NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Chapter 28: Felling of the Banyan Tree

There are various expressions that reveal the critical tone of the poet towards the felling of the tree in the poem:

“Its scraggy aerial roots fell to the ground”

“Sawing them off for seven days, and the heap was huge”

“Insects and birds began to leave the tree”

“Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped”

“We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter”

There are many words that help you understand the nature of the poet’s father in the poem. The poet’s father was a practical man. As the entire family was moving to Baroda, the father removed all the trees and demolished the surrounding property. He wasn’t emotional but was a man of action.

“the structures were demolished”

“but he massacred them all”

“My father ordered it to be removed”

There were numerous legends surrounding the sheoga, the neem, the oudumber and most of all, the banyan tree. In Hinduism, these trees have mythological significance. Old people who are religious consider cutting down these trees to be a sin as they worship the trees based on the holy scriptures. They say that cutting down a peepal or neem tree would bring ill fate. Numerous stories are present in our mythology that plague our society with various superstitions. Hence, the poet is trying to convey the fears and beliefs of various religious people like his grandmother.

In the climax, the poet moves to Baroda along with his family. The poet notices a banyan tree, and remembering the tree which was in his garden, he rushes towards it. Now, as the tree is dead in reality, as his father cut it down, its memories remain in the faded dreams of the poet. The banyan tree is personified by the poet as this tree is the one which grows in his dreams. The tree seethes, which means to boil in his dream. The tree might be in anguish, as it was cut down, and hence boils due to anger as it grows well in the dreams of the poet though it was dead in reality.

The Banyan tree is one of the most religious trees as per Hindu mythology. It is well known that Buddha attained self-realisation in Bodh Gaya under a banyan tree. There are numerous such stories with accounts of the tree and its mysterious, hanging aerial roots. The poet likes the figure of the banyan tree and says, “The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years”. The explanation about the banyan tree creates a picture of mystery. The aerial roots of the tree dangling from above reaches the ground. They are the main proof of the number of decades lived by the tree. It is a hard and strong tree which requires more effort to cut it. When this occurs, the slaughter of the banyan tree is watched with fascination and terror.

The banyan tree is mythological, as his grandmother calls its name, along with a few other sacred trees. A sentiment is created in the poet and the reader while reading the poem. When the banyan tree is cut down according to the poet’s father’s order, a mystery is disclosed. The aerial roots of the banyan tree were brought down from the old trunk, which had a circumference of fifty feet. It is an age-old tree which has imbibed all the knowledge of these years inside it. When it is cut down, the poet feels that all the mythology is revealed. The concealed darkness, and the enlightenment it possessed for a long time are highlighted in this situation.

The life cycle of a banyan tree is a special one as it grows as an epiphyte. It lives for about 200 years or even 400-450 years. The average life of humans is 70-80 years, in contrast. It is noted that a single banyan tree may survive several generations of humans. The tree contains strangled roots knotted in its huge trunk, which has grown for centuries. The tree transcends the life of humans and grows with the knowledge it witnesses all the while. The poet has compared the life of humans to that of a banyan tree. All the mythical hugeness makes it a mystery. Humans are thrown into surprise and bewilderment at the knowledge that it contains in its trunks, growing its aerial roots to reach the ground. It has become a mythological representative of the life it has led for centuries, witnessing all the life of humans who perished around it by standing erect and tall as a mute witness to it all.

The poet is worried about the changing traditions which are affected by modern ideology. The value of trees in the earlier days is not a concern to the people of modern society. The age-old culture is breaking apart, giving way to western studies and science. The religious values taught to a child from childhood are paid no heed. Life in the current world is busy not only consuming space and time but our lives as well. The values raised by our traditions are treated as old and outdated. The poet has written the poem based on the changes our society is going through.