Trees in Mythology
On the other day, in a good natter with my elder daughter, she asked me about the “Trees in Mythology.” I read lot of Indian Vedic books and since childhood, I heard of many tales talks about the Trees in Hindu Mythology, but not in world context. In last few weeks, this spurred my thoughts to research more on this topic., read Thomas Carlyle’s Igdrasil and other Wiki Pages. Here are some of my notes or a snippet of it:-
Trees in Mythology
If we walk through even a small wood at night we find it eerie. If someone tells us that we will encounter alarming appearances or heal ghostly cries, we are quite likely to see or hear them — for. Though the scene outside has changed completely, not much a wood or forest in 2021 A D. is much same as in in 2020 B C. or long before. We can understand how from the earliest times trees have exercised a powerful influence upon mankind. At first they were feared. And when a thing is feared it is not seen for what it is something else is seen, a god or a devil; and in the eyes of early man there many tree-gods and tree-devils to be placated and worshiped and treated with circumspection.
As time went on they saw more gods and devils. A multitude of supernatural beings like — gnomes, fames, elves, pixies, fauns, dryads, satyrs, leprechauns have been developed. It is strange how the fairies appeal to us still and how
easily we accept them in the literature. When we read about them we do not find ridiculous :)-. Nothing could be more fantastic or far-fetched than the idea of fairy tales. And we know how beautifully the nymphs and naiads, the fauns and dryads, enter into Greek and Roman literature. Looking round upon the rich and lovely lands of Greece and Italy, they beheld a multitude of spiritual laborers among which the tree-spirits took a prominent place, while the chief woodland deity of classic times, Pan, has returned to us in modern days as Pantheism.
Even the Gods of Olympus themselves stated as trees. In the same way we see Thor in Northern Europe associated with the rowan tree whose hunched berries in autumn still astonish us like flaming flowers; we see Ukho, their god of thunder and Taara and Balden, all taken their origin from the oak; we see the sacred grove of Upsala dedicated to Woden, the god who after hanging for nine nights on the gallows-tree descended to the under-world and brought back the prize of wisdom. In Egypt, we see, Osiris, the god of vegetation and his origin in a tree as also Adonis in Syria and Attis in Phrygia. The book of the dead of the ancient Egyptians gave instructions to the souls on their arduous journey to the Islands of the Blest. Its mentioned the importance of Tree Gods in their journey.
It was not only the great forest with all its mysteries and deep shadowy shrouds, nor the single tree of compelling size or fearful aspect, which commanded the veneration and promoted the idolatry of the people. Sometimes they were thought of trees as the abode of gods, and sometimes they were regarded simply as natural temples in which gods might be approached. No race was more influenced in this way than the Jews. So deeply did the Semites cling to the belief that there was a spiritual force inherent in vegetation.
When we today look up into the sky we see the endless ether. In earlier times they saw a roof. Here, beneath their feet was the earth; there, above, was its roof — blue, scarfed or sparkling with jewels….What was holding up the roof of the world? What pillared it? It would seem that a cloud-capped mountain could easily be conceived us a pillar — and was thus conceived. But still more wide-spread was the idea that a tree, a Universe Tree was responsible for for sustaining the sky. They imagined the existence of colossal trees, the most famous of which was the Scandinavian Yggdrasil Ash.
For early Indian, in their Vedic hymns, their mind moved even more freely in creative mood and mentioned that there is really no boundary to the properties of the Universe Tree. It bestowed knowledge, wisdom, bliss. It could grant men courage and give women children. It was the ladder by which the dead could mount to Heaven. It provided milk, water, dew and rain. Its juice was intoxicating. Its seed was the progenitor from which all forms of life were created. Its trunk was the abode of gods who fed upon the ambrosia which gave eternal life. Its roots reached down into the lowest depths of the nether regions, from whence rose the springs that gave water to the rivers of the world. Its leaves were clouds, its fruit the stars- the sun and moon but showy objects in its branches. Their grander the conception, make people easier to believe. Also, in Hindu mythology the Universe is emanated from a golden lotus which had been quickened into life when the spirit of “Om” moved on the face of waters. What a “Thought” to move on………….
At the end, the Tree makes an easy symbol; it is the Tree of Knowledge, partaking of which we were expelled from the paradise of innocent ignorance and took upon ourselves burden of consciousness.
