A hundred years ago in Kongunadu, it was customary for a newly-married couple to pay their obeisance to Lord Murugan at the Marudhamalai temple after their wedding. They would then come back to the mountain temple for the girl's seemandham — all the rituals were performed under the marutham tree. The child was named Marudhappan, Marudhayya or Marudhammal, after the chief deity, Marudhachala Moorthy.
The deity himself was named after the temple's sthalavriksha, marutham, found in the mountains, said M. Gunasekaran. He was delivering a talk on ‘Sthalavrikshas in Kongu temples' as part of The Vanavarayar Foundation's monthly lecture series. Gunasekaran holds a Masters degree in Botany and a PhD on the sthalavrikshas of temples in Tamil Nadu.
A sthalavriksha is a plant that is held on par with the prime deity in a temple. “Nature worship has been a part of our lives from time immemorial,” said Gunasekaran. “Trees, especially, were venerated because they provided man food and shelter, and protected him from natural disasters. Researchers say that it is to express his gratitude that man worshipped trees.”
Gunasekaran's study aimed at finding out if sthalavrikshas and the beliefs associated with them contributed to conserving plant and animal biodiversity. “Of the 203 Kongu temples we studied, 153 had sthalavrikshas. We recorded 34 different species.” Vilvam, vanni, Ashoka and iluppai trees are some of them. Gunasekaran said about 90 per cent of such trees were also used for medicinal purposes by people in the surrounding rural areas. “With the priest's permission, villagers are allowed access to the leaves,” he said.
The vilvam tree for instance, is believed to cure fever, diabetes, ulcer and diarrhoea. “Even today in Ramanathapuram district, a special dish for the new-born is prepared using vilva leaves,” explained Gunasekaran. Most Kongu temples had vilvam trees as their sthalavirkshas. A lot of temples have iluppai trees planted in and around the compound. This was because, in the past, oil from the tree was used to light lamps in the temple, explained Gunasekaran.
Not just human-beings, sthalavrikshas support several species of primates, birds, reptiles and insects. Animals and birds could live undisturbed in these trees since sthalavirkshas are considered sacred. Gunasekaran showed pictures of fruit-bats, flying-foxes, peafowl and spotted owlets living amidst the branches of these sacred trees. “In the nandhavanams (sacred gardens) of Kongu temples alone, we recorded 50 species of butterflies,” he informed the audience and added how 40 temple towns are named after their sthalavrikshas. During his research, he even came across a self-help group named after one.
Then there are the beliefs associated with sthalavrikshas. “Some women believe that suspending miniature cradles from the branches of the trees will bless them with a child,” he said. This practice is quite common in temples in Tamil Nadu, but the practice has now been modified to suit the present times. It is flourishing careers that people pray for now, said Gunasekaran as he showed a photograph of a sthalavriksha in Chennai, that had visiting cards stuck to it.
