If these giant trees were to speak, what stories would they tell? Take the 883-year-old tamarind tree at Devara Hipparagi, for instance, or the 600-year-old adansonia digitata, situated near the famous Ibrahim Roza monument in Bijapur.
When the Biodiversity Board declared 10 trees in the State as ‘heritage trees’ under Section 63 (2) (i) of the Biological Diversity Act 2002 at a board meeting last month, three rare and ancient trees from Bijapur district figured in the list. This has meant a new feather in the cap of Bijapur, already known for its rich heritage. Of the three trees selected for the heritage tag, two are situated in and around Bijapur and one at Devara Hippargi in Sindhagi taluk of the district. The tamarind tree at Devara Hippargi is the oldest among the 10 identified trees across the State for the heritage tag. The tree has a girth of 7.78 m and height of 39.39 m.
Adil Shahi love for trees
Adansonia digitata, located near Bijapur’s Ibrahim Roza monument in Bijapur has a girth of 10.84 m and height of 5 m. One more adansonia digitata identified by the KBB situated at Yogapur Dargah, near Bijapur, is a 359-year-old tree with 9.2-m girth and seven-metre height. Both these trees were planted during the reign of Adil Shahis.
“Adil Shahi kings had a great fascination for rare plants. They brought saplings of adansonia digitata from Turkey and planted them here. They looked after these unique plants like their children. They were known to organise exhibitions of these mammoth trees every year,” says H G Daddi, the author of Adil Shahi Heritage Sites.
The bark of adansonia digitata tree looks like a dinosaur’s skin with a hard and uneven surface. Its branches are short but huge in width.
“Fruits and flowers of these trees are used for medicinal purposes. We consider herbal medicine prepared out of this tree’s flowers and fruits as a panacea for several critical diseases,” says the chief of Yogapur Dargah, without revealing what those critical diseases are. The history of the tamarind tree at Devara Hippargi is not clear. No one knows who planted it or when. But elders of the town point out that the tree, spread across more than one acre of land, has been standing tall from “their great-great-grand-fathers’ time.” Situated in front of Mallayya temple on Sindhagi Road, the tree is looked after by the temple committee and elders of the town.
“These endangered species of trees represent the rich bio-diversity of the district. People must understand their historical and environmental importance and strive to protect them,” appeals Daddi.
Mysore has more to be proud of
Mysore, the state’s cultural capital and city of palaces has more reasons to be proud of. The recent list of heritage trees includes three trees from Mysore.
While a 200-year-old banyan tree (ficus bengalensis) is located at Chikkahalli on T Narasipur Road near the city, the two others are the 160-year-old peepal tree (ficus religiosa) located in the sprawling Manasagangotri campus and the 100-year-old red silk cotton tree (bombax ceiba).
The Paramparika Vruksha Rakshana Samiti, a local organisation that has been involved in protection of heritage trees, has already identified five trees in the city as ‘heritage trees’. They include a 130-year-old tamarind tree (tamarindus indica) located in the Horticulture Department of University of Mysore and an old ber tree (zizybhus jujuba) which is located in the premises of Tamil Sangham on Vani Vilasa Road. Although a big branch of this tree has broken, it is still green. Besides, two more trees of over 120 years are located in the premises of two houses and they have not been included in that list.
It is still not known much many such heritage trees are located in the city. The Samithi has vowed to identify and protect all those trees. In fact, such identification of heritage trees is the first of its kind in the country. It is carrying out its mission silently thanks to initiative of two people K B Sadanand and A Ramalingu. The yardstick for declaring any tree as heritage by this organisation is that it should be more than 100 years, it should have medicinal values and it should be of Indian origin.
Banyan by the Varuna tank
The 200-year-old banyan tree is situated near Varuna Tank on T Narasipur road, 12 km from Mysore and hardly five km from Lalitha Mahal Palace. History has it that Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar’s wife Devarajammanni built this tank in 1828. She got the Madeshwara Temple constructed on the right side of the tank and ensured that an open space was left for temple maintenance. It is believed that workers who built the tank rested below this tree. People use parts of this tree to treat many ailments. Many birds take to the fruit of this tree. Elephants thrive on these leaves. The leaves of this tree are supplied to Dasara elephants that arrive at least one month before the festival begins. This tree was identified by Paramparika Vruksha Rakshana Samithi.
The peepal tree which is believed to be around 150 years old is situated next to Manasagangotri hostel. This is considered sacred for Hindus and the Buddhists. Because Bhagavan Buddha got enlightenment under this tree, it is also called Bhodhivruksha. This tree is also called Ashwathanarayana tree. A peepal tree taken from India to Srilanka around 2,000 years ago, is still said to be in Anuradhapura. Such trees are found in abundance from Punjab till the Himalayan ranges.
The red silk cotton tree is located at Curzon Park in the city. Its branches are very smooth and flowers and fruits of this tree are favourites of spotted deer and monkeys.
According to an announcement by Western Ghats Task Force Chairperson Anantha Hegde Ashisara, the trees are: Adansonia digitata-Malvaceae in Bijapur taluk, 600 years old; Adansonia digitata-Malvaceae in Bijapur taluk, 359 years old; Tamarindus Indica (tamarind) in Devarahipparagi village of Bijapur - 883 years old; Azadirachta Indica (Bevu) - at T Venkatapura in Chikkaballapur district 200 years old; Ficus Begalensis (Alada mara) in Chickkahalli in Mysore taluk - 260 years old; Ficus Religiosa (peepal) at Manasagangothri, Mysore - 160 years old; Kempu boorga mara, Palace Gate, Mysore - 130 years old; Ficus Bengalensis (Doddalada mara) - Kethohalli, Bangalore, 400 years old; Araucaria cooki - Lalbagh, 140-years old; Pilali (Ficus Micro Corpus) - in Banavasi of Shimoga district - 400 years old.