Kabirvad
Hodi Ghat, Kabirvad
Map
SpeciesBanyan (Ficus benghalensis)
LocationKabirvad river island, Bharuch district, Gujarat, India
Coordinates21°45′48″N 73°08′24″E / 21.7633869°N 73.140089°E / 21.7633869; 73.140089
CustodianForest Department, Government of Gujarat

Kabirvad is a banyan tree located on a small river island in the Narmada river, in Bharuch district, Gujarat, India. The tree and place is associated with 15th-century mystic-poet Kabir, and the location includes a temple dedicated to him. The place is a religious site as well as a popular tourist spot.

Description

Nearchus, an admiral of Alexander the Great, described a large specimen on the banks of the Narmada River, possibly Kabirvad. The tree's canopy was so extensive, it sheltered 7,000 men. It was later described by James Forbes (1749–1819) in his Oriental Memoirs (1813–1815) as nearly 610 m (2,000 ft) in circumference, with over 3,000 trunks.[1] Currently, the area of its canopy is 17,520 m2 (4.33 acres), with a perimeter of 641 m (2,103 ft).[2]

Tourism

The banyan tree and place, a religious site as well as a popular tourist spot, is associated with 15th-century mystic-poet Kabir, and the location includes a temple dedicated to him.[3][4][5][6]

From Bharuch to Jhanor via Shuklatirth, there is a place known as Kabirmadhi on the bank of Narmda river. From here, a boat ride brings people to the river island where Kabirvad is located.[3][7]

Legend

Local legend has it that there were two Brahmin brothers, Jeeva and Tatva, in the village of Shuklatirth, near Mangleshwar, in Bharuch district, Gujarat. One day, the brothers were inspired to find a true saint. To do so, they planted a dried shoot of a banyan tree in their courtyard and surmised that whichever saint would turn the dried shoot green would be a true saint.[8][9][10] In the end, they concluded that Kabir turned the shoot green and therefore was a true saint.[11] According to that legend, the shoot developed into Kabirvad.

See also

References

  1. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fig" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  2. ^ Bar-Ness, YD (June 2010). "The World's Largest Trees? Cataloguing India's Giant Banyans" (PDF). Outreach Ecology. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b Bar-Ness, Yoav Deniel (January 2010). "The Kabir Tree" (PDF). Outlook Traveller. pp. 118–121. Archived from the original on 14 December 2016.((cite magazine)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "Kabirvad". Gujarat Tourism. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  5. ^ Network, Divyabhaskar (6 April 2015). "Amazing: नर्मदा नदी के टापू पर 3 किमी तक फैला है यह बरगद का पेड़". dainikbhaskar (in Hindi). Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Crocodile fear hits footfall in Bharuch tourist spot". The Indian Express. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Tale of Jeeva and Datta (Tatva) | Kabir". kabirsahib.jagatgururampalji.org. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  8. ^ Lorenzen, David N. (2006). Who Invented Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History. Yoda Press. ISBN 978-81-902272-6-1.
  9. ^ Not Available (1909). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1908) Vol.23.
  10. ^ Forbes, James (1834). Oriental Memoirs Vol.1.
  11. ^ Lorenzen, Professor Centre of Asian and African Studies David N.; Lorenzen, David N.; Ananta-das; Vai??ava, Anantad?sa (1 January 1991). Kabir Legends and Ananta-Das's Kabir Parachai. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0461-4.
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