FLORAL ANTIQUITIES OF THE EAST. 137 



poet Jayadeva, * the plant represents — in connection with forms 

 which to Europeans appear grossly licentious, but which, to the de- 

 vout Hindoo are holy allegories — the producing powers of the universe, 

 the endless source of Xature and of Being. 



Another plant, which the idolatrous worshippers of Brahma vene- 

 rate, is the vata or sacred fig, of which there are several varieties, f 

 These are all holy plants, the pippala or ficus religiosa, being the 

 most sacred of them all. J This species has perhaps a higher claim 

 than any other to be regarded as sacred on account of its curious 

 growth and the manner in which it extends itself over the soil. Its 

 branches spread very wide, about eighteen or twenty feet from the 

 stem, and then, bending down, the extremities thicken, and continu- 

 ally approach nearer to the earth ; when they reach the ground they 

 put forth roots, and each branch becomes a stem or trunk, growing to 

 the size of the largest European oaks or elms. The branches, hav- 

 ing thus become trees, again shoot out branches bending down, and 

 rooting as before, still extending themselves often till the whole plant 

 covers a very large space of ground. One of these grove-like trees 

 growing on an island in the Nerbudda river, about ten miles from 

 Barouch, in the province of Guzerat, has three hundred and fifty 

 principal stems, each as large as timber trees ; and these occupy a 

 space two thousand feet in circumference, and the branches, whose 

 hanging extremities have not yet reached the ground, extend much 

 farther. This tree was once much larger than it is at present, for 

 many of the stems have been carried off by the floods of the river, 

 which have washed away part of the soil of the island. The natives 

 affirm, that it is three thousand years old, and very possibly it may 

 be ; since, when any of the older central stems decay and leave a 

 vacant space, this is in time re-occupied by fresh stems, produced by 

 the branches growing and rooting, as in the outer side of the grove. 

 A plant possessing such properties as these, maybe justly termed im- 

 mortal. Sanctity is very probably ascribed to this tree, because of its 

 aptness to represent the emanation of living things from the parent, 

 or creator, Brahma, who, having received the principle of life fi-om the 

 great supreme Brahme, produced, by a succession of agents, all the 



* Gitagovinda. 

 t Ficus religiosa, Ficus Bengalensis, and Ficus Indica, are the principal. 

 t As. Res. iv, 27. 



