Observations placeholder
Mircea Eliade – The Tree in Africa and the Indus valley
Identifier
001799
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
I cannot put two sources even though two are mentionned, so I have chosen the African tribal as the comparison is interesting in beliefs
A description of the experience
Patterns in Comparative Religion – Mircea Eliade
All over Africa and in India sap filled trees symbolise divine motherhood and are therefore venerated by women, as well a sought out by the spirits of the dead who want to return to life..............
The presence of the goddess beside a plant symbol confirms one meaning that the tree possesses in archaic iconography and mythology; that of being an inexhaustible source of cosmic fertility. In the pre-Aryan civilisation of the Indus valley, of which we have learnt such a lot from the excavations of the Harrappa and Mohenjo-Daro, the identification of the Great Goddess with vegetation is represented either by association – nude goddesses of the Yaksini type beside ficus religiosa, or by a plant emerging from the goddess's genital organs.