It was like an endless expanse of green carpet stretching into the distance, where a
pipal tree hosted parakeets that seemed to quarrel all the time.
Peshawar circa second century CE, showing the famous
Pipal tree (to the right), Gorkhatree Hill (to the left) and the Bara River in the foreground.
"The veneration of the Bodhi-tree (
pipal tree: ficus religiosa) has been a popular and a widespread ritual in Sri Lanka from the time a sapling of the original Bodhi-tree at Buddhagaya (under which the Buddha attained Enlightenment) was brought from India by the Theri Sanghamitta and planted at Anuradhapura during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa in the third century B.C.
The
pipal tree is the Indian sacred tree par excellence.
Yingluck also prayed before the sacred tree, the ancient
pipal tree, said to be a descendent of the one Buddha sat under for three days and nights in the sixth century BC, before finding the answers he sought under a full moon.
The Brahman then encounters a
pipal tree, a buffalo, and a road, telling each his story of releasing the tiger who then threatens to eat him.
Again, supposing one night a religious fanatic plants a
pipal tree in one corner of my residence, and a few days later surreptitiously puts up a makeshift temple with an idol ensconced there; and subsequently, on the basis of his belief alone, claimed my property, would that be legal?
Pauline Meade's four linoprints glow with rich colour as she depicts Harvest, Kathmandu Valley, Long Meg, Cumbria and Under the
Pipal Tree.
On March 11 he had left his niche among the roots of a
pipal tree in the Bara province, about 100 miles south of the capital Kathmandu, and vanished.
Removal of the Maya Devi temple from under a
Pipal tree was not part of the plan, but the temple has been removed along with the ancient tree.
Although puja is nowhere discussed - "ritual" being confined to the early Vedic age - one photo is an interesting one of "Lady offering worship to the
Pipal Tree."