Alcuni aspetti del simbolismo vegetale nella civiltà indiana

A bird’s eye review of a few significant features of plant symbolism in Indian world, both in priestly and in buddhistic milieu: tree as axis mundi (the reversed tree, asvattha, Ficus religiosa); bodhi tree in buddhistic context; the myth of the birth of human beings from vegetables (Lagenaria vulgaris) in the Ramayana; the rice and the chaff (in relation with the law of retribution of acts) in the Paramarthasara by Abhinavagupta; the celestial desire-fulfilling creeper (kamavallīi and the transformation of the celestial nymph Urvasi into a creeper. Within brahmanical tradition a significant range of sources is used, mainly Vedas, upanisads, Bhagavadgita and puranas.