Vengai maram or tree or Honne mara (Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb)
Did you know that the Vengai maram or tree or Honne mara (Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb) is native to India under which marriages were performed during the flowering season when brides would adorn themselves with garlands of Vengai flowers?
The Vengai maram or tree or Honne mara, with the scintific name Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb in the family Fabaceae / Leguminosae - Pea family, grown thoughout the tropical zones of India in the hilly regions, particularly common in Southern and Central India, is a medium to large size tree, affording excellent shade and timber. It is widely used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine.
Pterocarpus marsupium or Vengai tree is well-known as Malabar kino, Indian Kino, East Indian kino, Indian kino, and Vijaysar. Its vernacular names in India are: Vijaysar, Asanah, Andhukapushpa, Jivakah, Mahasarjakah, pitasalakah, priyakah in Sanskrit; Vijaysara in Hindi; Vengai in Tamil; Honne mara ಹೊನ್ನೆಮರ, Rakta Honne mara in Kannada; Vegi in Telugu; Veenga in Malayalam; Piyala gacha in Bengali; Biyo in Gujarati; and Bijasar, dam-ul-akhwain. in Urdu.
The Vengai tree, commonly known as Indian Malabar. is a large deciduous tree with a stout crooked stem and widely spreading branches, bark, thick yellow gray, the outer layer like cork, leaves 15-23 cm long and bipinately compound. Leaflets 5-7, coriaceous, flowers in short, terminal racemes fruits pods, 2.5-5 cm. Flowers are smallish, white, tinged with yellow. Seeds are smaller in size.
It is a tree with beautiful hard wood, which grows at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet and endures a good deal of heat and drought. Its wood is of a dark brown colour, and dyes yellow, and is used for building purposes as it is almost as good as teak. But it canot be used for lintels of doors, windows etc as it discolours the whitewash. It yields from incisions of the trunk a large quantiy of blood-red juice, which on being simply exposed to the sun, hardens and quickly cracks into angular masses, and crumbling fragments, which constitutes, without further preparation, the Kino of the European Pharmacopoeia. The principal constituent of Kino is a peculiar tannin, kino - tannic acid 70 to 80 p.c. The chips of Vengai wood colours stagnant water but not fresh running water due to the fluorescence which is marked by alakaline solution.
The Vengai tree is closely associated in poetry with love and romance in the mountain region. It presents a very pleasing aspect when in bloom with its golden bunches of blossoms “as finely wrought as the workmanship of the cleverest jeweler”. Often, its flowers are compared to flames of fire. Its petals strewn on a rock below the tree remind the poet, because of their colour, of a tiger asleep. It is said that in ancient Tamil Nadu, It was the
custom among children to shout out “Tiger, tigger” in the childish belief that the vengai tree would lower its branches within reach for them to pluck its flowers. The colour of the vengai flower which resembles that of the tiger was the cause of the
origin of this cry/ Hence, Vengai is the Tamil word for tiger. It is also the name of the neem tree in its male aspect before it flowers. This plant is used by the honey hunters for fumigating the beehives. Vengai contains "Natural Oil" in it that protects the wood from termite or any other insect attacks. Its hardwood has yellow-brownish in color and sometimes contains a "Gold" fleck that runs through the grain, considered to be attractive by some. Being a "Holy Wood", it is used for building Temple Doors and Temple Chariots with this wood.
In ancient days, its flowering season was considered to be auspicious and was set apart for the public celebration of weddings, and betrothed couples awaited eagerly for it to burst into flower. In olden days marriages were celebrated under the flowering Vengai tree as it was the shadiest and loveliest tree of the region. Hence, its flowering was understood to introduce auspicious days for lovers. Also, Vengai flowers were among those which lovers preferred to give their beloveds, especially during the period of courtship. They exchanged garlands among themselves. The hero himself adorned the heroine’s tresses with the flowers he had brought for her.
In Tamil Nadu's legends, it is "God's Tree" as it is said that Kannagi, the legendary Tamil woman who forms the central character of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram after losing her husband left the city of Madurai and going along the river Vaigai reached a hill near the village of Veduvars. She was under a Vengai tree for 15 days, and the large number of Veduvars were waiting on her when Kovalan (who had been unjustly put to death) appeared in divine form and took her away to heaven.
In Karnataka, an image assigned to 1560 AD of the Vijayanagar empire, of god Gopala Krishna, about 6 feet high , is represented as standing under a Honne Mara or tree playing upon a flute. The shade of Vengai tree was considered appropriate for installing an idol of Murugan. It is also linked to planet Shani (Saturn) in Hindu Astrology as Shiva's son, Kartikeya or Subramanya was tied to a Vengai tree.
The Vengai or Honne Mara shows traditionally potent anti-diabetic, hypoliidemic antibacterial and anti diarrhocal action. Its leaves are used exteranaly as a cure for skin diseases. Its heartwood is used to cure anemia , worm infestation, urinary disorders, lipid disorders and obesity, as mnetioned in Ayurvedic Pharmacoeia of India. The heartwood and roots contain isoflavonoids, terpenoids and tannins.
Pterocarpus marsupium is listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Narasipur Char
