Author: Sajid Shaikh, Times News
Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 14, 2002
If you are an Aries, plant 'amla'
(emblica officinalis) and 'garmado' (cassia fistula). For Leos, the choice
is 'peepal' (ficus religiose) and 'asopalav' (polyalthia longifolia) and
for the moody cancerian 'ashoka' (saraca indica) and 'kher' (acacia catechu)
are the most beneficial.
When first mooted, the idea of relating
sun signs and planets with trees, like lucky gemstones, was considered
preposterous. But the plan to use astrology as a vehicle to promote plantations
has worked wonders.
In Bhayli village, Tribhovan Solanki
is a happy man today. A year after he planted his lucky 'asopalav' tree,
lady luck smiled on him. "For five years I was planning to marry off my
two daughters. Nothing was happening, but within a year of planting the
tree, both my daughters got married and are happy. My son Gopal was jobless,
now he is working in a factory as fabricator. I do not have any health
problems for about six months now," Mr. Solanki said.
"An elderly friend told me about
lucky plants. He had got a chart from the social forestry department. A
local astrologer after looking at the chart and comparing it with mine
suggested I should plant Asopalav. I did so and am very happy today," Mr.
Solanki says. He is now telling the story of his Asopalav to other.
He is not the only one who believes
that the planting of a tree has turned the wheel of fortune and brought
happiness. There are scores of them in vicinity of Vadodara. In Savli,
Padra, Dabhoi and other talukas where plantation drives were kicked off,
many families have started considering trees as lucky charms.
"We pray to tulsi. So when I heard
about lucky plants I did not think twice and got myself a Peepal sapling,"
says Suresh Patel of Pansoli village. A Virgo, Mr. Patel has also induced
his relatives to believe in the mystic powers of trees. "I know some astrology
myself Even in Vedas there is . mention of the healing powers of plants.
It is logical that they influence our fate," Mr. Patel says. This idea
is being favoured by botanists and environmentalists, besides astrologers
and the social forestry division here, which mooted it.
According to the head of botany
department at M.S. University, professor G.P Senan, "It reinforces the
ancient belief that plants are like Gods. In the South, for instance- every
temple will have a groove of trees considered sacred. Of the same emotion
of attaching religious significance to plants is catching up, mostly in
rural areas".
Bolstered by the support from rural
areas, the social forestry division plans to push further its astrological
plantation concept. "The response has been very good. Of the 1 lakh saplings
that we had distributed in the district, about 25-30 per cent are healthy
growing. Ibis is a good survival rate. Besides in our field trips we have
come across instances where trees are now being looked upon as good omen
bringing luck stars," said deputy conservator of forests (social forestry)
Ramesh Patel.
He said his division would continue
to popularise plants as luck bearing entities bringing and prosperity.
"There is reason to believe this theory. Ancient scriptures and religious
books mention about plants' correlation with planets and their direct influence
on human beings. So does science," Mr. Patel said.