The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Rare ‘tree of life’ under threat

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Thursday, Feb 26, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rare ‘tree of life’ under threat

K. Venkateshwarlu

‘Kalpavriksh’ in peril as work on ORR close to Ramoji Film City picks up pace

Foreign origin: The tree is linked to African savannahs

HYDERABAD: For centuries, standing almost 25 metres tall on a 15- metre round hollow rotund trunk, the majestic, rare tree may have performed its mythical duty of fulfilling the wish-list of many a tired soul taking shelter under it.

Sadly the ‘kalpavriksh’s own wish to live perhaps for some more centuries seemed to be all but reduced to a cry in wilderness, as it faces a grave threat of being axed as work on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) opposite and a little before Ramoji Film City on the city outskirts picks up pace.

History

Baobab (Adansonia digitata) has its origins in the African savannahs and believed to have been brought to India by Arab slaves and soldiers, hundreds of years ago, going by their locations in and around Muslim-ruled kingdoms.

Called ‘tree of life’ for its capacity to provide food, shelter and water (stored in large quantities in its broad trunk to tide over dry season), it has typical characteristics and is wrapped in legends.

Leafless for better part of the year, the tree looks ‘upside-down’, as if its roots are thrown up in the air, an African legend tracing it to a hyena mischievously planting it in that manner. World over baobabs are credited with surviving for thousands of years.

Urbanisation

In India a number of them have fallen prey to development and urbanisation and just about a hundred have managed to survive mostly close to Moghul monuments. In the city and surrounding areas about three or four remain, the most popular being ‘Hathiyon ka jhad’ (elphantine tree) near Golconda fort, close to Mulla Khayali’s mosque.

Nature lover, N. Shiva Kumar, who stumbled upon this particular baobab (‘Hyderabad is so fortunate to possess’), while travelling to Vijayawada, says this too could fall prey to ORR and real estate greed unless of course the forest and civic authorities step in to save it.

Already some of the branches have been chopped, while the tree has been grotesquely painted white. Time for green warriors to save the city’s dying green heritage.

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