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INTACH






                                                                             THE HERITAGE CLUB NEWSLETTER



                                JANUARY - MARCH 2022                                                VOL. 19 No. 1

                       Trees are the     SACRED TREES
                         root of our
                         existence,
                     Earth is sacred and   Plants personify the divine
                      trees its essence!
                                         (The Rig Veda X.97). Sacred
                                         trees form an important part
                    Dear Green Friends,  of India’s ecological heritage.
                    From time imme-      The worship of plants is our
                    morial,     trees    oldest form of worship.  In
                    have   been   our    India, we have trees that
                    good friends by      are part of our myths, epics,
                   providing us food,    rituals, worship and daily life.
    shelter and resources. They play a vital   The sacred tree had many
    role in our basic needs of life. Villages   names  like  kalpavriksha
    across India grew around a central
    sacred tree that represented the local   (wish fulfi lling  tree),  chaitya
    deities and was worshipped to protect   vriksha (tree shrine) and
    the village and its people.          sthala vriksha (tree of the
    Like in ancient times, today too     sacred site).
    offerings are placed at the base of our   What makes the Indian reverence for plants unique is its unbroken continuity
    sacred trees, indicating that trees are   from prehistory to the present day. From the ancient to the present Covid times
    still worshipped in the same way.    people have fallen back on trees for cures. Let us read on and discover the
    Let us understand why trees are      wisdom of our trees…
    worshipped and renew our pledge to   Saloni Kumari, Class 8A, Scholars Home Sr. Sec. School,
    Go Green !                           Dehradun; E. Shyam, Class 9, Olivet School, Krishna
                                         Nagar, Vishakhapatnam; A. Poojitha, Class 11A,
                                         Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Atmakuri Rama Rao School,
                                         Hyderabad
      CONTENTS
                                           MAGICAL MAWPHLANG
       Sacred Trees                 1
       Tree Wisdom                  2    Meghalaya is home to the magical Mawphlang
       Tree Tales                   3    Sacred Forest. It is an abode to the local deity
       Tree Worship                 4
       Treasured Trees              5    Labasa. Removing anything from the sacred
       Mighty Banyan                6    forest is a sign of disrespect to the local deity.
       Pious Pipal                  7
       Holy Basil, Healing Neem     8
       Benovalent Bel, Sorrowless Ashoka   9
       The Holy Trio - Golden Mango   10     REVERED RUDRAKSHA
       Bountiful Banana, Humble Jackfruit   11
       Life-Giver Coconut,  Sacred Sandalwood   12  The Rudraksha or the  Elaeocarpus ganitrus
       Spiritual Sal, Divine Parijat,    tree bears drupes (fruit) which on drying
       Krishna's Kadamba, Blessed Bamboo   13  gives this sacred bead. INTACH is working on
       Brave Khejri, Sacred Palms, Sacred Fruits   14
       Sacred Groves... Treasure Troves...   15-16  the plantation of 10,000 Rudraksha trees in
       Activity 4 u                17    the Ganga Basin.
       Heritage News             18 - 19
       Prize Winners; What’s Next?   20
                                            Illustration by J. R. Mitharanjani, Angappa Educational Trust
                                                          Senior Secondary School, Coimbatore
          INDIAN  NA TIONAL   TRUST  FOR  ART  AND  CUL TUR AL  HERIT A G E


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