Women and Trees – Dohada I would like to write something about the relationship that existed between women and trees, especially in the ancient and medieval rural India. You might have heard of the concept of dauhruda or dohada, the latter term preferred in modern writings. Dohada, in the modern sense, means the unusual cravings for things that women experience during pregnancy. It was considered the dharma or the bounden duty of the husband to satisfy such desires of his pregnant wife. However, the concept of dohada had been depicted among plants too by the ancient poets and artists. Of course, such ideas were simple, like a tree blossoming following the touch of a woman. The well-known example is that of aśoka, which is said to bloom when a beautiful virgin kicks the tree. In the eyes of social anthropologists, dohada is related to fertility, or even related to the rite of fertilization. Ancient Indian artists and artisans have also created the well-known salabhanjika carvings, in which a woman is carved or painted as embracing a tree. Such representations too are related to fertility rite; of course, here the tree appears to be involved in the rite of fertilization. In dohada, a woman either touches or embraces or kicks a tree and the tree breaks into blossom. In the case of priyanga, a woman’s touch is enough, in the case of bakula, the tree craves for the wine from a woman’s mouth (a mouth full of water sprinkled on the tree), aśoka craves for a kick from a beautiful damsel, a mere glance is enough to send tilaka into blossom, kurabaka tree needs an embrace, mandāra craves for loving words, champaka craves for a woman’s laughter, amra needs the warm breath of a woman, karnikara craves to see the dancing of a maiden, while the nameru tree craves for her song. Maurice Bloomfield had written a study on ‘The dohada or Craving of Pregnant Women’ that appeared in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, way back in 1920. He quoted some interesting passages from the ancient Indian writings. In Pārsvanātha Charita four trees broke into blossom in spring having fulfilled their dohadas: pusyanti tarunistitasta yasmin kuruvakadrumah vikasam yanty asokäs tu vadhupāda praharāh mrugakçi sidhugandusaih pusyanti bakula api champakas tu praphullanti sugandhajala dohadaih| (Came spring), when the kuruvaka trees bloom, as they are embraced by young maids; when the aśoka trees burst into bloom, as they are struck by the feet of young women; when the bakula trees bloom, as sprayed with the wine from the mouths of gazelle eyed maidens; when the champaka trees burst into bloom as they are sprinkled with perfumed water.’ In Vasavadatta of Bhasa there are repeated references on this aspect of trees flowering: “Came spring, that makes bakula trees horripilate from sprinkling with wine in mouthfuls by amorous maids, merry with drink; that hundreds of aśoka trees delighted by the slow stroke of the tremulous lotus feet, beautiful with anklets, of wanton damsels, enslaved by amorous delights …….” “In spring, by its fresh shoots the aśoka, because of its longing to be touched by a maiden’s ankleted foot, red with the dye of new lac, seemed to have assumed that colour. The bakula shone as if through sprinkling with mouthfuls from amorous girls’ lotus lips, filled with sweet wine, it had assumed its (the wine’s) colour in its own flowers.” “I recollect an interesting scene from Kalidasa’s Malavikagnimithra. Malavika, the beloved of king Agnimitra, dances under an Aśoka tree. Before dancing Malavika says: ‘So this is the aśoka tree which yearns for the touch of my feet. It has not itself decorated with flowers’. She dances and hit the aśoka tree with her left foot and remarks with pride: ‘This would do, and it would be too mean if it does not flower even now’. There is yet another study on the same subject by Rama Pisharoti, ‘Dohada or the woman and tree motif’ published in the Indian Society of Oriental Art in 1935. Nagar has also given a brief discussion on the dohada, women and tree motifs as represented in the sculptures and paintings of ancient India.