[TO FACE [PAGE 2].
Yggdrasill, the Mundane Tree.
From Finn Magnusen’s ‘Eddalæren.’
The Hindu World-Tree.
The Indian cosmogonic tree is the symbol of vegetation, of universal life, and of immortality. In the sacred Vedic writings it receives the special names of Ilpa, Kalpadruma, Kalpaka-taru, and Kalpavriksha, on the fruits of which latter tree the first men sustained and nourished life. In its quality of Tree of Paradise, it is called Pârijâta; and as the ambrosial tree—the tree yielding immortal food—it is known as Amrita and Soma. This mystic world-tree of the Hindus, according to the Rigveda, is supernaturally the God Brahma himself; and all the gods are considered as branches of the divine parent stem—the elementary or fragmentary form of Brahma, the vast overspreading tree of the universe. In the Vedas this celestial tree is described as the Pippala (Peepul), and is alluded to as being in turns visited by two beauteous birds—the one feeding itself on the fruit (typifying probably the moon or twilight); the other simply hovering, with scintillating plumage, and singing melodiously (typifying perhaps the sun or daybreak).
Under the name of Ilpa (the Jamboa, or Rose-apple) the cosmogonic tree is described as growing in the midst of the lake Ara in Brahma’s world, beyond the river that never grows old, from whence are procured the waters of eternal youth. Brahma imparts to it his own perfume, and from it obtains the sap of vitality. To its branches the dead cling and climb, in order that they may enter into the regions of immortality.
As the Kalpadruma, Kalpaka-taru, and Kalpavriksha, the Indian sacred writings describe a cloud-tree, which, by its shadows, produced day and night before the creation of sun and moon. This cosmogonic tree, which is of colossal proportions, grows in the midst of flowers and streamlets on a steep mountain. It fulfils all desires, imparts untold bliss, and, what in the eyes of Buddhists constitutes its chief sublimity, it gives knowledge and wisdom to humanity; in a word it combines within its mystic branches all riches and all knowledge.
As the Soma, the world-tree becomes in Indian mysticism a tree of Paradise, at once the king of all trees and vegetation, and the god Soma to be adored. It furnishes the divine ambrosia or essence of immortality, concealed sometimes in the clouds, sometimes in the billows of the soft and silvery light that proceeds from the great-Soma, the great Indu, the moon. Hence this mystic tree, from the foliage of which drops the life-giving Soma, is sometimes characterised as the Hindu Moon-Tree. Out of this cosmogonic tree the immortals shaped the heaven and the earth. It is the Tree of Intelligence, and grows in the third heaven, over which it spreads its mighty branches; beneath it Yama and the Pitris dwell, and quaff the immortalising Soma with the gods. At its foot grow plants of all healing virtue, incorporations of the Soma. Two birds sit on its top, one of which eats Figs, whilst the other simply watches. Other birds press out the Soma juice from its branches. This ambrosial tree, besides dropping the precious Soma, bears fruit and seed of every kind known in the world.
The World-Tree of the Buddhists.
The Sacred Tree of Buddha is in the complex theology of his followers represented under different guises: it is cosmogonic, it imparts wisdom, it produces the divine ambrosia or food of immortality, it yields the refreshing and life-inspiring rain, and it affords an abiding-place for the souls of the blessed.
The supernatural and sacred Tree of Buddha, the cloud-tree, the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Wisdom, the Ambrosia-tree, is covered with divine flowers; it glows and sparkles with the brilliance of all manner of precious stones; the root, the trunk, the branches, and the leaves are formed of gems of the most glorious description. It grows in soil pure and delightfully even, to which the rich verdure of grass imparts the tints of a peacock’s neck. It receives the homage of the gods; and the arm of Mâyâ (the mother of Buddha) when she stretches it forth to grasp the bough which bends towards her, shines as the lightning illumines the sky. Beneath this sacred tree, the Tree of Knowledge, Buddha, at whose birth a flash of light pierced through all the world, sat down with the firm resolve not to rise until he had attained the knowledge which “maketh free.” Then the Tempter, Mâra, advanced with his demoniacal forces: encircling the Sacred Tree, hosts of demons assailed Buddha with fiery darts, amid the whirl of hurricanes, darkness, and the downpour of floods of water, to drive him from the Tree. Buddha, however, maintained his position unmoved; and at length the demons were compelled to fly. Buddha had conquered, and in defeating the Tempter Mâra, and obtaining possession of his Tree of Knowledge, he had also obtained possession of deliverance. Prof. De Gubernatis, in explaining this myth, characterises the tree as the cloud-tree: in the clouds the heavenly flame is stored, and it is guarded by the dark demons. In the Vedic hymns, the powers of light and darkness fight their great battle for the clouds, and the ambrosia which they contain; this is the identical battle of Buddha with the hosts of Mâra. In the cloud-battle the ambrosia (amrita) which is in the clouds is won; the enlightenment and deliverance which Buddha wins are also called an ambrosia; and the kingdom of knowledge is the land of immortality.