Hindu Temples and Sacred Places in Uttar Pradesh to Have Holy Trees Planted

Holy Trees mentioned in various Hindu scriptures will be planted in Hindu Temples and Sacred Places in Uttar Pradesh. The government is planning to plant trees like Ashok, Parijat, Kadamb that are mentioned in Mahabharata, Ramayan and Puranas. 

Times of India reports 

 The Uttar Pradesh government has embarked on a tree plantation drive in the state's religious sites, keeping mythology and folklore as the motif.

 In districts with established religious "parikramas" like the 'Govardhan Parikrama' in Mathura, 'panch-kosi' and 'chaudah (14) kosi' parikrama in Ayodhya in Faizabad district, Naimisharanya along the banks of Gomti in Sitapur and 'parikrama-marg' between 'Vindhyavasini', 'Kali Khoh' and 'Ashtabhuja' temple in Mirzapur, trees with religious and mythological connect are being planted.

 The government will seek help of local saints and seers in getting the vacant land where the `revered' and mythologically-relevant trees could be planted. Besides, local teams will be constituted to make visitors aware of the trees' religious and mythological importance like `parijat' (Adansonia digitata) is called `kalpvriksha' for being a wish-granting tee and is said to be one of the gems that came out during `samudra-manthan'. Ramayana has elaborate mention of 156 tree varieties, some of the prominent ones have been selected by the forest department depending on the soil and weather conditions to be planted at Ayodhya.