Coimbatore: Puthur, a village near Thondamuthur with around 100 residents, has lost its centuries-old pride.
A banyan tree, believed to be centuries-old and regarded as ‘guardian angel’ by the residents of Puthur, slowly leaned over and fell on Thondamuthur-Bouluvampatti Road around 6.30pm on Sunday. The banyan tree had to be cut and disposed of as it was too heavy and old to be replanted or relocated.
For the past three days, women in the village used to pay tribute by lighting incense sticks, camphor capsules and candles in front of the remains of the tree. Youngsters paid their tribute to the grand old tree by sticking posters about the ‘guardian angel’ in neighbouring villages.
More than 200 people, including those from neighbouring villages, flocked to Puthur to pay their respects to the tree.
“It feels like a grand old member of our family has passed away and its loss is inexplicable,” said village panchayat president Thennai Siva.
Though the village is called Puthur, its main bus stop has always been called ‘Aalamaram bus stop’.
“The banyan tree had a truck of almost 8ft in diameter and its tap roots used to cover an area of almost 10 cents,” said Siva.
“Our village slowly developed around it and this tree is the centre of our social life. We have been having all our panchayat meetings here and from our childhood we used to play under the tree, climbing it and swinging on the tap roots,” he said. “Our village is identified only by this banyan tree,” he added.
Though the exact age of the banyan tree is not known or documented, villagers say. Senior citizens who are in their eighties remember the tree existing and being large since their birth.
“It should definitely be more than 100 years old,” said T T Singaravelan, an AIADMK functionary in the area.
“The banyan tree fell mainly because too many tea shops and other shops began coming up around it over the past two decades. People started to cut down its tap roots. The tree fell because its truck could not bear its weight,” said Siva.
Villagers say that the tree proved that it was their guardian angel because not a single person was injured when the massive structure fell.
“Usually, at least 50 people would stand or sit under the tree at any point of time, including drunk men because of a TASMAC nearby. However, not a single person was injured,” said Singaravelan.
“It was almost like a majestic old woman lying down permanently because she felt her time was up,” he said.
Rural development minister S P Velumani, who heard of the incident, reportedly asked the panchayat if the tree could be salvaged and replanted or relocated. Even if the tree is pruned, it could not bear its own weight, say villagers.
