India’s iconic trees

There’s a fascination in the public imagination for superlatives — the oldest tree, the tallest, the largest, and so on. Trees speak to our souls. Their roots, firmly grounded in earth, symbolise strength. Their trunks and branches shooting into the air signify resilience and endurance. Unlike animals that run away from danger, trees are tenacious in surviving harsh and hostile environments rooted in the same spot. Capable of living for hundreds or even thousands of years, they provide a bridge to our past.

Every country has remarkable trees that serve as essential community resources because of their unique features and values. Such iconic trees hold an appeal beyond time and space. They may inspire wonder, command our respect, or fill us with amazement, but rarely leave us unmoved. They matter because they are representative icons and enduring symbols of our shared identity. They deserve our attention, adoration, and even reverence and must be passed on to our successors for appreciation and safekeeping.

Undoubtedly, trees are crucial for environmental safety and economic security. However, larger and older trees play an even more significant role. They sequester disproportionately massive amounts of carbon compared to smaller trees, making them a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change. They are influencers of the earth’s changing past and living records of environmental history. Thus, while all trees matter as part of biodiversity, older and larger trees matter specially. Their presence is evidence of long relationships between people and places, of memories, myths, emotions and events.

Beyond their scenic and aesthetic value, iconic trees are historical and cultural assets and focal points of local traditions. Think of Robin Hood, whose identity is lost in time, but his association with woods is well remembered. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts remind us of the bond between trees, gods, saints and spirits. Tree worship is common in many polytheistic belief systems. Yet, their social and biocultural value is often neglected while designing conservation policies.

India’s iconic trees

Iconic trees can be found throughout the length and breadth of India. They are in our forests, parks, gardens, mountains, seashores and farmlands. You can find them in the most unlikeliest of places — the land revenue office in the middle of a bustling city, a crowded sidewalk of a business precinct, the premises of a busy hospital, or a traffic island. Many thrive in religious places, and several on private lands.

In India, the number of scientifically dated trees is relatively small. Currently, a 2,031-year-old Himalayan pencil cedar from Lahaul and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, holds the record of being India’s oldest dated tree. Examples of record holders for exceptional dimensions include a banyan tree in Andhra Pradesh with the largest canopy area at 19,107 square metres, equaling 2.7 football fields; and the world’s tallest rhododendron growing on the Japfu mountain, Nagaland.

Several botanical oddities are waiting to be discovered. My favourite is a giant sequoia in a small village near Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir. I have nicknamed it the “loneliest tree in India” as it is the only tree of its kind in India and, sadly, unable to reproduce under our conditions.

Individual trees of religious and cultural significance are prevalent nationwide. Two illustrations should suffice — three ber trees on the parikrama of the Golden Temple, Amritsar, and the Bhagvad Gita peepal tree of Kurukshetra. With India’s colourful past, the country is dotted with trees that have helped shape our history. For example, Maharaja Ranjit Singh arranged the ‘raj tilak’ ceremony of Raja Gulab Singh at Akhnoor near Jammu in 1822 under a jia pota tree.

A significant part of our terrestrial environment is made of trees, including those of unique cultural and heritage value to the community. Such trees deserve at least as much importance as built heritage.

Trees are the first casualties in most developmental programmes. Sadly, India has never maintained meticulous and systematic records of its exceptional trees. The foremost task is to prepare detailed digital inventories at the district, state and national levels. Current legal provisions for protecting and managing iconic trees are inadequate and must be tweaked.

Public participation and involvement are vital in reinforcing community awareness and bolstering conservation efforts.

Loneliest tree in the country

In Yarikha, a village near Gulmarg, J&K, stands a 25-metre-tall sequoia tree towering over the neighbouring deodars and Himalayan white pines. Although native to Sierra Nevada mountains in California, this tree is acclimatised to Kashmir’s weather and bears both male and female cones. It is unable to reproduce here.

Ber tree associated with Guru Nanak

In one of the narrow and busy bylanes of the crowded Raghunath Bazaar in Jammu is the Panjvaktra Shiva temple. An ancient and gnarled ber tree standing inside it is associated with Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539). Its trunk emerges at an angle of 45 degrees from a small opening in the marble-tiled flooring and is devoid of branches for 4.6 metres under the cemented awning of the temple roof. Branches emerge where the awning ends, making a lush green umbrella-like crown. The basal portion of the trunk is hollow. Iron rings hold it together, and iron props support the bent trunk. It is said that Guru Nanak stayed in the temple for three days around 1514. Seated under the tree, the Guru gave a discourse on raj dharma to the then king of Jammu, Raja Khokar Dev, and his queen, along with their entourage. Going by this, the tree could be over 500 years old, making it the oldest ber tree in India.

Sleeman’s infamous tree

A tiny hamlet in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, has an unusual name — Sleemanabad. In the village police station stands a peepal tree that was supposedly used as gallows to hang men sentenced to die as ‘thugs’ by the East India Company in the early 1800s. The branch of the tree used for hanging has now fallen off. The British held up ‘thuggee’ as proof of India’s ‘backwardness’ to justify colonialism. Col William Henry Sleeman was appointed to address the menace of ‘thuggee’, which was said to be rampant in vast tracts of the Central and Northern Provinces. Between 1826 and 1848, some 4,500 men eventually stood trial, of which 504 were hanged. Post-colonial scholars, however, have raised serious doubts about the corpus of colonial narratives about ‘thugs’ and ‘thuggee’. Did thugs exist, as portrayed by the British, or were they merely a convenient, recognisable enemy? Only the peepal tree knows.

Sacred Rayan (khirni) tree

The topmost level of a three-story marble building built in the 15th century is the last place you would expect to find a 500-year-old Rayan tree. Yet, that is where it exactly is, 15 metres above ground in the Jain temple of Ranakpur, Rajasthan. This evergreen tree’s massive trunk is hollow and open, yet supports the conelike crown that soars some 10 metres into the sky. How does the tree survive so far above the ground? Its root system must penetrate deep into the soil to draw sufficient water and nutrients for survival.

Oldest teak tree

A major attraction of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala, it stands at a height of a 14-storey building. It takes five adults with outstretched arms to embrace it. Fondly referred to as ‘Kannimara’ (virgin tree), a religious belief about the tree being the abode of the sapta kanniayar helped it survive the axe for shipbuilding during the rapacious harvesting of the colonial era.

— The writer is author of ‘Iconic Trees of India’, published by Roli Books