Sacred trees form an important part of the ecological heritage of India. Most temples, towns and villages - and sometimes even Sikh temples and Muslims Dargahs - are associated with trees. Some plants are sacred to the individual deity; others are sacred to the place. Sometimes the tree is an integral or even larger part of the sanctity of the shrine; towns, and cities and dynasties have been named after sacred trees. 

Several plants have been worshipped in India from time immemorial. Wherever the Tulsi grows - from the Indo-Gangetic plains to the shores of the Indian Ocean at Kanyakumari - it occupies opposition of pride in the central courtyard of the house, tended carefully by housewife. 

Apart from the elaborate myths connecting it to Lord Krishna, the Tulsi plant has several medicinal properties. The leaves are swallowed to prevent colds, headaches, stomach disorders, and even heart problems, and are used extensively in Ayurvedic medicine. Tulsi is often powdered and drunk as a tea, or just eaten as fresh leaves. To protect and revere this plant with so many medicinal properties, it was decided it was designated as sacred, a fitting tribute to its role in providing invaluable healthcare. 

The worship of plants in an ancient phenomenon in India. It is probably the oldest form of worship. The association of a single tree with a sacred Sthala or Sthan is reflected in the Chaitya Vriksha and Sthala Vriksha (explained below) of literature and society.  

The plants that were sanctified reveal the socio-economic and health concerns of ancient people. Some were sanctified for their economic role, some for their produce, some for providing homes for animals and birds, and others for their medicinal and air-purifying qualities. The process reveals the people's knowledge of their environment and its conservation.

The plants that were sanctified reveal the socio-economic and health concerns of ancient people. Some were sanctified for their economic role, some for their produce, some for providing homes for animals and birds, and others for their medicinal and air-purifying qualities.  The process reveals the people's knowledge of their environment and its conservation.  

Tree worship is documented in all ancient societies all over the world. The earliest form of worship was probably the veneration of the tree. When people turned to food production, the Mother Goddess or the Earth Mother became the chief deity. Fertility, creation, and the world of plants and animals became her blessings to her devotees. The worship of the tree was the adoration of her creative abilities, symbolizing fertility so essential for the survival of the early people. Spirits – good and bad – were believed to reside in trees. If the trees were worshipped, then the resident spirits were pleased. As sacred forests were replaced with agriculture, a single tree was left, which was designated as the sacred tree.  

The earliest temples were little more than images placed under trees. Later, the tree and the image where enclosed by a fence made of wood, followed even later by stone. The temple was a later construction. Numerous references are made in literature to trees as abodes of Gods. They sheltered the object of worship: a deity, a fetish, a weapon, or any other. As the open-air shrine beneath the tree was replaced by a shrine or a temple for the deity, the tree became the Sthala Vriksha of the temple; the tree was associated with the deity and became an inseparable part of the local mythology. The Sthala Vriksha of India constitute the single genetic resource for the conservation of species diversity. The Sthala Vriksha-s once played a major role in local ecology and their worship celebrates our biological heritage.  

The sacred tree had many names: Kalpa Vriksha (tree of life which grants wishes), Chaitya Vriksha (tree shrine), and Sthala Vriksha (tree of the sacred site). There are many places that are named after sacred plants like Vrindavan, forest of the Vrinda (tulsi or basil plant), near Mathura in the North, or Kanchipuram, town of the Kanchi (river portia tree), near Chennai in the South. Clans like Kaushika, Pallava, and Kadamba were named for grass, leaf, and flower respectively. 

Sacred trees are generally associated with Hindu deities, Jain Tirthankaras, and the Buddha. During the medieval period, each temple had its Sthala Purana or story of the sacred site written, which emphasized the sacred characteristics of the tree and the water body associated with the temple.  

Trees were revered for any one of four primary reasons: for their medicinal qualities, such as the neem and the tulsi; for their economic value, such as the Alexandrian laurel which was used to build catamarans and ships off the Coromandel Coast; for their ecological importance, such as the mangrove in Chidambaram; and for their sociocultural role, such as the banyan, the meeting place of the Bania or the business community.  

Nanditha Krishna is a historian, environmentalist, and writer based in Chennai. A Ph.D. in ancient Indian Culture, she is the director of C. P. Ramaswami Iyer and C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre. She is a professor and research guide for the Ph. D. programme of the University of Madras and has received several prestigious national and international awards.

M. Amirthalingam is a botanist and environmental education officer at the C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre. He is currently working on All India Coordinated Research Project on Sacred Grove Ecosystem Service Assessment in the inland plains of Tamil Nadu sponsored by the ministry of environment, and forests, Government of India. 

(Extracts taken from her book, ‘Sacred Plants of India’.)