Simple Prayers -Universal Appeal

Salutations All 

In the midst of a lot of so many conflicting views and ideas -esp on maintaining a spiritual path- way--some times the most practical, simple and sensible thoughts & ideas have come from Ancient Tribes and Communities This includes the Red Indian, native to the the Americas. 

I just wonder why ever did we complicate Life, with such a lot of rhetoric--esp when I see such simple Commandments--

Thank you to the person who posted this to me-
Gratefully yours, 

TR

Ashwattha & Neem tree grow together -fused together

An Ashwattha -  peepul tree and a Margosa -neem tree have fused at the sapling stage and grown together as one on Warren Road, South Chennai .
The trees now spread its roots and branches across. 
It was reported in Mylai Times and I went and saw it -
took pictures.
See below-Quite interesting .
 TR
Natures Marvels 

Ficus trees, age-and survival-

Ficus tree age-and survival-

ref Trees in Metros today--

The Ficus genus --covers Ashwattha, Banyan and Oudamber esp. and have been covered in my earlier posts.

This post will try and touch on is on its magnificent survival  .
I am also now  realising why these 3 trees are mentioned in the Shree VS-

 In GIta Lord Krishna says "I am the Ashwattha, his Vibhutis...Divine Glories- Chp 10, sloka 26.

These great ficus trees have  survived all kinds of ravages over years of - droughts, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural calamities and their species survival is estimated by a Molecular Clock as...(hard to even imagine this  )--as maybe over 50 million years....God -I cant even imagine ..this time span.....

So how did these Trees achieve it and esp. now with Man's greed and encroachment, felling and sheer vandalism-in the last 200 years of so called advancement.

Some thoughts :
1) Ficus Genus are tropical and have been venerated & protected  in India & SE Asia.
2)The very nature of Ficus is to survive--grip and hang on -even has been called a Strangler Fig tree.Their  pollination and spread is mostly by birds and wasps -not on the whims or vagaries of Man's behaviour. 

Thank God for that .

3) Personally, I believe it is God's Will alone ..for creation and preservation and so it has a very special place in our Religious texts and in Buddhism ; 

In fact aptly is called "Ficus Religiosa"

4) To understand something of this Survival in a Metro ..please see pics of a Tall Ficus Ashwattha (Bodhi) gripping onto a dilapidated building entrance; have seen many like this on older buildings in every city and took this case up for study. The Root structure tells a lot. The  location is in a market lane now being "Developed"-near my house in R.A.Puram, Chennai. God alone knows how this magnificent brave tree will fare that has definitely stood about 15- 20 years ---

I take Faith in God Protects 

Vrikshaa Naam Pataye Namaha
Rgds
TR

WATER--storage in India with step wells

GREETINGS

Step Wells - of Gujarat & Rajasthan

I had visited Somnath temple on a Teerth Yatra in Jan 2009 and en route stopped at Rani ki Vav-- a Stepwell --

a magnificent construction.. Some pics and details 

FROM Smt. Anuradha Philar - a family friend, wrote to me giving details 

"Water in the architecture of India could be found since the earliest times and had played an important role in the culture. Stepwells were first used as an art form by the Hindus and then popularized under Muslim rule.
Stepwell construction is known to have gone on from at least 600 AD in the south western region of Gujarat, India. The practical idea even spread north to the state of Rajasthan, along the western border of India where several thousands of these wells were built.

The construction of these stepwells hit its peak from the 11th to 16th century. Most existing stepwells date from the last 800 years. There are suggestions that they may have originated much earlier, and there are some suggestions that precursors to them can be seen in the Indus Valley civilisation.

The first rock-cut step wells in India date from 200-400 AD.Subsequently, the wells at Dhank (550-625 AD) and construction of stepped ponds at Bhinmal (850-950 AD) takes place.The city of Mohenjo-daro has wells which may be the predecessors of the step well; as many as 700 wells have been discovered in just one section of the city leading scholars to believe that 'cylindrical brick lined wells' were invented by the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation.One of the earliest existing stepwells was built in the 11th century in Gujarat and is known as the Mata Bhavani's vav. A long flight of steps leads to the water below a sequence of multi-story open pavilions positioned along the east/west axis. The elaborate ornamentation of the columns, brackets and beams are a prime example of standard of civil works then

The importance of water to the locations in which they were found have been realized in the past decade now that many communities in the area are scarcity of rain and water. The construction of these wells encouraged the incorporation of water into the culture where they were popular. These stepwells were even proven to be well built after withstanding earthquakes in the range of 7.6 on the Richter scale.

 

The Jamun Sapling -grows ...

PLANT  A SAPLING

thoughts at Janmashtami 2012-

Jambul in Tamilnadu is called --Navala palam tree (Jamun) and is seen a spl Prasad to offer to  both Lord Krishna & Lord Muruga –Karthikeya in South.

A tiny Sapling from Smt Savitri & Shri Ganapathy our neighbours (Sr Citizens) a loving  family-she  actually planted seeds in a pot and gave us a sapling last year-

It was planted on my near my house in the corner with some protection with a Gul Mohar also (Ours is a Blind Road  on 27th Feb 2011).

Planted-Grows slowly ..may take a few years ; but a Sapling planted and nurtured gives much joy--

This will one day grow into a huge tree–needs space but as this is a blind road corner ;

-hopefully it will do well.

Dear God Protect it-

TR

Naval pazham,Neredupandu, Jamblang, Jambolan, Jambula, Black Plum, ... "

Malabar plum" may also refer to other species of Syzygium. ... A bunch of jaam with unripe(green), semi ripe and ripe(black) fruits from Jessore, Bangladesh ... Lord Murugan (regarded as one of the guardian deities of Tamil language), ...

The Butterfly Tree--

Butterfly Tree-- flowers after Rains
-A sapling of a Butterfly Tree from Anandashram was given to my sister Nalini in 2011- brought by Sulabha Pachi-thro my sis in law  ;
In 2011 Feb It was planted in a pot ; then transferred to earth in the soil this year only.
Watered and changed soil etc. but not much change seen -
Then we had some Rains in July and in Aug . 5 days of good rain showers  in Janmashtami week....and lo behold-the Tree at about ht 5 ft has blooms and buds.
Purple and whitish -..Marvel of Nature and effect of Rain water is unbelievable. Rgds 
TR

Data -plant /flower names taken from source --
My observations in brown colour --as noted on 15th Aug 2012
Rgds 
TR

Species :- Bauhinia purpurea

Family:- FABACEAE

Local names:- Butterfly Tree, Orchid Tree, Kachnar [India]

Common name: Butterfly tree, Pink butterfly , Purple bauhinia, Purple butterfly tree, Purple orchid tree • Hindi: Kaniar कनियार • Tamil: நீலத்திருவத்தி Nilattiruvatti • Bengali: Koiral • Assamese: Og-yok • Marathi: Rakta chandan • Kannada: Devakanchan
Botanical name: Bauhinia purpurea      Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)

The Purple Orchid Tree is tropical tree that blooms over a long period of time. 

The beautiful & fragrant, classic, Orchid-like flowers are purple whitish /cream lavender petals arranged to closely resemble an orchid. 

These flowers appeared in August --after Rains  

The Portia Tree-Openair Cafe for Birds

I have been writing on nature watch and trees in this Blog-and also other docs. inc FB,  but I have never used such an unusual title and readers may be wondering what is behind it. 

Here are the facts:

"Thespesia"  in botany and -Poovarasu in Tamil and Malayalam has an interesting name in English – the Portia tree.  I was amazed at the name and the idea came from a recent tree watch experience. Last week I had posted a note on my morning walk covering the delightful scene of watching squirrels, mynas, babblers, crows; I forgot to mention two mongooses too. Obviously, a mother and a tiny one all coming from the vast Adyar estaury - sanctuary and feeding at the base of 3 trees in the neighbouring vacant plot. It was  a nice sight to behold and I was wondering what actually the 3 trees offered viz., Thespesia, Neem and the third one is still yet to be identified as it is difficult to connect some local trees. 

The study took me across to the horticulture dept of Chennai with the assistance of my Lab Staff. In fact the PORTIA -aka Thespesia tree was identified when I had taken leaf samples with a few berries for study by an officer of the State Govt. Dept of Horticutural who was very kind enough to also provide a handout sheet. Learnt so much today

It is a matter of interest that some of these trees of India are seen in far and distant lands viz. Pacific Islands and in particular Hawaii - Tahiti and PitCairn Island where it was in fact planted in sacred groves. In these Pacific islands it is called the Milo tree and valued for the wood but sadly over-logged and now depleted.The wood was used for boat building by islanders and even more surprisingly for making drums earlier.

Essentially the tree is grown and  used for shade in earlier times and regrettably much of the pacific island trees were lost in over logging. On the Pit Cairn Island, the wood was used for making curios also.  

Surprises:

In Chennai it is used to make a Thavil – Carnatic music drum and really left me wondering.

Again another interesting point is in Sri Lanka, the flowers of the Portia tree is sold on Remembrance Day to aid ex-servicemen.

Coming back to the open air café for Birds , it was a joy to watch from the 5^th floor terrace of Shanthi Apts. Adjacent to my house, behind a corner flat and partly hidden. The photos are taken are at a very close range from the 5th Floor (Terrace). The tree is actually in the corner of a group of flats and the fruit and flower are only seen at the higher levels. Unless one goes very close it is not likely to be seen as the height of the tree has crossed 4 floors.  

The fruit of the tree resemble tiny figs but are not suited for human consumption and is considered to be toxic to mammals and humans but obviously birds are able to digest this. (I am still studying this as the 3^rd tree in the vicinity with black dry berries) are all strewn on the ground and along with neem fruits and tender shoots and flowers provide food for birds both on the ground and on the tree top.

A wonderful experience  in tree watch and I never thought a simple study in the morning would take me across to several parts of the globe up to the Pacific islands ....by just observing  a tree.

Marvels of Nature continued-

rgds,

TR