Legend, Tradition and Folklore
“Mahua, oh Mahua, thou art my love divine. Thou dost fill my heart with joy, and my soul with wine.” – A popular folk song
Trees always have had myths and stories, faith and beliefs, anecdotes and tales built around them. The ones who give a lot are treated as divinity. Such is the simple uncomplicated dynamics of tribal life.
It is an enduring testimony to Mahua’s diverse uses to the communities, especially tribal societies, that countless stories abound about this wonder tree. Built up over centuries, these stories have led to a considerable legend and have got indelibly implanted in the cultural and religious life of societies that live and depend on them.
Photo: Sriram Vottalamurtyu
And Mahua is no ordinary tree. It is beautiful and overly generous. The lush green and luxuriant tree that can grow up to 20-30 meters in height has a dense canopy that provides sumptuous shade. It’s comforting shadow is a welcome refuse for men and animals, protecting them from the blistering sun and torrential rain. The leaves are large, oblong, and leathery; and crafted into cups and plates with elementary skill serve commendably as the most eco-friendly utensils. The flowers are small and fragrant, and they bloom in clusters. The fruits are round and fleshy, about the size of a large marble, and contain a single seed. The seeds are edible and have a high oil content, which makes them useful for cooking, lighting lamps, and as a traditional medicine. Is there one tree that offers as many bounties to human as Mahua?
No wonder then that it is respected and revered, worshiped, and venerated. That a considerable body of legend has grown around it and has become an abiding and glorious part of Indian folklore, only manifests the appreciation and gratitude of a multitude of men, women, and children.
Centre of Adivasi Life
Mahua is the fulcrum of Adivasi life. It is central to their existence at every stage and in every ritual. It provides them food, fuel, and occasions to feast and rejoice. For them, Mahua tree is their kalpabriksha.
Gonds, a major tribe of Central India refer to themselves as Koyatur. They believe that the first Gond, Koya Pen, was born under a Koya (mahua) tree. In Gond mythology, the flower is imbued with sacred characteristics. “Iruk Pungar anant hai (Mahua flower is immortal). It is a rare flower,” Gonds believe “Unlike other flowers, it never dries to death. It comes back to life when put in water no matter how long it has dried.
Photo: Sriram Vittalamurthy
In Chaitra, the first month in the Indian lunar calendar, Gonds celebrate Chaitrai Mahaparv in the first month of Indian lunar calendar, marking the beginning of the new year. From this day, they are granted permission to consume all major foods of this season—mango, mahua flowers, char and tendu, and notably they begin eating the season’s mahua flowers. But they have to wait till Mahua Tyohar, a festival just before rains, to begin distilling mahua liquor.
Woven into Traditional Mythology
According to Hindu mythology, the Mahua tree was created by Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, as a gift to mankind. The tree is said to have healing powers and is considered sacred by many communities.
In some parts of India, it is believed that the Mahua tree is inhabited by a spirit known as the Mahua Devi. It is said that the Mahua Devi protects the tree and its products and can bring good fortune to those who show it respect.
The Mahua tree is also associated with Lord Shiva, who is said to have consumed its flowers and become intoxicated. It is believed that consuming Mahua flowers can bring about a similar effect, and they are often used in traditional medicines and rituals.
There is a popular folktale in some parts of India about a king who went on a hunting trip and got lost in the forest. He came across a Mahua tree and consumed its flowers to quench his thirst. The flowers made him so intoxicated that he fell asleep and was later rescued by a group of hunters.
These tales and beliefs passed on from generation to generation sanctified the trees of the forest, ensuring that the forests were conserved and nursed and not merely exploited.
An Enviable Tradition
Pandum, a festival of Gonds for instance, is not just a celebration but a way to maintain biodiversity by sustainable consumption. It ensures that Gonds don’t eat a fruit till it’s fully mature and its seeds can develop into saplings.
It’s both ironic and lamentable that a people who knew how to conserve the nature and its gifts – the trees, the fruits, the seed, the roots and the bark, were consciously and deliberately forced to disregard and violate their ages- old tradition of never cutting a tree till it was mature and never pluck a fruit till it was ripe. The forced incursion of state in their economic life has brought about a distortion that will not be easy to undo. A mahua tree is never chopped down but passed on to the next generation. What the tribals practiced effortlessly for centuries is becoming the latest fetish of today’s so-called developed civilizations, regrettably with little success.
Protecting Mahua tree made economic sense as well. The older the tree, the higher the yield. So it made economic sense to conserve it. It also served as a currency, so needed in a barter economy. An Adivasi pays with a bag of mahua flowers for vegetables or salt or oil, a sight common across many states.
Mahua Gathering
And gathering mahua flowers is not a mechanical process. The fragrance is all-pervasive, and the mood of the people gathered there, festive. “It is nothing short of a festival season for us. Our lives depend on the mahua flowers,” This is the season in central India when tribal families lock up their homes and with baskets perched on their heads and hips set out to their fields or the forest to harvest the heady flowers.
“We often come to the fields after dinner and climb up to our machans to spend the night there,” That was to ensure nilgai and wild boars did not come and eat up the fallen mahua flowers. “Just at the hint of dawn the whole family begins to gather the flowers. We all pitch in but sometimes there are so many flowers to be collected that we can’t gather them all.” The flowers that get left behind are allowed to dry after which they are shared amongst themselves.
Medicine for Sick; Hedge against Starvation
Mahua is a staple of Adivasi healers. Leaves, roots, herbs, and a lot of mahua flowers, these are the raw material that go into making tribal medicines. And the range of maladies include cough and cold, liver damage, lack of production of milk in women, loss of libido, blood pressure, stomach and parasitic diseases.
A spoonful of fulli, unadulterated alcohol of mahua, is used for many illnesses, sometimes, with the juice of the flower. For snake bites, fulli is mixed with the root of a small plant. The bark is used for wounds and fractures.
But for the whole tribal community, it is often the sole hedge against starvation. Shaped by the painful experiences of hunger in childhood, almost every family has imbibed the value of Mahua as their saviour. “We ate boiled mahua flowers. Without mahua, I would have died. It saved my life.” is a common sentiment.
“I’ve raised my children with a lot of difficulties. My husband died when my daughter Nirmala was 15 day old. I’d go to jungle, bring mahua and leaves and sell it at the local hat. I sold or bartered mahua for rice, clothes, oil, soap, etc. Everything came from mahua.”
In the Bastar region, ravaged repeatedly by famine during the Raj, such stories are common. In several families, boiled mahua was the staple meal. On good days, they made mahua laata—balls of boiled and crushed flowers.
A festival for them is when Mahua ka paag- a syrup is prepared. “I had not seen sugar or jaggery. On rare occasions, we made mahua ka paag,” many say, referring to the syrup made from the flower. “We would dip roti in it and eat. That was festival for us,” they reminisce.
Photo: Sriram Vittalamurthy
A Symbol of Life
“The Mahua tree stands tall and proud, a symbol of strength and resilience. Its flowers and seeds bring hope and sustenance to those in need, and its oil heals and soothes.”, so, goes a common Gond song. Mahua thus is a symbol of life, for it gives food, shelter, and medicine. Its flowers bring joy and happiness, and its oil heals many wounds. The tree stands for fertility, And Mahua blossoms are sheer poetry.
In folklores and traditions, it is placed at a perch unavailable to any other tree. It’s a purveyor of food and nourishment, joy, and abundance. It heals and it sustains. It’s a multi-faced God showering untold boons. As this Gond poem so amply expresses,
Mahua flower is honey
Sweet and sunny
It’s poetry in itself
Rich and winning!
Its fleshy flowers
Succulent like full lips
Of a young maiden
And soft as silk
As the skin of a tender lass
It is intoxicating
Like the beauty of a damsel
One never tires of
Supping from its eternal
Inexhaustible spring!
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