Hindus Plants: Plants Too Can Be Religious!

Friday, March 2, 2012, 17:29

Hinduism is often mistaken as a pagan religion; mistaken in the negative sense because the word 'pagan' has nothing negative in it by itself, the negativity is implied. It just means all pre-Christian religions and most of these religions like the Greek and the Egyptian religions had some or the other form of nature worship. While these religions have now disappeared under the mist of modern religions, Hinduism survives and so does the system of worshiping Hindu plants.

When you think about it logically, what is so 'pagan' about praying to plants, if there were God on earth it would have to be these plants used in Hindu rituals because they give us life saving oxygen; the symbolism is perfect.

Some plants for Hindus hold special significance and they are;

Hindu Plants And Their Significance:

1. The Holy Basil Plant: The Tulsi or basil is the holiest of holy plants when it comes to Hindu rituals. A single leaf of the basil plant can purify almost anything. This is one of the plants that are considered female according to mythology and thus she married off to Lord Krishna (The Preserver, in the Trinity) in a festival called Tulsi Vivah. Otherwise, every married woman is supposed to light a lamp at the base of the basil plant every evening as almost every home in India has one in the front yard or balcony. So basically a fertile symbol of marital bliss it is.

2. Banana Trees: Another very important plant for Hindus. No auspicious ceremony can ever be complete with the presence of banana leaves in the Hindu society. Be it a wedding or a child's birth, young banana leaves will decorate the event symbolising growth and regeneration. In fact it is customary to eat on these leaves after a religious ceremony. The female banana plant is supposedly married to Lord Ganesha (the Elephant god). The male banana plant (a plant that does not bear fruit) was used to symbolically marry off girls whose horoscopes were defective. Some superstitious myth dictated that the girl would be safe to marry after the plant dies.

3. The Banyan Tree: This holy plant is eternally considered a 'male' symbol by the Hindus probably because of it's huge stature. It also the oldest symbol of permanence in the East as the Oak is in the West. You would notice that most small shrines of lesser gods are located under this tree. In the Hindu ritual of Vat-Savitri, married women worship the oldest banyan in the vicinity and wrap a huge red thread around it praying that they are reunited with their husbands for their next 7 lives (cycle of rebirth).

So plants for Hindus are inseparable from their religion and that is a good excuse not to cut them. That makes it a rather 'green religion.