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GITĀ, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CH. XV 1137
the banian tree, and not the pippala tree. For instance, there is a description that the aśvattha (pippala) tree is the tree of the Sun, and that, "nyagrodho varuņo vrksah”, that is, "the "nyagrodha' (nyag=downwards; and rodha= growing) vata tree is the tree of Varuna" (See Gobhilagrhya 4. 7. 24). There is a description in the Mahābhārata (Ma. Bhã Vana. 188-91), that Märkandeya Rsi saw the Parameśvara in the form of an infant on the branch of an avyaya (that is, imperishable, even at the time of general destruction), 'nyagrodha' (that is, downwardsgrowing) vata-urksa (fig-tree) at the time of the pralaya (Cosmic destruction) Also, the illustration which has been given in the Chandogyopanisad for showing how this tremendous visible Cosmos has been created from the Imperceptible Parameśvara is also of the seed of the 'nyagrodha' (Chān. 6. 12 1) The Cosmic-Tree (vrs va-vrksa) has also been described in the Svetāśvataropanisad (Sve. 6.6); but, what that tree is has not been clearly stated there; and there is a description in the Mundakopanisad that on this tree there are seated two birds, namely, the Sentient or Personal Self (jivātman) and the Highest Self (paramātman); and that one of them is eating the pippala tree, that is, the fruits of the pippala tree, which is a description borrowed from the Rg-Veda. The third idea about the form of the Cosmic-Tree in addition to the two ideas, namely, of the pippala and the zata trees, is of the 'audumbara' tree; and this tree has been ascribed to Dattatreya in the Purānas. In short, the three ideas of the world created by the Māyā (Illusion) of the Parameśvara being either a pippala or a vata or an audumbara tree are to be come across in ancient treatises. And, on this account, the three names, in terms of a tree, namely, "nyagrodho 'dumbaro 'svutthah" (See Ma. Bhā. Anu. 149. 101), have been mentioned in the Visnu-Sahasranāma; and these three trees have been considered deities and worshippable in common usage. Besides, the Visnu-Sahasranāma and the Gitā are both parts of the Mahābhārata; and if the Sahasranāma mentions the three different names, 'audumbara' 'rata' (nyagrodha), and
