two centuries before Chardin and Angelo, when travelling through Persia observed thornbushes to which were attached great numbers of old rags and scraps of garments, supposed to be efficacious in banishing fevers and other disorders. " Whatever suspicion," says Ousley, " may be excited t)y this practice" we are discussing, "it is certain that the Mahommedans shudder at any imputation of idolatry, and fancy that in their addresses or offerings to those trees, they only invoke the true God, the great Creator. This will ■appear from an anecdote related by Saadi, who was born in the twelfth and lived during most part of the thirteenth ■century, eminent among Persian poets and philosophers. It occurs in the sixth chapter of his Gulistan, or Rose Garden, a work which has been published in various European languages, and so well translated into English by Mr. Gladwin, that I shall borrow his words upon this occasion, as it would be unnecessary and presumptuous to substitute my own. 'In the territory of Diarbeker I was the guest of a very rich old man, who had a handsome son.' One night he said, ' during my whole life I never had but this son. Near this place is a sacred tree, to which men resort to offer up their petitions. Many nights I besought God until he bestowed on me this son.' I heard that the son was saying to his friends in a low tone of voice, how happy should I be to know where that tree grows, in order 36 TREE WORSHIP. that I might implore God for the death of my father.'" " It seems probable that the early Muselmans who invaded lo^ayi or Persia in the seventh century, found this invocation of trees established there from ages long elapsed, and that they soon adopted the popular superstition (if, indeed, some practices of the same or of a similar nature were not already frequent among themselves), reconciling it to their own faith, by addressing the Almighty, or, as we have seen, ^ the intermediatory spirits of the saints. By the ancient Persians, especially those who professed Magism as reformed according to Zeratuslit or Zoroaster, image-worship and other forms of o-ross idolatry, were held in as much abhorrence as after- wards by the Muselmans themselves; and they contemplated the Sun and its representative, material Fire, witli veneration, merely as bright symbols of the sole invisible God. Yet in some of those sacred books which their descendants the Gabrs and Parsis attribute to Zeratusht himself (but which we may reasonably suppose were compiled in the third century, from fragments of ancient manuscripts and from tradition); it seems that trees were invoked as jmre and holy, and that a form of prayer (izeshne) was particularly addressed to Feroilers, or spirits of saints through whose influence the trees grew up in purity, and which, placed above those trees as on a throne, were occupied in blessing them. " From want of a more expressive term, I have called the Feroiiers, ' spirits,' but it is not easy to describe by one word those imaginary creatures ; for, at first, they existed sinf^ly ; were then united to the beings which they represent, foroiing, as it would seem, part of their very souls ; there are Ferouers of persons not yet born, although properly united only with rational beings, yet they are assigned to water and to trees ('Les saints Feroiiers de I'eau et des arbres.' Zendav. ii., p. 284). Some are described as females; all are immortal and powerful, but beneficent; pleased with offering's, they protect their votaries, and are prompt in carrying oil' the petitions of those who invoke them to the- mighty Ormuzd. " Here we find the supposed agency of preternatural beings, intermediate between man and his Creator; and to- this^I would ascribe an act of the great Xerxes which is. represented as extraordinary and even ridiculous; but of which, in my opinion, the motive has not been rightly understood. TREE WORSHIP. 37 "To Xerxes I have already alluded as the Persian king, who, almost five centuries before our era, although he may have worshipped God under the symbol of Fire or of the Sun, appears as if willing to propitiate some invisible superhuman power, by offerings suspended from the branches of a tree, in which he believed it resident. " The anecdote is first related by Herodotus, and in such a manner as leaves but little doubt of its authenticity. The fact which it records I hope to prove conformable with Persian usage and opinion. But many circumstances are related of Xerxes by the Greek writers, which can scarcely be reconciled to probability. Xerxes, according to that venerable historian above-named, having come from Phrygia into Lydia, arrived at a place where the road branched off, leading on the left towards Caria, on the right to Sardis. Those who travel by this road, says he, must necessarily cross the river M?ender, and pass the city of Callatebos, wherein dwell confectioners, who compose sweetmeats of tamarish-honey and wheat. Xerxes, proceeding on this road found a plane tree, which on account of its beauty he decorated with golden ornaments ; and leaving to guard it one of his troops, called the Immortals, advanced on the next day to Sardis, the chief city of the Lydians. " This anecdote is related with an amplification of circumstances, and his own comments, by ^lian, who ridicules the Persian monarch because, having undertaken a very important expedition, he pitched his camp and delayed a whole day in a desert of Lydia, that he might pay homage to a great plane tree, on the branches of which he hung rich garments, bracelets, and other precious ornaments ; and left a person to guard it, as if the tree had been a beloved mistress ; such is the sum of Elian's words. He does not impute this act of Xerxes (although it wore a semblance of worship) to any religious or superstitious motive, but to an absurd admiration of the tree, an inanimate object, on which from its very nature, says he, neither the gold nor splendid garments, nor the other gifts of that barbarian, could confer any benefit or additional beauty. "To the same story ^Elian alludes again, in a chapter recording instances of strange and ridiculous love ; and it is noticed by Eustathius in his commentary on Homer. " But these Greek writers could scarcely have suspected 38 TREE WORSHIP. the true motive of Xerxes in this act, since Herodotus, th& very historian by whom it was first related, had described the Persian religion as incompatible with what would appear a kind of idolatry. Yet tlie reader has, perhaps, already seen enough to convince him that Xerxes, while he affixed his jewels and garments on the plane tree, was engaged in solemn invocation ; soliciting, on the eve of an important military enterprise, the Almighty's favour through the inter- cession of some imaginary power. " That such is a just interpretation of the circumstance will further appear when we consider that it is not merely in case of sickness (though a very frequent occasion), that the present Muselman Persians (no less averse from gross idolatry than their early predecessors) invoke the spirits supposed to dwell in certain trees, by hanging on the branches pieces torn from their garments ; but as I have learned from several among them, on every undertaking which they deem of magnitude, such as a commercial or matrimonial speculation, the building of a new house, or a long journey ; and as almost six hundred years ago, when Saadi wrote his work above quoted, offerings are daily made by votaries desirous of having children. " On this subject an anecdote was told by a person at ShwaZy from whom I sought information respecting some trees and bushes covered with old rags, in the vale of Abdui and other places. He assured me that before the arrival of our Embassy at Bushehr, a merchant, lately married to a beautiful girl, but who had not yet given him reason to expect the blessing of an heir, was travelling with her, and finding a pleasant spot, halted there awhile, the sun's excessive heat inducing him to seek shelter. He perceived at a little distance from the road some ancient walls, among which grew a shady and handsome tree, to this he retired with his young wife, leaving the mules or horses in a servant's care. The tree, from its situation, had until that time, escaped the notice of most passengers, and did not exhibit on its branches even one votive offering, but the merchant, whose fondest wish was to obtain a son, fastened on it a shred torn from his clothes, and the united vows of himself and his fair companion were crowned with success before the expiration of a year. The circumstance being known (although some would, perhaps, think the TREE WORSHIP. 39 event possible without any preternatural agency), was ascribed to the tree's efficacious influence, and within another year the branches were covered with several hundred rags, by as many votaries ; not all, however, acting from the same motive." * As might reasonably be anticipated, the imagination has readily lent itself to the development and propagation of the superstitious idea now under consideration, and we find many an ancient bush exalted into a Dirakht-i-fazel from the fancied appearance of fire glowing in the midst of it, and then suddenly vanishing ; this name, as we have already seen, implying according to Chardin, " the excellent tree," and bestowed, as several travellers have observed, on every bough or tree that exhibits votive offerings, without regard to size or species, age, beauty or situation. " Where trees are generally scarce, the votary," says Ousley, " must not be fastidious in selection ; Dirakht-i-fazels are found near tombs containing the bodies of supposed saints, or Imamzadehs, but I have as frequently observed them in desert places where it could not be imagined that they derived any virtue from such sacred relics. " As the Persian villagers in their rustic dialect give the name of fdzel (still perhaps retaining its sense as the epithet excellent) to certain preternatural beings, so Dirakht-i- fazel would express 'the tree of the genii.' This circumstance I learn from a note written at my request, after some conversation on the subject, by Mirza Mohammed Saleh, of Shiraz, a very ingenious and well-informed young man of letters. And that preternatural beings were supposed to frequent a certain tree, I learn from an author of the twelfth century, quoted by Hamdallah Cozvini. He relates that among the wonders of Azerbaijan (or Media) there is at the foot of Mount Sabala^i, a tree, about which grows much herbage ; but neither is this nor the fruit of that tree ever eaten by beasts or birds, as they dislike it, and to eat of it is to die. This, as tradition reports, is the residence of jinn or genii." f The MS. Diet of Berhan Kattea, contains a long passage concerning two cypress trees of high celebrity among the Magians, the young plants of which had been brought, it is * Ousley's " Persia," vol. i. f Ousley, vol. i. 40 TREE WORSHIP. said, from Paradise, by Zeratusht or Zoroaster himself, who in an auspicious hour planted one at Kashmilr and the other at Fcirmad. After they had flourished one thousand four hundred and fifty years, the Arabian Khalifah, Mota- wakel (who reigned in the ninth century), commanded Taher Ben Abdallah, the governor of Khorasan, to cut them down and send both their trunks and branches to Baghdad, near which city he was constructing a palace. With such veneration were these ancient cypresses regarded by the Magians, that they offered, but in vain, fifty thousand dinars or pieces of gold coin, to save them from the fatal axe. At the moment of their fall, an earthquake spread con- sternation through the surrounding territory. Such was their immense size, that they afforded shade at once to above two thousand cows or oxen and sheep ; with the branches alone, thirteen hundred camels were loaded, and in transporting the huge trunks on rollers to Baghdad, five hundred thousand direms (pieces of silver coin) were expended. On the very night that they reached the stage next to Motawakel's new edifice, this Khalifah w^as assassinated by his servants. Ousley says — " The assassination of Motawakel happened on the tenth of December, in the year of our era 861 ; and not without a strong suspicion that his own son concurred in the atrocious deed." Ancient writings supply an abundance of anecdotes relating to wonderful trees which have flourished at various periods of the world's history, but many of these are so thickly encumbered with matter purely legendary that it is often difficult to distinguish the genuine from the apochryplial. Among others there is in a Greek manuscript preserved in the library of Augsburgh, and quoted by Jacobus Gretser, in his work " De Sancta Cruce," an account of an extraor- dinary triple tree, planted by the patriarch Abraham, and existing until the death of Christ — a period of about nine- teen hundred years. Greek writers tell of a wild olive which had taken root and grown from the club of Hercules, and Pausanias describes it as existing in the second century. The same writer speaks of a number of other celebrated trees remaining in his own time, including the large and beautiful plane called Metielais, which was planted at Caphya TREE WORSHIP. 41 by Menelaus, when engaged in military preparations for the siec^e of Troy, or by his brother Agamemnon, described as the "king of men," according to Pliny. An instance of tree veneration somewhat similar to that recorded by Xerxes, already cited, may here be mentioned. According to the historian we are quoting, the consul Parsienus Crispus so loved a certain tree that he was accustomed to kiss and embrace it, to lay himself down under it and to besprinkle it with wine. "The kisses and embraces," says Ousley, " might have authorized ^lian to give the Roman consul a place in his chapter on strange and ridiculous loves. But to recline under the shade of a beautiful tree seems perfectly natural ; and, perhaps, we may discover in the libation or affusion with wine, something of a religious ceremony, for it appears that the tree stood in an ancient grove consecrated to Diana, and we know that wine was sprinkled on trees in the early ages, as still in some parts of France." Near Cairo, at a fountain wherein the Virgin Mary washed her infant's clothes, a lamp was, three centuries ago, kept burning to her honour in the hollow of an old tig tree, which had served them as a place of shelter, according to the "Itinerario de Antonio Tenreio;" and Maundrell, who travelled in 1697, saw between Jerusalem and Bethle- hem, the famous turpentine tree, in the shade of which the blessed Virgin is said to have reposed when she was carrying Christ in her arms. In the time of Hamdallah Cazvini (fourteenth century), a dry or withered tree distinguished the grave of a holy man at Bastam ; this tree had once been (they say) Mohammed's staff, and was transmitted through many genera- tions, until finally deposited in the grave of Abu Abdallah Dasitani, where it took root and put forth branches, like the club of Hercules. Those who injured this sacred tree perished on the same day. In the time of Plutarch, an aged tree still bore the title of "Alexander's Oak," and marked a spot rendered memorable by one of that hero's exploits. It stood near the river Cephisus, and not far from the burial-place of many valiant Macedonians. How old this tree, may have been during Alexander's youth, does not appear ; but it grew near Cheront^a where he signalised himself in battle 337 42 TREE WOKSHIP. years before Christ; and Plutarch died 119 years after Christ, It may, however, have existed to a much later period. Ill Africa, the modern Muselmans and Pagans seem equally inclined to distinguish particular trees as sacred objects. Every tribe of the Galla nation, in Abysinnia, worship avowedly as a god, the Wanzey tree. Mr. Salt confirms this statement of Bruce, using similar language. Muiiffo Park mentions the Neema Tuba, a large tree decorated with innumerable rags or scraps of cloth — " a tree which nobody presumed to pass without hanging up something." Barbot informs us that the inhabitants of Southern Guinea make offerings and pray to trees, more especially in time of sickness ; from an expectation of thereby recovering their health. Colonel Keatinge, in his " Travels in Europe and Africa," speaks of a resemblance or identity between the Argali (wild olive) and the Arayel or the sacred tree of the Hindus ; and he noticed the offerings strung upon those Argali, " rags, potsherds, and the like trash." Why such things were offered, or the origin of such a custom, no person attempts to explain, but he observes, " a traveller will see precisely the like in the west of Ireland, and will receive an equally satisfactory account upon the subject." A multiplicity of extracts might be quoted to prove how long this superstition lingered among various nations o£ Europe, besides the Irish. We need scarcely premise that it was widely diffused in pagan times throughout those nations. We have already seen it among the Greeks and Romans. It flourished among the ancient Germans, as Tacitus and Agathias inform us ; among the Scandinavians also, and different tribes of the nor-th, according to their Edda and other works. The Druids of the Celts, Gauls and Britons of course afford familiar examples. But after the introduction of Christianity we find the worship of trees condemned, as a practice still existing, by the councils of Auxerre, of Nantes, and of Tours. It was also strongly forbidden by the laws of Canute, as may be seen in Wilkins's "Leg. Ang. Sax." Many anecdotes are recorded, says Ousley, of holy men who exerted themselves in efforts to abolish the superstition. Thus we read in the History of Saint Valeri, that this pious abbot, having discovered the trunk of a large tree TREE WORSHIP. 43^ which the rustics zealously worshipped with pagan devotion, immediately directed that it should be destroyed. Notwith- standing such laudable exertions, we learn from Ditmar, an author of the eleventh century, tliat in his time the people of Ridegast, in Mecklenbourgh, revered a certain gloomy forest and were afraid to touch the trees of which it was composed. Leonard Rubenus, late in the sixteenth century, found Livonia still infected with the idolatrous veneration of trees; for passing through the sacred woods of the Esthonians, he^ perceived an immense pine, which the neighbouring people adored, loading its branches with pieces of old cloth, and expecting that any injury offered to it would be attended with some miraculous punishment. Rubenus, however, tells, us that he cut on this pine the figure of a cross, and, lest the superstition should be thereby augmented, he afterwards marked on it the form of a gibbet, in contempt for the tree, regarded by those rustics as their god. At a much later period this kind of idolatry existed among the same people. Abel Burja, who visited them in 1777, mentions their sacred trees, and relates an anecdote which he heard at Petersburgh from a priest of Finland, whose father had likewise exercised the sacerdotal office in that country, where his parishioners had long honoured a certain tree with religious homage. This worthy pastor, having excited the good humour of those peasants, whom he treated with brandy, exhorted them to cut down the object of their superstitious worship, but they refused ta touch it, fearing that on the first application of an axe they should be destroyed by thunderbolt. Their pastor, however, struck it with impunity ; encouraged by the brandy, they followed his example, and soon prostrated the ancient tree."^ * Ousley, vol. i. CHAPTER IV. The Bogaha of Ceylon, or God Trees — The Maha Wanse and the Bo-Tree — Ceremonies connected tuith the Transplantation of the Bo-Tree — Planting the Great Bo-Branch — Miracles of the Bo-Tree— The State Elephant— The Pipal Tree. CEYLON had its Bogaha, or "God Tree," and when Sir William Ousley was in that country in 1810, he was presented with a number of pieces of the wood found in its forests, among the collection were samples of the Bogaha tree, venerated, he says, by the natives as sacred. A note from Knox's " Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon," says — " I shall mention but one tree more, as famous and highly set by as any of the rest, if not more, though it bears no fruit, the benefit consisting chiefly in the holiness of it. This tree they call Bogauhah ; we, the God Tree. It is very great and spreading ; the leaves always shake like an asp. They have a great veneration for these trees, worshipping them upon a tradition that Buddou, a great god among them, when he was upon the earth, did use to sit under this kind of trees. There are many of these trees, which they plant all the land over, and have more ■care of than of any other. They pave round about them like a key, sweep often under them to keep them clean ; they light lamps and set up their images under them, and a stone table is laid under some of them to lay their sacrifices on ; they set them everywhere in towns and highways, where a,ny convenient places are ; they serve also for shade to travellers ; they will also set them in memorial of persons deceased, to wit, there where their bodies were burnt. It is religion also to sweep under the Bogauhah, or God Tree, and keep it clean. It is held meritorious to plant them, which, they say, he that does shall die within a short time after and go to heaven. But the oldest men only that are nearest death in the course of nature do plant them, and none else, the younger sort desiring to live a little longer in this world before they go to the other." The Maha Wanse, the principal native historical record TREE WORSHIP. 45, in Ceylon, supplies a great deal of interesting information respecting the sacred trees of that country, notably of the- Bo-Tree. Chapter 18, as translated from the Pali by the Hon. George Turnour, is particularly important. " The ruler of the land, meditating in his own palace on the proposition of the thero, of bringing over the great Bo-Tree as well as the theri Sanghamitta ; on a certain day, within the term of that ' wasso,' seated by the thero, and having consulted his ministers, he himself sent for and advised with his maternal nephew, the minister Aritho. Having selected him for that mission, the king addressed this question to him : ' My cliild, art thou willing, repairing to the court of Dhammasoko, to escort hither the great Bo-Tree and the theri Sanghamitta ? ' ' Gracious lord, I am willing to brin^ these from thence hither, provided on my return to this land, I am permitted to enter into the priesthood.' The monarch replying, ' Be it so,' deputed him thither. He, conforming to the injunction both of the thero and of the- sovereign, respectfully took his leave. The individual so delegated, departing on the second day of the increasing moon of the month ' assayujo,' embarked at Jambokolapattana." " Having departed, under the (divine) injunction of the thero, traversing the ocean, he reached the delightful city of Puppa on the very day of his departure. " The princess Anula, together with five hundred virgins, and also with five hundred of the women of the palace, having conformed to the jdIous observances of the ' dasasil '' order, clad in yellow garments, and strenuously endeavouring to attain the superior grades of the sanctification, is looking forward to the arrival of the theri to enter into the priesthood ; leading a devotional life of piety in a delightful sacerdotal residence, provided (for them) by the king, in a certain quarter of the city which had previously been the domicile of the minister Dono. The residence occupied by such pious devotees has become from that circumstance, celebrated in Lanka by the name ' Upasaka.' Thus spoke Maharittho, the nephew (of Dewananpiyatisso), announcing the message of the king, as well as of the thero, to Dhammasoko ; and added, ' Sovereign of elephants ! the consort of thy ally the king (of Lanka), impelled by the desire of devoting herself to the ministry of Buddho, is unremittingly leading the life of a pious devotee, for th& 46 TREE WORSHIP. purpose of ordaining her a priestess, deputing thither the theri Sanghamitta, send also with her the right branch of the great Bo-Tree. " He next explained to the theri herself the intent of the message of the thero (her brother Mahindo). ^ The said theri, obtaining an audience of her father, communicated to him the message of the thero. The monarch replied (addressing her at once reverentially and affectionately), * My mother ! bereaved of thee, and separated from my children and grandchildren, what consolation will there be left wherewith to alleviate my affliction?' She rejoined, ' Maharaja, the injunction of my brother (Mahindo) is im- perative • and those who are to be ordained are many; on that account it is meet that I should repair thither.' "The king (thereupon) thus meditated — 'The great Bo-Tree is rooted to the earth ; it cannot be meet to lop it with any weapon : by what means then can I obtain a branch thereof?' This lord of the land, by the advice of the minister Mahadevo, having invited the priesthood to a repast, thus inquired (of the high-priest) : ' Lord, is it meet to transmit (a branch of) the great Bo-Tree to Lanka?' The chief-priest, the son of Moggali, replied: 'It is fitting it should be sent ; ' and propounded to the monarch the five important resolves of (Buddho) the deity gifted with five means of perception. The lord of the land, hearing this reply, rejoicing thereat, ordered the road to the Bo-Tree, distant (from Patalipatto) seven yojanas, to be swept, and perfectly decorated in every respect; and for the purpose of having the vase made, collected gold. Wissakammo himself assuming the character of a jeweller, and repairing thither, enquired 'of what size shall I construct the vase?' On being told— ' make it, deciding on the size thyself — receiving the gold, he moulded it (exclusively) with his own hand, and instantly perfecting that vase, nine cubits in circum- ference, five cubits in depth, three cubits in diameter, eight inches in thickness, and in the rim of the mouth of the thickness of the trunk of a full-grown elephant, he departed. " The monarch causing tliat vase, resplendent like the meridian sun, to be brought, attended by the four constituent hosts of his military array, and by the great body of the priesthood, which extended over five yojanas in length and three in breadth, repaired to the great Bo-Tree, which was TREE WORSHIP. 47 decorated with every variety of ornament ; glittering with the variegated splendour of gems ; decked with rows of streaming' banners ; laden with offerings of flowers of every hue ; and surrounded by the sound of every description of music ; encircling it with this concourse of people, he screened (the Bo-Trec) with a curtain. A body of a thousand priests, with the chief thero (son of Maggali) at their head, having (by forming an inner circle) enclosed the sovereign himself as well as the great Bo-Tree most completely; with uplifted clasped hands (Dhammasako) gazed on the great Bo-Tree. " While thus gazing (on the Bo-Tree) a portion thereof, beino- four cubits of the branch, remained visible, and the other branches vanished. Seeing this miracle, the ruler of the world, overjoyed, exclaimed, ' I make an offering of my empire to the great Bo-Tree.' The lord of the land (there- upon) invested the great Bo-Tree with the empire. Making flower and other ofierings to the great Bo-Tree, he walked round it. Having bowed down, with uplifted hands, at eight places ; and placed that precious vase on a golden chair, studded with various gems, of such a height that the branch could be easily reached, he ascended it himself for the purpose of obtaining the supreme branch. Using Vermillion in a golden pencil, and therewith making a streak on the branch, he pronounced this confession of his faith. 'If this supreme right Bo branch detached from this Bo-Tree is destined to depart from hence to the land of Lanka, let it, self-severed, instantly transplant itself into the vase: then, indeed, I shall have implicit faith in the religion of Buddho.' " The Bo branch severing itself at the place where the streak was made, hovered over the mouth of the vase (which was) filled with scented soil. " The monarch then encircled the branch with (two) streaks above the original streak, at intervals of three inches : from the original streak, the principal, and from the other streaks, minor roots, ten from each, shooting forth and brilliant, from their freshness, descended (into the soil in the vase). The sovereign on witnessing this miracle (with uplifted hands) set up a shout, while yet standing on the golden chair, which was echoed by the surrounding 48 TREE WORSHIP. spectators. The delighted priesthood expressed their joy by shouts of ' Sadhu,' and the crowding multitude, waving thousands of cloths over their heads, cheered. "Thus this (branch of the) great Bo-Tree established itself in the fragrant soil (in the vase) with a hundred roots, tilling with delight the whole attendant multitude. The stem thereof was ten cubits high : there were tive branches, each four cubits long, adorned with five fruits each. From the (tive main) branches many lateral branches amounting to a thousand were formed. Such was this miraculous and delightful-creating Bo-Tree. " The instant the great Bo branch was planted in the vase, the earth quaked, and numerous miracles were performed. By the din of the separately heard sound of various musical instruments — by the ' Sadhus ' shouted, as well by devos and men of the human world, as by the host of devos and brahmas of the heavens — by the howling of the elements, the roar of animals, the screeches of birds, and the yells of the yakkhas, as well as other tierce spirits, together with the crashing concussions of the earthquake, they con- stituted an universal chaotic uproar. " From the fruits and leaves of the Bo branch, brilliant rags of the six primitive colours issuing forth, illuminated the whole ' chakkawalan.' Then the great Bo branch, too-ether with its vase, springing up into the air (from the golden chair), remained invisible for seven days in the snowy regions of the skies. " The monarch descending from the chair, and tarrying on that spot for those seven days, unremittingly kept up in the fullest formality, a festival of offerings to the Bo branch. At the termination of the seventh day, the spirits which preside over elements (dispelling the snowy clouds), the beams of the moon enveloped the great Bo branch. "The enchanting great Bo branch, together with the vase, remaining poised in the tirmament, displayed itself to the whole multitude. Having astounded the congregation by the performance of many miracles, the great Bo brancli descended to the earth. "The great monarch, overjoyed at these various miracles, a second time made an offering of the empire to the great Bo. Having thus invested the great Bo with the whole empire, making innumerable offerings, he tarried there for seven days longer. TREE WORSHIP. 49 " On the fifteenth being the full moon day of the bright half of the month assayiijo (the king) took possession of 1:he great Bo branch. At the end of two weeks from that date, being the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month assayujo, the lord of chariots, having had his capital fully ornamented and a superb hall built, placing the great Bo branch in a chariot, on that very day brought it in a procession of offering (to the capital). "On the first day of the bright half of the month 'Kattiko,' having deposited the great Bo branch under the great Sal tree in the south-east quarter (of Patilaputto) he daily made innumerable offerings thereunto, " On the seventeenth day after he had received charge of it, its new leaves sprouted forth simultaneously. From that circumstance also the monarch, overjoyed, a third time dedicated the empire to the great Bo-Tree. "The ruler of men, having thus finally invested the great Bo branch with the whole empire, made various offer- ings to the said tree. " The lord of chariots assigned for the custody of the Bo branch, eighteen personages of royal blood, eighteen members of noble families, eight of the Brahman caste, and eight of the Settha caste. In like manner eight of each of the agricultural and domestic castes, as well as of weavers and potters, and of all other castes : as also Nagas. and Yakkos. This delight in donations, bestowing vases of gold and silver, eight of each (to w^ater the Bo branch with)^ embarking the great Bo branch in a superbly decorated vessel on the river (Ganges), and embarking likewise the high-priestess Sanghamitta with her eleven priestesses, and the ambassador, Arittho at the head (of his mission) ; (the monarch) departing out of his capital, and preceding (the river procession with his army) through the wilderness of Winjha, reached Tamalitta on the seventh day. The devas. and men (during his land progress) kept up sjjlendid festivals of offerings (on the river), and also reached (the port of embarkation) on the seventh day. " The sovereign disembarking the Bo branch on the shore of the main ocean, again made an offering of his empire. This delighter of good works having thus finally in- vested the great Bo branch with the whole empire, on the first day of the bright half of the moon in the month of 50 TREE WORSFIIP. * Maggasiro ; ' thereupon he (gave direction) that the great Bo branch which was deposited (at the foot of the Sal tree) should be lifted up by the aforesaid four high caste tribes (assisted) by the other eight persons of each of the other castes. The elevation of the Bo branch having been effected by their means (the monarch) himself descending there (unto the sea) till the water reached his neck, most carefully deposited it in the vessel. " Having thus completed the embarkation of it, as well as of the chief theri with lier priestesses, and the illustrious ambassador Maharittho, he made this address to them :— - * I have on three occasions dedicated my empire to this great Bo branch ; in like manner let my ally, your sovereign, as fully make (to it) an investiture of his empire.' "The maharaja, having thus spoken, stood on the shore of the ocean with uplifted hands; and gazing on the de- parting Bo branch, shed tears in the bitterness of his grief. In the ao-ony of parting with the Bo branch, the disconso- late Dhammasoko, weeping and lamenting in loud sobs, departed for his own capital. "The vessel in which the' Bo-Tree was embarked, briskly dashed through the water; and in the great ocean, within the circumference of a yojana, the waves were stilled : flowers of the five different colours blossomed around it, and various melodies of music rung in the air. Innu- merable offerings were kept up by innumerable devas; (but) the nagas had recourse to their magical arts to obtain possession of the Bo-Tree. The chief-priestess, Sanghammitta, who had attained the sanctification of ' abhinna,' assuming the form of the ' supanna,' terrified those nagas (from their purpose). These subdued nagas, respectfully imploring of the chief-priestess (with her consent) conveyed the Bo-Tree to the settlement of the nagas : and for seven days innumerable offerings having been made by the naga king, they them- selves, bringing it back, replaced it in the vessel. On the same 'day tliat the Bo-Tree reached this land at the port of Jambukolo, the universally beloved monarch Dewananpi- yatisso, having by his communications with Sumano Samanero, ascertained the (approaching) advent (of the Bo branch); and from the first day of the month of 'maggasiro,' in his anxiety to prepare for its reception, having, with the greatest TREE WORSHIP. 51 zeal, applied himself to the decoration of the high road from the northern gate (of Anuradhapura) to Jambukolo, had (already) repaired thither. " While seated in a hall on the sea-beach, by the miraculous powers of the thero (Mahindo), he was enabled to discern (though still out of sight) the Bo branch which w^as approaching over the great ocean. In order that the ball built on that spot might perpetuate the fame of that miracle, it became celebrated there by the name of the ' Sammudasanna-sala.' Under the auspices of the chief thero, attended by the other theros, as well as the imperial array of his kingdom, on that very day, the nobly formed maharaja, chanting forth in his zeal and fervour, ' This is the Bo from the Bo-Tree (at which Buddho attained buddhohood),' rushing into the waves up to his neck, and causing the great Bo branch to be lifted up collectively by the sixteen castes of persons on their heads, and lowering it down, deposited it in the superb hall built on the beach. The sovereign of Lanka invested it with the kingdom of Lanka ; and unto these sixteen castes, surrendering his sovereign authority, this ruler of men, taking upon himself the office of sentinel at the gate (of the hall), for three entire days in the dis- charge of this duty, made innumerable offerings. " On the tenth day of the month, elevating, and placing the Bo branch in a superb car, this sovereign, who had by inquiry ascertained the consecrated places, exhorting the monarch of the forest, deposited it at the Pachina wiharo ; and entertained the priesthood as well as the people, with their morning meal. There (at the spot visited at Buddha's second advent) the chief thero INIahindo narrated, without the slightest omission, to his monarch, the triumph obtained over the nagas (during the voyage of the Bo branch) by the deity gifted with the ten powers. Having ascertained from the thero the particular spots on wliich the divine teacher had rested or taken refreshment, those several spots he marked with monuments. " The sovereign stopping the progress of the Bo branch at the entrance of the viUage of the Brahma Tiwako, as well as at the several aforesaid places, (each of which) was sprinkled with white sand, and decorated with every variety of flowers, with the road (approaching to each) lined with banners and garlands of flowers : — and keeping up ofi'erings, 52 TREE WORSHIP. by night and by day uninteruptedly, on the fourteenth day he conducted it to the vicinity of Anuradhapura. At the hour that shadows are most extended, he entered the superbly decorated capital by the northern gate, in the act of making offerings ; and passing in procession out of the southern gate, and entering the Mahamego garden hallowed by the presence of the Buddhas (of this kappo) ; and aniving under the directions of Sumano himself, at the delightful and decorated spot at which the former Bo-Trees had been planted ; — by means of the sixteen princes who were adorned with all the insignia of royalty (which they assumed on the king surrendering the sovereignity to them)^ raising up the Bo branch, he contributed his personal exertion to deposit it there. ''The instant it extricated itself from the hand of man,^ springing eighty cubits up into the air, self poised and re- splendent, it cast forth a halo of rays of six colours. These enchanting rays illuminating the land, ascended to the Brahma heavens, and continued (visible) till the setting of the sun. Ten thousand men, stimulated by the sight of these miracles, increasing in santitication, and attaining the state of 'arabat,' consequently entered into the priest- hood. "Afterwards, at the setting of the sun, the Bo branch descending, under the constellation ' rohani,' placed itself on the ground, and the earth thereupon quaked. Those roots (before described) rising up out of the mouth of the vase, and shooting downwards, descended (forcing down) the vase itself into the ground. The whole assembled populace made flower and other offerings to the planted Bo. A heavy deluge of rain fell around, dense cold clouds completely en- veloved the great Bo in its snowy womb. In seven days the Bo-Tree remained there, invisible in the snowy womb, occasioning (renewed) delight in the populace. At the ter- mination of the seventh clay, all these clouds dispersed, and displayed the Bo Tree, and its halo of six coloured rays. " The chief thero Mahindo and Sanghmitta, each together with their retinue, as well as his majesty with his suite, assembled there. The princes from Chandanaggamo, the Brahma, Tiwako, as also the whole population of the land, by the interposition of the devas, exerting themselves to perform a great festival of offerings (in honour) of the Bo Tree,. TREE WORSHIP. 53 assembled there ; and at this great congregation, they were astounded at the miracles which were performed. " On the south-eastern branch a fruit manifested itself, and ripened in the utmost perfection. The thero taking up that fruit as it fell, gave it to the king to plant it. The monarch planted it in a golden vase, tilled with odoriferous soil, which was prepared by the Mohasano. While they were all still gazing at it, eight sprouting shoots were produced, and became vigorous plants four cubits high each. The king, seeing these vigorous Bo-Trees, delighted with astonishment, made an offering of, and invested them with, his white canopy (of sovereignty). " Of these eight he planted (one) at Jambukolopataua, on the spot where the Bo-Tree was deposited on its dis- embarkation ; one at the village of the Brahma Tiwako ; at the Thuporamo ; at the Issarasamanako wiharo ; at the Pattama Chetiyo ; likewise at the Chetiyo mountain wiharo j and at Kachharagoms, as also at Chandanagamo (both villages in the Rohona division) ; one Bo plant at each. These bearing four fruits, two each, (produced) thirty Bo plants, which planted themselves at the several places, each distant a yojano in circumference from the sovereign Bo- Tree, by the providential interposition of the supreme Buddha, for the spiritual happiness of the inhabitants of the land. " The aforesaid Anula, together with her retinue of five hundred virgins, and tive hundred women of the jDalace, entering into the order of priesthood in the community of the theri Sanghamitta, attained the sanctification of 'arahat.' Arittho, together with a retinue of fi.ve hundred personages of royal extraction, obtaining priestly ordination in the fraternity of the also thero, attained ' arahat.' Whoever the eight persons of the setti caste were who escorted the Bo-Tree hither, they, from that circumstance, obtained the name of bhodahara (bo-bearers). " The theri Sanghamitta together with her community of priestesses sojourned in the quarter of the priestesses, which obtained the name of the ' Upasaka wiharo.' " There at the residence of Anula, before she entered into the priesthood (the king) formed twelve apartments, three of which were the principal ones. In one of these 64 TREE WORSHIP. great apcartments (called the Clmlangono) he deposited the (Kupayatthikan) mast of the vessel which transported the great Bo ; in another (called Mahaangano) an oar (piyani); in the tliird (called the Siriwaddho, the arittan) rudder. From these (appurtenances of the sliip) these (appartments) were known (as the Kupayatthitapanagara). " Even during the various schisms (which prevailed at subsequent periods) the Hatthalaka priestess uninterruptedly maintained their position at the establishment of twelve apartments. The before-mentioned state elephant of the king, roaming at his will, placed himself at a cool stream in a certain quarter of the city, in a grove of kadambo-trees, and remained browsing there : ascertaining the preference given by the elephant to the spot, they gave it the name of ' Hattalakan.' " On a certain day this elephant refused his food ; the king enquired the cause thereof of the there, the dispenser of happiness in the land. The chief there, replying to the monarch, thus spoke: '(the elephant) is desirous that the thupo should be built in the kadambo grove.' The sovereign, who always gratified the desires of his subjects, without loss of time built there a thupo, enshrining a relic therein, and built an edifice over the thupo. "The chief theri, Sanghamitta, being desirous of leading a life of devotional seclusion, and the situation of her sacerdotal residence not being sufficiently retired for the advancement of the cause of religion and for the spiritual comfort of the priestesses, she was seeking another nunnery. Actuated by these pious motives, repairing to the aforesaid delightful and charmingly secluded thupo edifice, this personage sanctified in mind and exalted by her doctrinal knowledge, enjoyed there the rest of noonday. " The king repaired to the temple of the priestesses to pay his respects to the theri, and learning whither she had gone, he also proceeded thither, and reverentially bowed down to her. The maharaja Dewananpiyatisso, who could distinctly divine the thoughts of others, having graciously consulted her, inquired the object of her coming there, and having fully ascertained her wishes, erected around the thupo a charming residence for the priestesses. This nunnery beinsr constructed near the Hatthalaka hall, hence became TPvEE WORSHIP. 55 known as the ' Hattlialaka wiharo.' The chief theri Sangha- mitta, surnamed Sumitta, from her being the benefactress of the world, endowed with divine wisdom, sojourned there in that delightful residence of priestesses. " Thus, this (Bo-Tree) monarch of the forest, endowed with miraculous powers, has stood for ages in the delightful Mahamego garden in the Linka, promoting the spiritual welfare of the inhabitants of Lanka, and the propagation of the true religion." No trees, perhaps, are held in greater veneration in India, than the Ficus Religiosa or pipal tree. It is known as Rarvasit, the tree of knowledge and wisdom, the holy "Bo-Tree" of the lamas of Thibet. Balfour's "Indian Cyclopasdia" says— "This large handsome tree grows in most of the countries of Asia, and is frequently to be met with near pagodas, houses and other buildings. One at Gyaine, South Behar, is said to have been that beneath which Sakya was reposing when his views as to his duties became clear to him, and if so, is more than 2,400 years old. It is also held in veneration by the Hindus, because the god Vishnu is fabled to have been born under its branches. In the Somavati festival, the Mahratta women circumam- bulate a pipal tree, and place offerings on it, when the new moon falls on a Monday. The pipal tree is preferable for avenues to the banyan. The leaves are heart-shaped, long, pointed, wavy at the edge, not unlike those of some poplars, and as the footstalks are long and slender, the leaves vibrate in the air like those of the aspen tree. Silkworms prefer the leaves next to those of the mulberry. The roots are destructive to buildings, for if once they establish themselves among the crevices, there is no getting rid of them." "It is the most sacred of trees with the Buddhists, who say it was under this tree that Gautama slept, and dreamed that his bed was the whole earth, and the Himalaya mountains his pillow, while his left arm reached to the Eastern Ocean, his right to the Western Ocean, and his feet to the great South Sea. This dream he interpreted to mean that he would soon become a Buddha, A branch of the tree was sent to Ceylon in the year 250 B.C., by Asoka — to the city of Amuradhapoora — together with certain relics of Gautama : his collar-bone, begging-dish, &c.; and it 56 TREE WORSHIP. flourislies there as the Bo-Tree. For upwai-ds of twenty centuries it had been an object of tlie profoundest venera- tion to the people, and particuhirly to the pilgrims in their annual visits to the ruins of the city." Fergusson says — " Whatever may be the result of the investigation into the Serpent Worsliip of Ceylon, tliere is no doubt whatever about the prevalence and importance of Tree Worship in that island. The legend of the planting of the Rajayatana Tree by Buddha has already been alluded to, but the history of the transference of a branch of the Bo-Tree, from Buddh-gaya to Anuradnapury, is as authentic and as important as any event recorded in the Ceylonese annals. Sent by As6ka (250 B.C.), it was received with the utmost reverence by Devanampiyatisso, and planted in a most conspicuous spot in the centre of his capital. There it has been reverenced as the most important ' numen ' of Ceylon for more than 2,000 years, and it, or its lineal descendant, sprung at least from the old root, is there worshipped at this hour. The city is in ruins ; its great dagobas have fallen to decay ; its monasteries have dis- appeared ; but the great Bo-Tree still flourishes according to the legend — ' Ever green, never growing or decreasing, but still living on for ever for the delight and worship of mankind.' Annually thousands repair to the sacred precmcts within which it stands, to do it honour, and to ofler up those prayers for health and prosperity which they believe are more likely to be answered if uttered in its presence. There is probably no older idol in the world, certainly none more venerated." Stories illustrating the peculiar reverence with which this tree is regarded are tolerably plentiful, and but for the limitations of our space, might be almost indeflnitely multiplied. A writer in Notes and Queries relates that an old woman in the neighbourhood of Benares, was observed walking round and round a certain peepul-tree. At every round she sprinkled a few drops of water from the water vessel in her hand on the small offering of flowers she had laid beneath the tree. A bystander who was questioned as to this ceremony, replied — " This is a sacred tree ; the good spirits live up amidst its branches, and the old woman is worshipping them." TREE WORSHIP. 57 Then some half-a-dozen years ago, when Mr. Barnum, the showman, of America, was completing the purchase of a certain white elephant, it was narrated in an Indian paper, that under the terms of sale, the purchaser was required to swear by the holy and sacred Bo-Tree that the animal should receive every kindness and consideration. CHAPTER V. Sacred Trees very ajicient in Egy})t — Hebrew Trees — The Sycamore at Matarea — Ionic forms — TJie Koran on Mary and the Palm Tree — Sacredness of the Palm in Egypt — Tree Worship in Dahome — The sacred tree of the Canary Isles. " A MONG the Egyptians, from the earliest period of JTJl. their monumental history to the latest, we find re- presented on tombs and stets the figure of a sacred tree, from which departed souls in human form, receive the nourishment of everlasting life. " The monuments of the ancient Assyrians also show a sacred tree symbolical of the divine influence of the life- giving deity. So also do those of the ancient Persians, and it was preserved by them, almost as represented on the Assyrian monuments, until the invasion of the Arabs. "The Hebrews had a sacred tree which figured in their temple architecture along with the cherubim ; it was the same sort of tree as that which had previously been in use among the Egyptians, and was subsequently, in a con- ventional form, adopted by the Assyrians and Persians, and eventually by the Christians, who introduced it in the mosaics of their early churches associated with their most sacred rites. This tree, which occurs also as a religious symbol on Etruscan remains, and was abbreviated by the Greeks into a familiar ornament of their temple architecture, was the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera. " But although the earliest known form of the Tree of Life on Egyptian monuments is the date palm, at a later period the sycamore fig tree was represented instead, and eventually even this disappeared in some instances and a female personification came in its place. " Besides the monumental evidence thus furnished of a sacred tree, a Tree of Life, there is historical and tra- ditional evidence of the same thing, found in the early literature of various nations, in their customs and popular usages."* * Barlow's Symbolism. TREE WORSHIP. 59' The sycamore at Matarea in Egypt is still shown, which miraculously opened ionically to receive and repro- duce the persecuted virgin when avoiding the cruelty of Herod. Moor, the author of "Oriental Fragments," while noting that it does not appear that the sycamore was especially a mystical tree among any ancient people, and that he does not see anything mystical or peculiar in it, says : — *' but here may be traced another link connecting through distant countries the chain of mystery in this line of thought — that is, of the mysticism of clefts or ionic forms and transit and trees. Those beautiful and interesting- objects of producing and reproducing nature connect them- selves, in the mystic contemplative eye, with all that is beautiful and interesting, and poetical and profound. They point up to the heavens, they strike down to Tartarus, but are still of earth : — a Brahmanal triad expressed by the Sanscrit word hhurhhuvasiuali — heaven, earth, sky — a vastly profound trisyllabic-mono-verbal-mythos ; holding, like the mighty Aum, or Om, in mystic combination, the elementals of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva." The commendable delicacy, generally speaking of Moham- medans, and the prosaic nature of their religion, forbid sexual allusions in their writings, and without impugning their fastidiousness on that point — not indeed always observ- able even in the Koran — we hnd there, and in the com- mentaries, a connection of birth and tree not very unlike what has been told or shadowed respecting Juno Samia, or Latona, and the Hindu Samia. In the nineteenth Sura or chapter of the Koran en- titled "Mary," much concerning the miraculous conception occurs. Having praised St. John, as a " devout person, and dutiful towards his parents ; not proud or rebellious," and invoked a blessing on him in these words: "Peace be on him, the day whereon he was born, and the day whereon he shall die, and the day whereon he shall be raised to life ; " the prophet continues : " And remember the story of Mary when the pains of child-birth came upon her near the trunk of a palm tree." " A withered trunk," adds a commentator, "without any head or verdure; notwithstand- ing which, though in the winter season, it miraculously supplied her with fruits for her nourishment." "And he 60 TREE WORSHIP. who Wcas beneath her," continues the Koran, "called to her saying, shake the palm tree, and it shall let fall ripe dates upon thee ready gathered." Commentators differ as to wliether it was the infant or the angel Gabriel who so called to the mother. They say "the dry trunk revived and shot forth green leaves, and a head laden with ripe fruit." The note in Sale's translation says : " It has been observed that the Mohammedan account of the delivery of the Virgin Mary very much resembles that of Latona, as described by the poets, not only in this circumstance of their laying hold on a palm-tree (though some say Latona embraced an olive-tree, or an olive and a palm, or else two laurels), but also in that of their infants speaking." Amongst the trees held sacred in Egypt, the palm ranked highest ; and for this reason, that species of tree w-as most frequently used in the sacred buildings of that country, as indeed they afterwards were in those of the Hebrews, not perhaps for the same cause: for that was connected with the Sabian idolatries, which the latter were taught to detest. The real source of the veneration of the former for palm trees, and of the general cultivation of that plant in Egypt, which abounded with noble groves of them, is alleged to have been the following : They thought the palm tree, which is affirmed by Porphyry to bud every month in the year, a most striking emblem of the moon, from whose twelve annual revolutions those months are formed. Whether or not there be any truth in this, it is not easy to say, but it has been remarked by Pococke, that many of the most ancient pillars in the Egyptian temples bear great resemblance to palm trees, and that their capitals are made in imitation of the top of that tree when all the lower branches are cut off; and possibly, he adds, the palm trees said to be cut in Solomon's temple, might be only pillars, or at least pilastres of this kind. In his plate of Egyptian pillars may be seen various columns of this description, and a very remarkable one belonging to the temple of Carnack. Several of the capitals also in other plates bear an evident similitude to the expanded top of trees with their branching foliage cut off or com- pressed. Captain Burton in his " Mission to Gelele," says : " In TREE WORSHIP. 61 the clays of Bosnian (1700) the little kingdom of Whyclah adored three orders of gods, each presiding, like the several officers of a prince, over its peculiar province. "The first is the Danh-gbwe, whose worship has been described. This earthly serpent is esteemed the supreme bliss and cfeneral le Tree — The Pine Tree — Wind Sjnrits — German Super- stitions The Oak Tree — Universal Sacredness of the Oak — The Oak of the Hebrew Scriptures — Ctassic Oaks — Socrates and his oath — Greek sayings — The Trees speaking — Sacred Oak of Dodona — Legend of Philemon and Baucis — The Hamadryads— The Yide Log — >S'^. Boniface — Mysteries con- nected with the Oak — The Christmas Tree. THE Ash, while one of the most useful and valuable of British trees, demands particular attention from the fact that it has always held a foremost position amongst the sacred trees of ancient nations. In the Scandinavian mythology it was the mundane tree — the symbolical tree of universal life. "Best and greatest of trees," it was called, *' with a triple root reaching to the mythic regions of the first giants and the ^sir, and penetrating to the nebulous Niflheim, its majestic stem overtopping the heavens, its branches filling the world ; it is sprinkled with the purest water, whence comes the dew that falls on the dales, its life-giving energy is diff'used throughout all nature." It has been said that if the oak be regarded as the king of trees and the Hercules of the forest, the ash may fairly claim supremacy as their queen, and Gilpin terms it the "Venus of the Woods." "At its foot is the Undar fountain where sit the three Norns or Fates — time past, time present, and time to come; these give Runic characters and laws to men, and fix their destinies. Here is the most holy of all places, where the gods assemble daily in council, with All-Father at their head. TREE WORSHIP. 65 "These three Norns have a certain analogy to the three mythic Persian destinies seated by the fountain of perennial life ; and the tree itself is evidently a symbol of that inscrutable power which is the life of all things ; thus representing, under an arborescent form, the most ancient theory of nature, analogous to that personified in the Indian Farvati, the goddess of life and reproduction ; also in the Egyptian Isis ; and in the figure so frequently met with in the museums of Italy, called 'Diana of the Ephesians,' a. variety of the Indian Maya. " In the Chinese sacred books, ' the Taou (the divine reason or wisdom, but here put for the Deity) preserves the heavens and supports the earth : he is so high as not to be reached, so deep as not to be followed, so immense as to contain the whole universe, and yet he penetrates into the minutest things.' The sacred ash of the Scandina- vians corresponds as a symbol with the Chinese Taou." "^ Hesiod and Homer both mention the ash ; the latter mentioning the ashen spear of Achilles, and telling us that it was by an ashen spear that he was slain. In the heathen mythology, Cupid is said to have made his arrows first of ash wood, though they were afterwards, formed of cypress. So much mystery has always been associated with the ash tree, that in all ages and in all countries innumerable superstitions have grown up in connection with it, and, from their modern propagation in an age of education, will evidently die hard. In many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of a child, the nurse puts one end of a green stick of this tree into the fire, and while it is burning gathers in a spoon the sap or juice which oozes out at the other end, and administers it as the first spoonful of food to the newly-born babe. In Somersetshire, and some other counties, the burnino^ of an ashen fagot is a regular Christmas custom, and it is. supposed that misfortune will certainly fall upon the house where it is not duly fulfilled. In the same county, there is held annually the "Ash Faggot Ball." The fagot is. bound with three withes, which are severally chosen to * Barlowe's " Symbolism." 66 TREE WORSHIP. represent them by the young people present — the first withe that breaks in the tire signifying that they who selected it will be the first to be married. It is said that these customs prevail extensively where the Arthurian legends are very strong, and that "it is probable that the association of the ash with Arthur grew out of its dedication to the gods of war, on account of toughness for weapons." While many of the surviving superstitions connected with the ash may probably be traced to Yggdrasill, it has been observed that though Yggdrasill was an ash, there is reason to think that, tlirough the influence of traditions, other sacred trees blended with it. Thus while the ash bears no fruit, the Eddas describe the stars as the fruit of Yggdrasill. "This" says Mr. Conway, "with the fact that the serpent is coiled around its root, and the name Midgard, i.e., midst of the garden, suggest that the apple- tree of Eden, may have been grafted on the great ash." He also says there is a chapel at Coblentz where a tree is pictured with several of the distinctive symbols of Yggsdrasill, while on it the forbidden fruit is represented partly open, disclosing a death's head. The serpent is coiled round the tree's foot. When Christian ideas prevailed, and the Norse deities were transformed to witches, the ash was supposed to be their favourite tree. From it they plucked branches on which to ride through the air. In Oldenburg it is said the ash appears without its red buds on St. John's Day, because the witches eat them on the night before, on their way to the orgies of Walpurgisnacht. Froschmauster along with Pliny records the ancient popular belief that a serpent will rather pass through fire in endeavouring to escape from an enclosed circle than go under the shade of or touch the bough of the ash. In connection with this, Dioscorides afiirms that the juice of ash leaves, mixed with wine, is a cure for the bite of serpents. Another and a studiedly cruel superstition was that if a hole were bored in an ash tree and a live shrew mouse enclosed therein and left to perish, a few strokes with a branch of the tree thus prepared would cure lameness and cramp in cattle, afflictions supposed to have been brought on by the influence of the same little animal. In our first volume of Phallic Worship an interesting TREE WORSHIP. 67 reference was made to certain curative properties supposed to be connected with the passing of a diseased or afflicted body through a cleft stick, twig, or tree. Just here, when writing upon the ash tree, it is proper again to allude to that peculiar custom, or superstition. This tree was long held in great veneration even in our own country for its supposed virtue in removing rickets or healing internal ruptures. Newspapers and old magazines record many instances illustrative of the profound faith of many of the country folk in this mode of getting relief, and the method of procedure appears to have been nearly always the same, and akin to the passing of a diseased or polluted person through a human image in the eastern parts of the world. The author of the "Natural History of Selborne " says that in Hampshire a tree was chosen, young and flexible, and its stem being severed longitudinally, the Assure was kept wide open, and the child to be healed, being duly undressed, was passed three times through the aperture. After the operation, the tree was bandaged up and plastered over with loam. It was believed that if the severed parts of the tree united the child and the tree gradually re- covered together ; if the cleft continued to gape, which could only happen through neglience or want of skill, it was thought that the operation had proved ineffectual. Another account in a newspaper forty years ago says a poor woman applied to a farmer residing in the same parish for permission to pass a sick child through one of his ash trees. The object was to cure the child of the rickets. The mode in which the operation was performed was as follows : — A young tree was split from the top to about the height of a person, and laid sufficiently open to pass the child through. The ceremony took place before three o'clock in the morning, and before the sun rose. The child had its clothes removed. It was then passed through the tree by the woman and received on the other side by some person. This was done three times and on three consecutive mornings ; the ash was then carefully bound together. In the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1804, a letter from a correspondent says : " On Shorley Heath, Warwick- shire, on the left-hand side of the road going from Shorley Street to Hockley House, there stands a young ash tree. 68 TREE WORSHIP. close to the cottage of Henry Rowe, whose infant son^ Thomas Howe, was drawn through the trunk or body of it,, in the year 1791, to cure him of a rupture, the tree being split open for the purpose of passing the child through it, Tiie boy is now thirteen years and six months old. 1 have this day, June 19th, 1804, seen the ash tree and Thomas Rowe, as well as his father Henry Rowe, from whom I received the above account ; and he superstitiously believes that his son Thomas was cured of the rupture by being drawn through the cleft in the said ash tree, and by nothing else." In the month of October following, another correspondent says : "The ash-tree described by your correspondent grows. b. the side of Shirley Street, at the edge of Shirley Heath, in Solihull parish. The upper part of the gap formed by the chisel has closed, but the lower part remains open, and the tree is healthy and flourishing. Thomas Chillingworth, pon of the owner of an adjoining farm, now about thirty- four, was when an infant about a year old passed through a similar tree — now perfectly sound — which he preserves with so much care that he will not suft'er a single branch to be touched, for it is believed that the life of the patient d' pends on the life of the tree, and the moment that it is out down, be the patient ever so distant, the rupture returns, and mortification ensues and terminates in death, as was the case in a man driving a waggon on the very road in question. Rowe's son was passed through the pn-sent tree in 1722, at the age of one or two. It is not, however, uncommon for persons to survive for a time the felling of the tree. In one case the rupture returned suddenly and mortification followed. These trees are left to close of themselves or are closed with nails. The wood- cutters very frequently meet with the latter. One felled on Bunnan's farm was found full of nails. This belief is so prevalent in this part of the country, that instances of trees that have been employed as a cure are very common. The ]ik<' notions obtain credit in some parts of Essex." With regard to the choice of a particular tree for thrse superstitious cures, Moor says: "The ash is said to be the tree always selected on these occasions, perhaps because it is more easily cleft than most others, and may more ip;;