The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-09-05
NUMBER 4.
The Banian Tree.

a PnIured Shade High Overarched.
The far-famed banian or Indian flo
/ CFEcass Hadtca) is perhaps the grandest
of tropical trees, the most beautiful of
natures products, even in that fertile
soil kissed ever by the suns rays,
where she sports such profusion and
variety, clothing the earth in gorgeous
flowers, variegated MOSES and featherv
ferns, till it seems TO groan beneath the
manifold treasures of beauty and fra
GRANGE lavished thereon. This noble
tree grows wild in many eastern coun-
tries and islands, and sometimes attains
to a size and extent that are marvellous
to contemplate. Shoots are everywhere
thrown out toward the ground from the
horizontal branches, increasing in size
as they tend downward, till at last they
strike into the ground and become stems.
From these shoot new branches, which
in their turn extend and form roots and
new stems, till at length a solitary tree
becomes the parent of an extensive
grove appropriately characterized by
the bard as {" a pillared shade high
overached." And as they are thus con-
tinually increasing, seeming meanwhile
almost exempt from the general law of
decay, tiny sapling borne to the spot
IN an infants hand may come in time to
cover thousands of feet of soil Such
specimen is the noted Cubber Burr,
growing on a picturesque little island
in the river Nerbudda, near Baroach in
the province of Guzerat. This wound
erful tree, named after a venerated
HindoO saint, occupies a space that ex-
ceeds two thousand feet in circumfer-
ence. The principal stems number
three or four hundred, and the smaller.
ones more than three thousand, though
some have been destroyed by high
floods, that have carried away not only
portions of the giant tree, but of the
banks of the island itself. The beauty
and magnitude of the Cubber Burr are
famous all over the east. Indian armies
have encamped beneath its sheltering
branches, and Hindoo festivals, to
which thousands of votaries repair, are
often held under its Ieafy shadow.
was told that seven thousand people
could find ample shelter under its wide
spread branches; and we often knew of
English gentlemen forming hunting or
shooting excursions to the island, and
encamping for weeks together beneath
this delightful pavilion. Their only
hosts were frOlicsome monkeys and
whole colonies of doves, peacocBs, wood
pigeons and beautiful singing birds.
that find permanent abode among the
thick foliage, and plentiful sUstenance
from the small, scarIet-coIored figs that
hang pendent from every branch. The
banian tree may be regarded as a natu-
raj temple IN oriental regions, and the
HindoOs especially look upon it with
profound veneration. Tiny, fancifully-
adorned temples and pagodasare erected
beneath it's shadowy boughs, where are
pleasant walks and long vistas of Um-
brageous canopy, efectually shielded
from the fierce rays of the tropical SUN.
Many Brahmins spend their entire lives
within these quiet retreats, and all ranks
and classes seek them for quiet rest and
recreation. The banian is styled also
g the tree of councils. :" from the Preva-
lent custom of assembling Legislators,
magistrates and savants under its pro-
tecting canopy to deliberate on civil
affairs while all around, enscOnced in
every niche, are the tutelary gods and
goddesses that make up the Hindoo
mythology. It is indeed a quaint,
wiered spot, full of the witchery of ro-
nance and legendary lore; and though
years have passed since last sat under
the Cubber Burr's sheltering boughs
viii. a merry party of picniclring mai
densySnow grown to womanhood, imagi-
nation still loves to roam among its
shadows, and build fairy castles within
the may windings of the hoary banian
of Nerbudda's isle. L5ppincotf8 Mag /
aziHe.