1870.] The Vdstu Yaga. 221 



against injuring a banyan or a fig tree is so strict, that in the Ea- 

 mayana even Eavana, an unbeliever, is made to say, " I have not 

 cut clown 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 Earnachandra and to the loss of his sons and brother) 

 befall me?" 



The medicinal properties of many plants soon attracted notice, 

 and were cultivated with much care. With the illiterate, the medi- 

 cinal 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 knowledge, it was culled in the dark and 

 witching hours of night. 



Trees have frequently been identified with gods : thus in the 

 Padma Purana, the religious fig-tree is an incarnation of Vishnu, 

 the Indian fig-tree (F. indica) of Eudra, and the Palasa (Butea 

 frondosa, Eoxb.) of Brahma.* 



In the Yaraha Purana, the planter of a group of trees of a particu- 

 lar species is promised heavenly bliss, and it is needless to point 

 out that from the names of the trees recommended, the extreme 

 utility of the act must be acknowledged. Thus it is said, " he 

 never goes to hell who plants an as'vatha, or a pichumarda, or a 

 banian, or ten jessamines, or two pomegranates, apanchdmra, or five 

 mangoes.f 



The Tithitatva gives a slightly different list, substituting two 

 champakas, three kes'ara, seven tala-palms, and nine cocoanuts, 

 instead of the banian, the jessamines, the pomegranates, and the 

 panchdmra.% 



^rcr^TOtf i 



