Easter and the Banyan Tree

Nude chocolate bunny beneath the Banyan, waiting to be strangled, or worse.
Happy Easter.

I am sitting here under my Banyan tree receiving enlightenment, I hope. Yes, it is a Banyan, but no, I am not Buddha.

I love trees and when I saw this rather beautiful, and to me, new plant sitting alone but alert at my local garden shop, I spent no time deliberating before making the purchase and bringing it home. Well, I couldn’t have known the journey it would take me on:

My first foray into Google told me that the Banyan tree has many different names such as Bo, Bodhi, Pipal, Peepul, or Ashvastha tree to name just a few and it said that it was the tree that Buddha sat beneath when he gained his enlightenment. Are you paying attention? Now, if I am honest, I have never had a great interest in Buddhism. Although, of all the world religions it seems to me to be one of the more peaceful ones.

I knew I was going to write about my beautiful new tree in this blog post, so I got back onto Mr Google to get right down and dirty with it and then sat up in shock when I discovered that the Banyan and the Bodhi are not the same tree after all, and Buddha did not sit beneath the Banyan but the Bodhi. Are you confused yet? Were you paying attention? Did you already realise I was wrong when I talked about the Banyan, the Bodhi, and the Buddha in one breath? I did that deliberately so that you could wail and gnash your teeth and shout at my blog: “But, you are wrong!”

But I’m not:

For clarity, the Bodhi tree is Ficus religiosa while my Banyan tree is Ficus benghalensis.

In fact, the two trees are totally different and if you look at pictures you can clearly see that they are two distinct plants. Not only do they have completely different growth patterns, but the Bodhi has more heart-shaped leaves with a distinctive long tip, while the Banyan’s leaves are more oval and are thicker and lusher and slightly fuzzy. The Banyan has very attractive lighter coloured veining on the deep green leaves, and although the Bodhi is a tree, and therefore also worthy and beautiful in its own right, I like my Banyan better.

I am happy that Buddha did not sit under a Banyan because I don’t have to give my tree any religious significance. This is an atheist home. Here we believe in the life we have now, we are not saving up coupons for a better life in some other dimension. This does not mean we are evil people, simply that we are people who haven’t found any proof that there is a god or an afterlife, although I secretly hope that there is, as I would love to see my boy Looki again—we could run together in the park…and my mother—we still have so much to talk about. *

*Note: I have only named two of the many people with whom I would like to continue a relationship in the afterlife—there are many others who have gone before.

My Banyan tree is currently sitting on my small, slightly broken Läckö table in the living room. She is looking at me because I am talking to her, but I can see her arms reaching for the light already. Really there is not enough room on the table and in any event Banyans like a lot of light. My living room is quite dark and therefore not suitable in the long term so she will eventually go and join my other plants on the patio upstairs and she will be much happier there. For now, she graces my living room, and she does so charmingly.

I am also trying to discern whether the Banyan is one and the same as the Strangler fig. The Banyan does grow long aerial roots, which would strangle almost anything, but I have seen articles that mention a Ficus strangulosa as well, which may be yet another variety (still to be verified). There are, truth to tell, quite a few members of the Ficus family, so there is still a bit of research to go. Strangler fig is not such a pleasant name and mine is but a baby and no killer…yet, but one day she will start to grow long aerial, strangling roots, that is, if I don’t manage to kill her first. I have been known to kill plants too and for that reason, I have already watched several YouTube tutorials on caring for my Banyan baby and will endeavour to keep her alive and healthy.

One of the videos kept pushing the fact that the Banyan is the new Fiddle-leaf fig, only less fussy. That sounds like my kind of plant. I have a Fiddle-leaf and she is a bit of a diva. She is not doing brilliantly—I had her in the living room to start with and she seemed quite happy, but then I was having building work and she was getting very dusty, so I moved her upstairs. Thereafter I found it difficult to find the right spot for her, so she was moved again, and again. She wasn’t thriving so I watched another YouTube tutorial to help me and discovered that they don’t like being moved. Doh! Then I overwatered her, so she lost a few leaves and gained some brown spots. I hope my Banyan will not be so demanding.

Recently I moved the diva to the patio, where all good plants seem to end up and I know she is much happier, although covered with Saharan dust since our recent red rain. I will clean her, but it is a work in progress. I am cleaning the patio in stages. First, the clay has to be scooped up—there was so much dust deposited it formed drifts. After that, it takes several washes to clean the tiles and there are still the walls to wash down. They were white but are now streaked with red. In addition, there are now so many plants on my patio that just getting to the floor and the walls involves a lot of effort and moving of pots before scooping or mopping begins. I will finally begin cleaning all the dusty leaves.

But I digress—let’s get back to the strangler. She looks innocent enough now, but in time she may begin devouring.

The Banyan is an epiphyte and begins life in the crook of another tree, where she beds down and grows, though she is not parasitic and does not take nutrients from the host. However, she does send down those strangling roots to the ground and slowly she ends up swallowing the host tree whole—don’t you just love nature? Red in tooth and claw. From there she spreads herself all over the place—the Banyan holds the record for being the broadest tree species. The Banyan can cloak enormous areas, supporting itself with the aerial roots that it drops down like dripping honey. As it grows it advances outwards creating a vast canopy from one original trunk.

The shade it produces is vital for protection from the blistering sun in its native India and has therefore become essential to climate control, the Banyan is also the national tree of India, which means it is in turn protected. The protection is tied up in various myths about it being bad luck to cut, prune or bring it into the house. “Ooops!” The Banyan has its own religion, not Buddhism but Hinduism. Somehow this religion appeals to me more, as it provides various gods who reside within the tree, which is a mythology that I do believe in.

It is said that Vishnu resides in the bark, Brahma in the roots, and Shiva in the branches. The leaves are said to be the final resting place of Krishna.

This seems like a good division of labour to me, and I do believe that there is a spirit in everything—you can call that religion if you will, but I just call it common sense.