Origin of Bonsai
The art of miniaturization had its roots in ancient India and was practiced in those times. In the days of Lord Rama (7340 B.C.), a miniature garden popularly known as “Kishkinda Vana” was developed by Dadhimukha, the maternal uncle of king Sugriva. The great, sacred Hindu mythology “Ramayana” bears testimony to it. Dadhimukha developed the techniques of miniaturization, while retaining the natural qualities of bearing fruits and flowers throughout the year by providing different climatic conditions like coolness, warmth and shade as required, in different parts of the same garden. Secondly, in Atharva Veda (1200 B.C) there is description of growing Herbal Plants for Ayurvedic Medicine under constraints of space and weather. Indians have been nature-lovers and worshippers of plants like Tulasi, Bodhi, Pepal, etc. Thirdly, centuries old treatise written on palm-leaves named “Upavana Vinoda” describes the art of miniaturization of a Pepal tree. Fourthly, miniaturization was developed and nurtured as an art and science in the sacred Buddhist.
Monasteries nestled in the Holy Himalayan Mountains of North India from 6th century B.C. After the demise of Lord Buddha, to decorate His statue with flowers and fruits, monks started growing plants in cave-Monasteries. The Monks for their spiritual refreshment and temporal pleasure developed the technique of miniaturization of plants in pots for want of space in their rock-hewn caves in severe freezing snowy winters of Himalayan Mountains. Buddhism and miniaturized plants had crossed Indian borders to the Far East and Central Asia, (China, Burma, Srilanka, Thailand, Korea, Japan, etc.,) with the spread of Buddhism to those countries. Indian Buddhist monks were the torch- bearers of Temple Gardens and had lot of aesthetic sense of form, line and balance and used to train, prune and design plants in their caves and monasteries under constraints of space and adverse weather. Fruit and flower bearing miniature plants in pots were being placed at the alter of Buddha’s statue. The Indian Buddhist Garden, forgotten in the land of its origin, flourished for centuries in China and Japan. However, all said and done, one can say without any fear of contradiction that, it was in China and Japan, the art of miniaturization attained its highest perfection, glory and refinement as presented to the world today in the name of Bonsai or Penjing. |
