17 thoughts on “Wordless Wednesday: The Sacred Tree”

  1. A scared tree surrounding by light. A wonderful shot, Sreejith. In the post’s tags I see that this is the banyan tree. Haven’t seen one of them in a while, tall and majestic 🙂 There’s always light amidst the darkness. It is so interesting to see India’s customs and worship practices – often there’s the theme of light through and through. Hope you are well and take care 🙂

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    1. It’s the festival season here in Kerala and almost every day there is some kind of temple festival happening around…

      As you rightly observed, it’s a banyan tree and people lit earthen lamps lightened with coconut oil on the occasion of a famous temple here in North Kerala.

      Priest of the temple will bring the idol from temple to this tree and worship it on this day as part of the age old custom.

      Banyan trees got not just religious stature but it has very important cultural and social relevance also in Indian villages.

      Under banyan trees villagers used to assemble and discuss about the issues of the village, try to settle disputes and even act as a court to hear the cases of villagers.

      It also gives an idea about the kind of worship followed by the oldest inhabitants of this land. They worshiped the powers of nature which they couldn’t understand or control and never tried to dictate terms with them.

      This is quite evident from the fact that we could see many a temples dedicated to ‘Snakes’, god’s of Fire, Air, Sea, Earth etc;

      This is quite an old land and it’s culture and civilizations are far too complex.

      Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments and that helped me share my perspectives associated with this image 🙂

      Have a beautiful day, Mabel 🙂

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      1. Lovely to hear about the significance of the banyan tree in India. A tree that has been around for thousands of years will be part and parcel of many rituals and stories – just like how age-old land and spaces. India is one such place, rich in culture and people and I’m always learning that from you.

        You take care, Sreejith 🙂

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    1. In India ‘Nature worship’ is still very much part of our lives…

      As you can see, this is the same case with all ancient civilizations, where you mold your life in tune with nature and not try to alter it according to your need and greed.

      Banyan tree used to be an integral part of both the social and religious life of Indian villages and even today it’s been worshiped by millions.

      Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your comment, Awa 🙂

      Have a beautiful day 🙂

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  3. Your photographs are just wonderful! I have been looking through your posts. I thought I had subscribed to your blog, but I don’t get email updates and I am not good at remembering to look at reader.
    Is it possible to get email updates. I would like to follow your blog.

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    1. Thank you so much, Debra, for your kind words 🙂

      So good to see that you would like to follow my blog and I just enabled the widget for email subscription on the right side bar.

      Have a great time 🙂

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    1. That is the traditional way of marking done with rice powder and turmeric …

      I am not quite sure about it’s significance though 🙂

      Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting… Have a beautiful day 🙂

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  6. Sacred tree with the sacred ‘diyas’… such a serene ambience. The dimly lit place with the glowing light of the lamps spreads the holiness of the sacred place far till the viewers and brings peace to the mind and soul.

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    1. I fest the power of Diya’s and sacred chanting with bells tolling at Hardwar a couple of years back and I will never be able to forget that…

      Here also, the ambiance was so serene and something to be experienced…

      Thank you so much for sharing your thoughtful comments, Sarmistha 🙂

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