Mango, the sacred tree of love in Hindu

I mentioned about Kalasha puja ritual in “coconut story part IV” that I wrote earlier (Link here). As you can see, the mango leaves are used as a part of the ingredient in this ritual so this time I’d like to talk about the mango in Hindu culture.

Mango or Mangifera indica (Its scientific name imply the origin of this plant that come from India) has many local Indian names like Aam, Aamra or Amb. These words also mean “provision”, suggest that this plant play a major role as a primary food in India.

There is a record of mango appearing in Thailand since a long time ago. However, the word “Ma-muang" which is called mango in Thailand is believed that it’s not originally Thai language. This word might derive from Tamil words "Maagga" or "Maaggai", which is the name given to mango. The use of Maagga word to call mango also found in Indonesia, supporting the Maagga-derived -to-Mamunag theory.

In Hindu belief, mango is a plant represents to the KamaDeva, the god of love and desire. This Deva has a male figure with green-colored skin, has peacock as the vehicle. His personal arms is the bow which made from the sugar cane and bees as string. The arrows are made from the five types of flower: lotus, water lily, Ashoka (Saraca indica), Scented star jasmine (Jasminum adenophyllum), and mango. Since the former two flowers are also the symbol of the purity, this flowering arrow is implied that love is the purest feeling.

Mango flowers (Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango)

In India, mango is worshiped as the plant of love and marriage. In wedding ceremony, the holy water was sprinkled to the bride and the groom with the use of mango flower and leaves. The mango leaves are also used to make a decoration in wedding places.

Mango is also used in Hindu-related ceremonies and rituals in Thailand. One of the most important ritual is the Royal Coronation. During the coronation, mango leaves is used as “ward-off leaves”, to repel any dangerous occurring to the king. The “ward-off leaves” is made from three kinds of plants; one is the twenty-five mango leaves, to repel twenty-five types of natural-occurring hazard; another one is made from thirty-two leaves of Caricature plant (Graptophyllum pictum), to repel thirty-two types of punishment; the last one is made from ninety-six leaves of Indian prune (Flacourtia rukam), to repel the ninety-six types of illness. After the use, the “ward-off leaves” will dipped in honey and crude oil before burnt in the oven using jujube wood as the firewood.