TREES BREEZE
Did you know that District Champaran in Bihar gets its name from Champaka-aranya, a forest of champa tree that was there in ancient times? Did you know that one of the most expensive perfumes in the world, Joy is made from the flowers of the champa tree?
yes indeed! It's fragrance is the speciality of the champa- Sri kalki krishnamurty refers to champa in his famous historical Tamil novel ponniyin selvan where he mention how the 'sweet scent' of the shenbagam flowers bade the men welcome as they stepped on the lake bank, it's fortieth flower listed in the ancient Kurinijipaattu of sangam tamil literature
Known as Champa in Hindi, Shenbagam in Tamil, Sampige in Kannada, champakam in Malayalam, Champa or champaka in many of the south-east Asian languags, the tree has been known since ancient times not just in Bihar but there are champaka-aranyas in the south too, indicating that the champa tree was once widespread in the subcontient The tree is consider native to india and south and central China, In the south, the biligiri Ranga hills in karnataka are also referred to as champakaranya,In fact, one of the oldest specimens of the champ tree is found in the Biligiri Ranga hills in karnataka. The Dodda sampige Mara is believe to be over 2700 years old and is located on the bank of the river Bhargavi. The soliga tribes have traditional association with the tree. Numerous lingas are found located under the tree's vast canopy. It is aslo an abode for variety of birds and small animals in that area. There used to be many of these trees on the hill slopes of the simhachalam temple near Vishakhapatnam in Andhra pradesh and the flower was referred to as simhachalamsampangi.
Champa's botanical name is Magnolia champaca (earier called Micheliachampaca) Here is an intresting note-in Kishkindakanda of the Ramayana, one of the verses describing Rama's anguish say that he cursed that champa tree should not be touched by honeybees. the reality is that Magnolias (including Champa) are among the most ancient of flowering plant that appeared on the earth even before the bees! Champa flowers are pollinated by beetles, which feed on the stigmas, pollen, nectar and secretion from the petals
The Champa tree is a tall evergreen, about 20 m high, with a fairly smooth bark. The leaves are simple elliptic in shape with wavy margin. The flowers are usually solitary and quite distinctive ranging in colour from white and cream to a deep golden yellow. what we think of as petals are not true petals as they do not have sepals. They are known as tepals and are free and arranged usually in three whorls of three in each whorl. they enclose a central dome shaped core with spirally arranged ovaries.the short-stalked stamens are arrange tightly as the base.When the petals fall off,the central dome remains and turns into the fruit. These are oblong fruitlets that appeared like grapes and hold single red seed inside. the flowering is usually through the year.
The sweet fragrance of the Champa is the main reason for it to be extensively in worship. you will find the few flowers sellers outside some temples selling these flowers either singly or three or four strung into a bunch if you go to the temple of Goddess Ranganayaki in Srirangam you can see tightly woven circlets mad of these yellow gold followers spreading their strong fragrance. the tree is believe to be personification of goddess Lakshmi.
Champa flowers are supposed to be particularly sacred to lord Krishna and Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu have Champa as the Sthalavriksha. The Sthalavriksham of the Rajagopalswami temple in Mannargudi in TamilNadu in Shenbagam (champa) and the area is also know as Shenbakaranya (Champakaranya) Kshetram evidently in days gone by,there were groves of Champa tree there are association with other religion too. In Theravada Buddhism, the seventeenth Buddha is said to have achieved enlightement by this tree.There is also a giant Champa tree near the tomb of a famous saint Musa sohang in Ahmadabad. women hang glass Bangles on the tree branches while praying to be blessed with children.
Each part of the Champa tree is useful . the wood is Used for making furniture. door panels and even as fuel. A yellow dye is extracted from the flowers. the bark flowers and fruits are used in Ayurvedic medicine, for example a paste of the bark is applied on ulcer or reduce local swelling. but it is the lingering fragrance of the Champa that is the most popular. it is so strong that rarely will see women wearing more than one of these flower sin their tresses as can cause headache but left in bowl of water, a room can smell delightful through out the day!
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