A Tree or a Monument?
There are numerous banyan trees in India — from ancient to quite young — but there’s this one banyan tree that holds a special place among all these: It’s the Great Banyan Tree in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanical Garden in Kolkata, on the west bank of Hooghly River in Shibpur, Howrah.
At more than 255 years of age, it is one of the oldest ‘citizens’ of the city and amongst the widest trees in the world.
This gigantic tree, with a circumference of approximately 450 metres and a spread of about 4 acres, is as large as a forest and has even made its way to the Guinness World Records.
So what is it really: A tree? A dense jungle? A canopy? A natural wonder? Or a monument? Well, it’s all this and more. Let’s read how!
Also in Sunday Reading: The Great Wall of India
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The scientific name of the banyan is Ficus benghalensis, and it grows widely throughout tropical Asia. It is an evergreen tree. Its leaves are large and heart-shaped and it bears a fig- like fruit that’s bright red in colour. Although unfit for human consumption, birds and monkeys eat the fruit of the banyan.
IN CULTURE AND MYTHOLOGY
- In Indian culture, banyan trees are among the most revered. The banyan is considered to be a sacred tree in various religions; for example, in Hinduism, it symbolizes longevity and represents the divine creator, Brahma, and in Buddhism, it is significant because it is believed that Buddha sat beneath one for seven days after achieving enlightenment.
The leaves are used as fodder for animals. The tree grows to a height of several metres-21 or more-and lives for many, many years. When the original trunk grows old and faces decay, the tree is supported by the younger ones. That is why the banyan tree is said to symbolise eternal life. It is also called kalpavriksha, or the tree that fulfils all wishes, and is considered sacred by many.
THE TALE OF A TREE
The Indian Botanical Garden, which was called Royal Botanical Garden or Company Bagan during the British Raj, and was renamed the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanical Garden in 2009 in honour of the great polymath and natural scientist, is home to the grand old banyan tree.
The garden was first proposed to be established in 1786, during the time of the East India Company, at the suggestion of Colonel Robert Kyd, who was an amateur botanist and secretary to the board in the military department of Fort William. But Kyd envisioned a garden mainly as a centre where plants with potential commercial value could be identified and grown.
Kyd had been able to get a large area of about 330 acres for the garden, which was 6 kilometres downstream of the Hooghly River, on the opposite side of Calcutta (present-day Kolkata).
But he died before he could bring in the entire area into cultivation.
It was Kyd’s successor, William Roxburgh, who brought order to the garden and expanded it. He had great knowledge of European botanical gardens and had spent a considerable time studying and documenting the plants in southern India. He was the first salaried superintendent of the botanical garden and, during his twenty-year-long tenure, drew up a systematic account of the plants in India. He classified a large number of plants previously unknown. Under him, the botanical gardens flourished and many different kinds of plants were brought in from across the world. When he first joined the garden, there were some 300 different types of plants, but by the time he left, there were over 3,000.
He also wrote a one-of-a-kind book on India’s botanical heritage, called Flora Indica (Descriptions of Indian Plants). It had an exhaustive listing of all the plants found in India and for over a century after it was written, it served as the basis of subsequent botanical study in India, earning Roxburgh the title of ‘The Father of Indian Botany.’
Roxburgh decided to live in the garden and he built a large house by the river to accommodate his family. The house still exists, although dilapidated, and has acted as one of the major attractions of the garden.
Though the Botanical Garden has been there in Kolkata since 1787, legend has it that the Great Banyan Tree had been there even before.
A TREE WITHOUT A TRUNK
Just like our great ancestors, the Great Banyan Tree has also seen and been through a lot over the years. Not only has it survived two major cyclones in 1864 and 1867, but its main trunk was also infected with a deadly, wood-rotting fungus after it was struck by lightning in 1925.
A FOREST OF ITS OWN
- If you were to see the Great Banyan Tree from a distance, you would easily mistake it for a dense forest. But once in, you’d figure out that it’s just one tree with many prop roots that have a semblance to trees themselves. (In case you’re wondering what prop roots are, they are those roots of the tree that grow from the twigs and stems to the ground to build a strong support system.) A wonder of the plant kingdom, the circumference of the canopy is about 450 metres, which makes it look like a miniature forest. During the first census conducted in 1850, the tree had eighty-nine prop roots and the total canopy circumference was 240 metres. As of now, the tree has 3,772 prop roots, the canopy circumference has increased to 486 metres and the height of the tree is 24.5 metres.
This infection meant that the Great Banyan’s 51-foot-wide main trunk needed to be removed to keep the remainder of the tree healthy. Despite going through such a major surgery, the tree proved resilient and continues to thrive — it has grown over 2 acres in the past 30 years! Yes-believe it or not-this ever-growing tree stands tall and wide without a trunk! This is thanks to thousands of aerial roots that grow from the tree’s branches and go into the ground. This is what gives the impression of a full forest rather than a single tree. The tree spans more than 14,493 square metres and covers an area that’s more than the area of an average cricket field!
At the centre of the core area of the Great Banyan Tree, there’s also an installation in memory of the lost trunk!
A WALKING-ER-GROWING TREE
Would you believe us if we told you that the Great Banyan Tree is walking? It indeed is — yes, even at the ripe age of 225+! With the prop roots as its legs, the Great Banyan Tree is heading eastwards, following the direction of the sunlight. The long tail-like branches have grown immensely and are seen shifting and drifting away from the original trunk at quite a good distance. Although this change is gradual, it is a remarkable one. The western side of the tree is a boundary of the garden, beyond which are residential buildings and a busy road and the tree has curiously avoided moving towards pollution!
In 1985, when the tree covered an area of 3 acres, a fence was installed around it. But the tree soon outgrew it, crossing the metalled road surrounding it and moving towards the east steadily. The metalled road was then done away with so that the prop roots could get firmly fixed to the ground and a second boundary was built in 2015 around this super-energetic senior citizen. But looking at the health of the tree, the botanists are sure that the tree will soon outgrow the second one too. Considering its robust growth, the Botanical Survey of India, which is the guardian of the Botanic Garden, has nicknamed the Great Banyan Tree ‘The Walking Tree’!
THE LIVING LEGEND
Just as great people are often the most gentle, big trees are often the most friendly-and the Great Banyan Tree only proves this to be true. This tree has created its own ecosystem over the years. It is home to over eighty-nine species of birds, along with a large number of animals. Apart from weary travellers and enthusiastic tourists, it attracts a large number of visitor-birds, squirrels, insects and flying foxes, and many of these interesting creatures actually live in the tree, which is full of dark, private corners suitable for a variety of tenants.
The banyan is rather like a large housing colony in which a number of different families live next door to each other without interfering very much in each other’s businesses!
The greatness of the Great Banyan Tree teaches us generosity, standing high above our heads eloquently. It illustrates just how small we are in this big, beautiful world. And it reminds us of our connection to the earth, and of all the nature around us. It is impossible to do justice to the Great Banyan Tree in just one chapter; but lest the Grand Old Tree be offended, let us promise to plant more trees of all kinds, whenever and wherever possible.
Care and Upkeep
Just imagine how complicated it must be to take care of such a massive tree! How many people do you think it takes to do this?
Well, it takes a thirteen-member team-four botanists and nine gardeners!
The team ensures that the tree stays healthy. They check every inch of the tree to make sure there are no signs of fungal infection or termite infestation.
But their biggest job is to help the tree grow its prop roots and ‘train’ them to grow correctly. Since the tree doesn’t have a main trunk, its weight is supported by the prop roots.
Also the growth of the tree is on one side, so the team has to be careful about the balance of the tree as well. They do that by making bamboo channels and putting fertilisers in them.
They then direct the tender prop roots into the bamboo channels positioned at such an angle that it can support the overhead branch. Soon the prop roots grow and attach themselves to the ground, supporting the branch, and the bamboo channels are discarded.
Do you know that the Great Banyan Tree is India’s most glorious natural heritage that will be treasured forever? It is among the most photographed trees of India. The great Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa compared the Great Banyan Tree to the work of the legendary filmmaker, Satyajit Ray, who lived in Kolkata-calling the tree ‘miraculously brilliant’. The Government of India also released a postage stamp featuring the Great Banyan Tree in 1987.
— Excerpted from A Dozen and a Half Stories – Strange and Mysterious Places the World Forgot by Arti Muthanna Singh and Mamta Nainy with permission from Rupa Publications
