Flowers And Flower-Gardens Part 28

I regret that it should have been deemed necessary to make stupid pedants of Hindu malees by providing them with a cla.s.sical nomenclature for plants. Hindostanee names would have answered the purpose just as well. The natives make a sad mess of our simplest English names, but their Greek must be Greek indeed! A _Quarterly Reviewer_ observes that Miss Mitford has found it difficult to make the maurandias and alstraemerias and eschxholtzias--the commonest flowers of our modern garden--look pa.s.sable even in prose. But what are these, he asks, to the pollopostemonopetalae and eleutheroromacrostemones of Wachendorf, with such daily additions as the native name of iztactepotzacuxochitl icohueyo, or the more cla.s.sical ponderosity of Erisymum Peroffskyanum.

--like the verb.u.m Graec.u.m Spermagoraiolekitholakanopolides, Words that should only be said upon holidays, When one has nothing else to do.

If these names are unp.r.o.nounceable even by Europeans, what would the poor Hindu malee make of them? The pedantry of some of our scientific Botanists is something marvellous. One would think that a love of flowers must produce or imply a taste for simplicity and nature in all things.[127]

As by way of encouragement to the native gardeners--to enable them to dispose of the floral produce of their gardens at a fair price--the Horticultural Society has withdrawn from the public the indulgence of gratuitous supplies of plants, it would be as well if some men of taste were to instruct these native nursery-men how to lay out their grounds, (as their fellow-traders do at home,) with some regard to neatness, cleanliness and order. These flower-merchants, and even the common _malees_, should also be instructed, I think, how to make up a decent bouquet, for if it be possible to render the most elegant things in the creation offensive to the eye of taste, that object is a.s.suredly very completely effected by these swarthy artists when they arrange, with such worse than Dutch precision and formality, the ill-selected, ill-arranged, and tightly bound treasures of the parterre for the cla.s.sical vases of their British masters. I am often vexed to observe the idleness or apathy which suffers such atrocities as these specimens of Indian taste to disgrace the drawing-rooms of the City of Palaces. This is quite inexcusable in a family where there are feminine hands for the truly graceful and congenial task of selecting and arranging the daily supply of garden decorations. A young lady--"herself a fairer flower"--is rarely exhibited to a loving eye in a more delightful point of view than when her delicate and dainty fingers are so employed.

If a lovely woman arranging the nosegays and flower-vases, in her parlour, is a sweet living picture, a still sweeter sight does she present to us when she is in the garden itself. Milton thus represents the fair mother of the fair in the first garden:--

Eve separate he spies.

Veil'd in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood, Half spied, so thick the roses blus.h.i.+ng round About her glow'd, oft stooping to support Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay, Carnation, purple, azure, or speck'd with gold, Hung drooping unsustain'd; them she upstays Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while Herself, though fairest unsupported flower, From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.

Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm; Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen, Among thick woven arborets, and flowers Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve[128]

_Paradise Lost. Book IX_.

Chaucer (in "The Knight's Tale,") describes Emily in her garden as fairer to be seen

Than is the lily on his stalkie green;

And Dryden, in his modernized version of the old poet, says,

At every turn she made a little stand, And thrust among the thorns her lily hand To draw the rose.

Eve's roses were without thorns--

"And without thorn the rose,"[129]

It is pleasant to see flowers plucked by the fairest fingers for some elegant or worthy purpose, but it is not pleasant to see them _wasted_.

Some people pluck them wantonly, and then fling them away and litter the garden walks with them. Some idle c.o.xcombs, vain

Of the nice conduct of a clouded cane,

amuse themselves with switching off their lovely heads. "That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it."

Lander says

And 'tis my wish, and over was my way, To let all flowers live freely, and so die.

Here is a poetical pet.i.tioner against a needless destruction of the little tenants of the parterre.

Oh, spare my flower, my gentle flower, The slender creature of a day, Let it bloom out its little hour, And pa.s.s away.

So soon its fleeting charms must lie Decayed, unnoticed and o'erthrown, Oh, hasten not its destiny, Too like thine own.

_Lyte_.

Those who pluck flowers needlessly and thoughtlessly should be told that other people like to see them flourish, and that it is as well for every one to bear in mind the beautiful remark of Lord Bacon that "the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air than in the hand; for in the air it comes and goes like the warbling of music."

The British portion of this community allow their exile to be much more dull and dreary than it need be, by neglecting to cultivate their gardens, and leaving them entirely to the taste and industry of the _malee_. I never feel half so much inclined to envy the great men of this now crowded city the possession of vast but gardenless mansions, (partly blocked up by those of their neighbours,) as I do to felicitate the owner of some humbler but more airy and wholesome dwelling in the suburbs, when the well-sized grounds attached to it have been touched into beauty by the tasteful hand of a lover of flowers.

But generally speaking my countrymen in most parts of India allow their grounds to remain in a state which I cannot help characterizing as disreputable. It is amazing how men or women accustomed to English modes of life can reconcile themselves to that air of neglect, disorder, and discomfort which most of their "compounds" here exhibit.

It would afford me peculiar gratification to find this book read with interest by my Hindu friends, (for whom, chiefly, it has been written,) and to hear that it has induced some of them to pay more attention to the ornamental cultivation of their grounds; for it would be difficult to confer upon them a greater blessing than a taste for the innocent and elegant pleasures of the FLOWER-GARDEN.

SUPPLEMENT.

SACRED TREES AND SHRUBS OF THE HINDUS.

The following list of the trees and shrubs held sacred by the Hindus is from the friend who furnished me with the list of Flowers used in Hindu ceremonies.[130] It was received too late to enable me to include it in the body of the volume.

AMALAKI (_Phyllanthus emblica_).--A tree held sacred to s.h.i.+va. It has no flowers, and its leaves are in consequence used in wors.h.i.+pping that deity as well as Durga, Kali, and others. The natives of Bengal do not look upon it with any degree of religious veneration, but those of the Upper Provinces annually wors.h.i.+p it on the day of the _s.h.i.+va Ratri_, which generally falls in the latter end of February or the beginning of March, and on which all the public offices are closed.

ASWATH-THA (_Ficus Religiosa_).--It is commonly called by Europeans the Peepul tree, by which name, it is known to the natives of the Upper Provinces. The _Bhagavat Gita_ says that Krishna in giving an account of his power and glory to Arjuna, before the commencement of the celebrated battle between the _Kauravas_ and _Pandavas_ at _Kurukshetra_, identified himself with the _Aswath-tha_ whence the natives consider it to be a sacred tree.[131]

BILWA OR SREEFUL (_Aegle marmelos_).--It is the common wood-apple tree, which is held sacred to s.h.i.+va, and its leaves are used in wors.h.i.+pping him as well as Durga, Kali, and others. The _Mahabharat_ says that when s.h.i.+va at the request of Krishna and the Pandavas undertook the protection of their camp at Kurukshetra on the night of the last day of the battle, between them and the sons of Dhritarashtra, Aswathama, a friend and follower of the latter, took up a Bilwa tree by its roots and threw it upon the G.o.d, who considering it in the light of an offering made to him, was so much pleased with Aswathama that he allowed him to enter the camp, where he killed the five sons of the Pandavas and the whole of the remnants of their army. Other similar stories are also told of the Bilwa tree to prove its sacredness, but the one I have given above, will be sufficient to shew in what estimation it is held by the Hindus.

BAT (_Ficus indica_).--Is the Indian Banian tree, supposed to be immortal and coeval with the G.o.ds; whence it is venerated as one of them. It is also supposed to be a male tree, while the Aswath-tha or Peepul is looked upon as a female, whence the lower orders of the people plant them side by side and perform the ceremony of matrimony with a view to connect them as man and wife.[132]

DURVA' (_Panic.u.m dactylon_).--A gra.s.s held to be sacred to Vishnu, who in his seventh _Avatara_ or incarnation, as Rama, the son of Dasaratha, king of Oude, a.s.sumed the colour of the gra.s.s, which is used in all religious ceremonies of the Hindus. It has medicinal properties.

KA'STA' (_Saccharum spontaneum_).--It is a large species of gra.s.s. In those ceremonies which the Hindus perform after the death of a person, or with a view to propitiate the Manes of their ancestors this gra.s.s is used whenever the Kusa is not to be had. When it is in flower, the natives look upon the circ.u.mstance as indicative of the close of the rains.

KU'SA (_Poa cynosuroides_).--The gra.s.s to which, reference has been made above. It is used in all ceremonies performed in connection with the death of a person or having for their object the propitiation of the Manes of ancestors.

MANSA-s.h.i.+J (_Euphorbia ligularia_).--This plant is supposed by the natives of Bengal to be sacred to _Mansa_, the G.o.ddess of snakes, and is wors.h.i.+pped by them on certain days of the months of June, July, August, and September, during which those reptiles lay their eggs and breed their young. The festival of Arandhana, which is more especially observed by the lower orders of the people, is in honor of the G.o.ddess Mansa.[133]

NA'RIKELA (_Coccos nucifera_).--The Cocoanut tree, which is supposed to possess the attributes of a Brahmin and is therefore held sacred.[134]

NIMBA (_Melia azadirachta_).--A tree from the trunk of which the idol at Pooree was manufactured, and which is in consequence identified with the ribs of Vishnu.[135]

TU'LSI (_Ocymum_).--The Indian Basil, of which there are several species, such as the _Ram Tulsi_ (ocymum gratissimum) the _Babooye Tulsi_ (ocymum pilosum) the _Krishna Tulsi_ (osymum sanctum) and the common _Tulsi_ (ocymum villosum) all of which possess medicinal properties, but the two latter are held to be sacred to Vishnu and used in his wors.h.i.+p. The _Puranas_ say that Krishna a.s.sumed the form of _Saukasura_, and seduced his wife Brinda. When he was discovered he manifested his extreme regard for her by turning her into the _Tulsi_ and put the leaves upon his head.[136]

APPENDIX.

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN INDIA.

The following practical directions and useful information respecting the Indian Flower-Garden, are extracted from the late Mr. Speede's _New Indian Gardener_, with the kind permission of the publishers, Messrs.

Thacker Spink and Company of Calcutta.

THE SOIL.

So far as practicable, the soil should be renewed every year, by turning in vegetable mould, river sand, and well rotted manure to the depth of about a foot; and every second or third year the perennials should be taken up, and reduced, when a greater proportion of manure may be added, or what is yet better, the whole of the old earth removed, and new mould subst.i.tuted.