Mountains, trees and the epics

All over the world, mountains are linked with legends, gods and heroes. Being so high, they're seen as a gateway from earth to heaven.

That's why so many temples are on hilltops: climbing to them is a symbol of reaching the divine. People made tiring walks up mountain paths, testing their bodies and their minds. Today many can be reached by road. Examples: Vaishno Devi (Katra), Lord Balaji on the Tirumala hills, Mount Kailash, Tiruvannamalai.

Trees are honoured too, with turmeric and kumkum, and people tie threads on them while making wishes. The peepul (also 'bo tree' or 'bodhi tree', Aśhvattha in Sanskrit) is sacred to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism: four religions!

Its scientific name is *Ficus religiosa*: Latin for the 'religious' or sacred fig. Even the scientists who named it noticed how people felt about it!

The tree at the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, is said to descend from the tree under which the Buddha found enlightenment. That's where the names 'bodhi tree' and 'Bodh Gaya' come from.

It's useful too: its leaves help with some skin problems, its bark with stomach problems. It stays green almost all year, giving food and shelter to many birds and animals.

How old is this respect? A seal from Mohenjo-daro shows peepul leaves! The peepul has been part of India's culture for thousands of years.

The Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa describe pilgrimages and sacred rivers, forests and mountains. In almost every region, villages and tribes say the epic heroes passed through their area, often marked by a shrine. One in Bastar (Chhattisgarh) celebrates Rāma's passing. Stories like these let many different communities make the epics their own.