Cultus Arborum Part 2

There are several Dry Tree stories among the wonders of Buddhism; one is that of a sacred tree visited by the Chinese pilgrims to India, which had grown from the twig which Sakya in Hindu fashion had used as a tooth-brush; and I think there is a like story in our own country of the Glas...o...b..ry Thorn having grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.

He who injured the holy tree of Bostam, we are told, perished the same day; a general belief in regard to those _Trees of Grace_ of which we have already seen instances in regard to the sacred trees of Zoroaster and the Oak of Hebron. We find the same belief in Eastern Africa, where certain trees, regarded by the natives with superst.i.tious reverence, which they express by driving in votive nails and suspending rags, are known to the European residents by the vulgar name of _Devil Trees_. Burton relates a case of the verification of the superst.i.tion in the death of an English merchant who had cut down such a tree, and of four members of his household. (See note on p. 120 of Yule's "Marco Polo's Travels," vol. I.)

The writer of an article in the _Cornhill Magazine_ of November, 1874, on the Gonds and Bygas of the Eastern Sathpuras (Central Provinces, India), says--

"My endeavours to obtain a clear insight into their ways were so far successful, that after a time they did not object to my being present at their domestic ceremonies, and gradually the Byga priests supplied me with all the information they could give as to their curious custom of tree culture and spirit worship.

"All that they could tell did not throw much light on the subject, for even to the Bygas themselves it is extremely vague and mysterious; but the contrast between their acknowledged hatred of trees as a rule, and their deep veneration of certain others in particular, is very curious.

"I have seen hill-sides swept clear of forests for miles, with but here and there a solitary tree left standing. These remain now the objects of the deepest veneration, and receive offerings of food, clothes, or flowers from the pa.s.sing Byga, who firmly believes that tree to be the home of a spirit."

Captain J. S. F. Mackenzie, some years ago, contributed a paper to the _Indian Antiquary_ on Tree and Serpent Worship in Mysore. He said that round about Bangalose, more especially the Lal Bagh and Petta--as the native town is called--three or more stones are to be found together, having representations of serpents carved upon them. These stones are erected always under the sacred fig tree, by some pious persons, whose means and piety determine the care and finish with which they are executed. Judging from the number of the stones, the worship of the serpent appears to be more prevalent in the Bungalose district than in other parts of the province. No priest is ever in charge of them. There is no objection to men doing so, but, from the custom or from some reason--partly because the serpent is supposed to confer fertility on barren women--the worshipping of the stones, which takes place during the Gauri feast, is confined to women of all Hindu cla.s.ses and creeds. The stones, when properly erected, ought to be on a built-up stone platform facing the rising sun, and under the shade of two _peepul_ (_ficus religiosa_) trees--a male and female growing together, and wedded by ceremonies in every respect the same as in the case of human beings--close by, and growing in the same platform a _nimb_ (_margosa_) and _bipatra_ (a kind of wood-apple), which are supposed to be living witnesses of the marriage. The expense of performing the marriage ceremony is too heavy for ordinary persons, and so we generally find only one _peepul_ and a _nimb_ on the platform. By the common people these two are supposed to represent man and wife.

To speak at length of the Palm tree would require a volume--and that a bulky one--rather than a pa.s.sing notice in a treatise of the most limited dimensions. So much does man owe to this tree in the east, that the inhabitants of those countries where it flourishes can conceive of no land possessing any attraction where it does not exist. An Arab woman lately visiting England once expressed herself to this effect after being shewn everything wonderful that the country had possessed, all in her estimation faded into comparative worthlessness when, in answer to her enquiry, she was told that no palm trees grew there. No tree, in consequence, has been so highly prized or been made so much of. To say that men have been simply grateful for it, or that they have reverenced it, is to stop short of the mark, they have actually deified it and rendered to it divine honours.

"A conventional form of the palm tree occurs on the Nineveh tablets, surrounded by an enclosure of _palmettes_, and attended by winged deities, or ministers holding the _pine-cone_ symbol of life, which in a.s.syrian sculpture takes the place of the _crux-ansata_ in the hands of the Egyptian deities.

"The palmette pa.s.sed from the a.s.syrians 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."[7]

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 Date_, having its regular priests, festivals, rites and services, and he quotes from a ma.n.u.script of the ninth century after Christ, and adds this note from a writer on Indian and j.a.panese 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 j.a.panese or to the Thibetans, everywhere will meet you _green tree_ worship (which has been) transmitted and preserved as symbolic perhaps of the creation and preservation of the world."

This pa.s.sage, 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 garments, but arms or portions of their warrior gear, thereby showing that they saw in the palm virility--a Herakles or Mercury."[8]

A very remarkable tree found in Thibet was described by Abbe Huc in his travels in that and other countries in the years 1844-6, it was called the "Tree of Ten Thousand Images," and his account of it is as follows--"The mountain at the foot of which Tsong-Kaba was born, became a famous place of pilgrimage. Lamas a.s.sembled there from all parts to build their cells, and thus by degrees was formed 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 something about this tree itself. Does it exist? Have we seen it? Has it any peculiar attributes?

What about its marvellous leaves? All these questions our readers are ent.i.tled 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 princ.i.p.al 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 outlines 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 discern nothing of the sort, and the perspiration absolutely trickled down 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 statement 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. The leaves are always green; and the wood which has a reddish tint, has an exquisite odour, something 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-Hi, 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 horse, 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 endeavoured to obtain information from the people respecting the ideas generally formed of Peries or Fairies; imaginary creatures, beautiful and benevolent; also of the Ghules 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 mowt dereh_, or "Valley of the Angel of Death." Concerning the _Jins_ or Genu, he found they were not restricted to any particular region, but 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 pa.s.sed by an old and withered tree half covered with rags, fastened as votive offerings, to the branches; it being one of those ent.i.tled by the Persians _dirakht i fazel_, 'excellent or beneficial trees,' and held in superst.i.tious 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 sanct.i.ty 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 circ.u.mstances; yet since the reverence paid to trees seemed nearly as ancient, and as widely diffused as any other form of superst.i.tion, 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 const.i.tute 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 ma.n.u.scripts; 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 particular 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,' and the 'tree of knowledge of good and evil.' He will recollect the idolatrous worship in _groves_, and under every _green tree_ (Exod. x.x.xiv. 13, Deut.

xvi. 21, &c.) The oak by Shechem, under which Jacob hid all the idols and earrings (Gen. x.x.xv. 4). The oak near Bethel which marked the grove of Deborah, and was significantly called _Allonbachuth_ (Gen. x.x.xv. 8). The palm tree under which Deborah, the prophetess, dwelt (Judges iv. 5). The oak under which sat 'the man of G.o.d' (Kings xiii. 14). The oak in Ophrah, under which the angel of G.o.d 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 consecrated by his presence, when he revealed himself to Moses in flaming fire on the mountain of h.o.r.eb (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.[9]

"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 superst.i.tion. Nor can I enjoy more than a hasty glance at those trees reputed sacred in cla.s.sical antiquity; of which such number offer themselves to the imagination as would const.i.tute 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 "Archaeologia Graeca" of the learned Dr.

John Potter, we find numerous interesting items of information suitable for insertion here.

"The temples in the country were generally surrounded with groves sacred to the tutelar deity of the place, where, before the invention of temples, the G.o.ds were worshipped.

"The most usual manner of consecration of images and altars was by putting a crown upon them, anointing them with oil, and then offering 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 creeping 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 pa.s.senger 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 Priamus, king of Troy:

'Within the courts, beneath the naked sky, An altar rose; an aged laurel by; That o'er the hearth and household G.o.ds displayed A solemn gloom, a deep majestic shade.'

But where groves of trees could be had, they were preferred before any other 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.[10] 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 the Pagan religion, this was one: 'Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy G.o.d' (Deut. xvi. 21).

"This practice is thought to have been introduced into Greece from Phnicia by Cadmus. And some are of opinion that hence Ascra, a village in Botia, where Hesiod was born, received its name. Several causes are a.s.signed why 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 shades; for which cause the sacred groves consisted of tall and beautiful trees, rather than such as yield fruit. Hence Cyril does expressly distinguish the tree fit 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 the 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 the people. Thus we are told by Pliny, that in groves, _ipsa silentia adoramus_, the very silence of the place becomes the object of our adoration. Seneca also observes, that when we come into such places, _illa proceritas sylvae_, _et secretum loci_, _et admiratio umbrae_, _fidem numinis 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 G.o.d dwells here.'

"Thirdly, some are of opinion that groves derived their religion from the primitive ages of men, who lived in such 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 _ramorum 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 Erichthonius 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 sufficient to mention this one example, where Lucan speaks of Caesar's servants, in allusion to the fable of Lycurgus, who endeavouring to destroy the vines of Bacchus, cut off his own legs:

'But valiant hands Then falter'd. Such 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."

Ouseley proceeds--"The trunk or stump of a single tree afforded 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 G.o.ds, 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 sooner than within 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 particular divinity, we know from numerous pa.s.sages so familiar to every cla.s.sical reader, that I need scarcely quote on this subject Virgil and Pliny. The statue of each G.o.d 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 a.s.sumed 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, Graenius and Spence, as well as those already mentioned.

"But it must not be here forgotton 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 ill.u.s.trated by means of the devices on medals, and sculptured marbles, the paintings on vases, and other precious monuments of antiquity. But the limits usually a.s.signed 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 G.o.ddess in the Troad, in Rhodes and Lacedemon), Theocritus[11] describes the Spartan virgins declaring that they would begin the ceremony by placing on it a twisted or woven wreath of the humble growing lotus.