A tree of memory, a tree of medicine, a tree of meaning.
कोविदार · कांचनार
Botanically Bauhinia variegata. In Hindu tradition, the tree of Ayodhya. In Ayurveda, a celebrated bark. To meet Kovidar is to meet three things at once — history, biology, and a quiet form of devotion.
The name
The Sanskrit name Kovidar appears across the Ramayana and the classical Ayurvedic compendia. In contemporary Hindi, the same tree is most often called Kachnar; in English, the orchid tree or camel’s foot tree. The botanical name is Bauhinia variegata, after the 16th century Swiss botanist brothers Jean and Caspar Bauhin — their twin names mirrored, fittingly, in the bilobed leaf.
The tree
Kovidar is a small to medium deciduous tree, 10–12 metres tall, with a short trunk and a wide, spreading crown. Each leaf is bilobed — two rounded halves joined at a central spine — a form so distinctive it has earned the tree its English nickname. Through the cool weeks of late winter, the tree drops most of its leaves, and then, on bare branches, it flowers.
The blossom
The flowers are large, with five broad petals, in shades of magenta, pink, lavender and (in the variety candida) clear white. The fragrance is gentle. A single tree in full bloom can drift petals onto the courtyard floor like soft offerings.
The cultural life
From Valmiki onwards, Kovidar has been the tree of Ayodhya — the city of Ram. It stood in the gardens described in the Ramayana; it appears in the Ashoka Vatika scenes of the Sundara Kanda; it has long been planted in the courtyards of temples in North India. To plant a Kovidar is to lay a small tile in a very old mosaic.
Read more on Kovidar and Lord Ram, on the botanical guide, and on Ayurvedic uses.
Letters from the Grove
Contemplative essays on Kovidar, the Ramayana, sacred ecology and Ayurveda — delivered once a month. No noise, only depth.
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