Re: [efloraofindia:33343] Re: On Pala tree bark, exorcism practices ...

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raghu ananth

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Apr 26, 2010, 11:26:12 AM4/26/10
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Dear Gurcharan ji,  Gibi /All,

The tree photographs are from two different individuals,  photographed in the Chotanikkara temple premises. One of them could be a peepul tree. Larger picture formats of the trees can be found here in this link below. (Probably i was more focussed on the bark and did not give attention to photograph the tree leaves etc..)


Mani ji,
In my village, some of the people who govern such customary practices  (rituals/customs) claim upto 85% success rate.  The trend is quite common among  the astrologers, horoscope matchers, local bone setters, so on and so forth.. One one side there are good  number of patients who believe and claim their immediate family members were cured/healed and  recommend others. On the other side when such a practice prove negative,  we hear the practitioner say "You do not have enough faith in the custom and did not perform with enough religious zeal". In my village, we had seen a mentally ill women being beaten with grass broom by one of the healer.  Eventually, it all ended when the patient jumped into the river waters. 
Doctors in Nimhans (national institute of metal health and neural science) understand the psychotic patient well, find the root cause and give the best treatment scientifically possible Though its a very lengthy procedure, 

Anyways, I pray to these sufferers - cant work, cant marry, should depend on others ..... Normal people wont understand their disease and resort to extreme measures...

  

Regards
Raghu


From: mani nair <mani....@gmail.com>
To: Smilax004 <giby.ku...@gmail.com>
Cc: efloraofindia <indian...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, 21 April, 2010 4:42:54 PM
Subject: Re: [efloraofindia:32863] Re: On Pala tree bark, exorcism practices ...

I have been to this famous temple and seen the  tree   with the nails and also the mentally sick women who come there to heal.It is a great miracle that after so many long iron nails pricked into its bark  the tree is still living.    What about the patients?   Are they cured or is it just a supersition?
 
Regards,
 
Mani.

On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 4:22 PM, Smilax004 <giby.ku...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,

I had been to Chotanikkara temple several occassions and I do remember
the tree. It is Alstonia scholaris only. All of you are correct with
the vernacular names. But, in Kerala all plants that produce milky
latex and belong to the family Apocynaceae and asclepiadaceae are
referred  as pala. Here A. scholaris is commonly known in Kerala as
Ezhilam Pala (Ezhila= 7 leaves referring the 7 leaflets of the leaf of
A. scholaris). I have never seen a Palaquim ellipticum on road side or
public places in Kerala. This plant is called as Pali in Malayalam.

Raghu,

Your first two and 4th(?) pictures are of A. scholaris with
F.religiosa and what about the remaining two? I think those are
pictures of free standing huge Ficus religiosa (Arayal in Mal). I
think the photographs are of two different individuals?  I remmber one
huge Ficus religiosa at the front gate of the temple. As Dr Anil Kumar
said there is one F.religiosa growing as a hemi-epiphyte on
A.scholaris as well.


Gurcharan ji,

There are lots of other hemi-epiphytes growing on the huge trunk of
the F. religiosa. Therefore, i think you refer to hanging leaves of
such hemi-epiphytes.


Regards,
Giby




On Apr 21, 3:01 pm, Gurcharan Singh <singh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Anil ji
> You may be right, in the first photograph young peepal trees are seen along
> the trunk, but I am not sure these photographs belong to the famous Pala
> tree of Chottannikkara temple in Kerala. The tree these seems to be
> different, with much smaller leaves hanging down and not definitely peepal.
> See the link below:
>
> http://www.chottanikkara.com/History.htm
>
> http://www.chottanikkara.com/aalmaram.htm
>
> <http://www.chottanikkara.com/aalmaram.htm>
>
> --
> Dr. Gurcharan Singh
> Retired  Associate Professor
> SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
> Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
> Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/
>
> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 2:55 PM, Dr.ANIL KUMAR <crazygrass...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > dear members
>
> >  i might be wrong in identification but it seems to be a peepal tree
> > Ficus religiosa growing on the trunk of  pala tree Alistonia. if
> > people worship pala tree thn it must be alistonia only.
>
> > On Apr 21, 10:33 am, "R. Vijayasankar" <vijay.botan...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > I fully agree with you Gurcharan ji,
>
> > > But due to lots of disturbances (such as too much of neiling) and
> > resulted
> > > continuous & irregular callous formation, the original structure and
> > shape
> > > of the trunk could have been changed.
>
> > > Let's here from our Kerala member friends.
>
> > > On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 12:23 AM, Gurcharan Singh <singh...@gmail.com
> > >wrote:
>
> > > > Yes Vijayasankar ji
> > > > Alstonia scholaris is one of the many plants known by this name as I
> > > > mentioned in my post, but looking at the tree in the photograph the
> > massive
> > > > trunk and leaves don't appear to be that of Alstonia. The two closest I
> > > > mentioned as Manilkara hexandra and Palaquium ellipticum. Let us wait
> > for
> > > > more responses.
>
> > > > --
> > > > Dr. Gurcharan Singh
> > > > Retired  Associate Professor
> > > > SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
> > > > Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
> > > > Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
> > > >http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/
>
> > > > On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 9:37 AM, R. Vijayasankar <
> > vijay.botan...@gmail.com
> > > > > wrote:
>
> > > >> As far as i know, 'Pala' in Malayalam refers to *Alstonia scholaris*.
> > I
> > > >> was told that the name 'Palakkad' (kad means forest) came due to the
> > > >> predominent occurrence of 'pala' i.e. Alstonia scholaris trees.
>
> > > >> On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:50 PM, Gurcharan Singh <singh...@gmail.com
> > >wrote:
>
> > > >>> Rather difficult to zoom in. In Tam. and Mar. Pala tree refers to
> > > >>> Alstonia scholaris; In Hindi and Mar. Pala refers to Carmona
> > microphylla
> > > >>> (Ehretiaceae), in  Mal. it refers to Cryptostegia grandiflora; in
> > Tel. it is
> > > >>> for Holarrehena antidysenterica; Tam., Mal. it is for Manilkara
> > hexandra;
> > > >>> Mal., it is for Palaquium ellipticum, Eng. (Pala indigo) for Wrightia
> > > >>> tinctoria, Tam., Mal. for W. tomentosa, Raj. for Ziziphus nummularia.
>
> > > >>>      I would chose between Manilkara hexandra and Palaquium
> > ellipticum.
> > > >>> Any clues?
>
> > > >>> --
> > > >>> Dr. Gurcharan Singh
> > > >>> Retired  Associate Professor
> > > >>> SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
> > > >>> Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
> > > >>> Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
> > > >>>http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/
>
> > > >>> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 11:06 AM, J.M. Garg <jmga...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> > > >>>> Any Bot. name for the tree?
>
> > > >>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > >>>> From: raghu ananth <raghu_...@yahoo.com>
> > > >>>> Date: 13 March 2010 12:14
> > > >>>> Subject: [efloraofindia:29693] On Pala tree bark, exorcism practices
> > ...
> > > >>>> To: indian...@googlegroups.com
>
> > > >>>>   On Pala tree bark, exorcism practices..
>
> > > >>>> An age old, huge Pala tree with long iron nails pricked into its
> > bark.
> > > >>>> As a last resort, Mentally ill or people considered to be the
> > victims of
> > > >>>> evil spirits come to this tree hammer on children dolls with nails
> > into the
> > > >>>> bark from their fore-heads.
>
> > > >>>> Sri Chottanikkara temple, Near Cochin, Kerala
> > > >>>> 30 Dec 2008
>
> > > >>>>  Check this link on exorcism practices. ( Search for the word
> > `Pala`)
>
> >http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Chottanikkara/blog-45405....
>
> > > >>>> Regards
> > > >>>> Raghu
>
> > > >>>> ------------------------------
> > > >>>> The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage<
> >http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_yyi_1/*http://in.yahoo.com/>
> > > >>>> .
>
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> > > >> --
> > > >> With regards
>
> > > >> R. Vijayasankar
> > > >> National Center for Natural Products Research,
> > > >> The University of Mississippi,
> > > >> Oxford, MS-38677, USA.
>
> > > --
> > > With regards
>
> > > R. Vijayasankar
> > > National Center for Natural Products Research,
> > > The University of Mississippi,
> > > Oxford, MS-38677, USA.
>
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