The Banyan rarely vegetates on the ground, but usually in the crown of Palms, where the seed has been deposited by birds. Roots are sent down to the ground, which embrace, and eventually kill, the Nurse-Palm. Hence, the Hindus have given the Banyan the name of _Vaibâdha_ (the breaker), and invoke it in order that it may at the same time break the heads of enemies.----In the Indian mythology, the Banyan is often confounded with the Bo-tree, and hence it is given a place in heaven, where an enormous tree is said to grow on the summit of the mountain Supârsva, to the south of the celestial mountain Meru, where it occupies a vast space. Beneath the pillared shade of the Banyan, the god Vishnu was born. His mother had sought its shelter, but she was sad and fearful lest the terrible Kansa should put to death her seventh babe, Vishnu, as he had already done her first six. Yasodâ, to console the weeping mother, gave up her own infant daughter, who was at once killed by Kansa’s servants; but Vishnu was saved. It is, says De Gubernatis, at the foot of a gigantic Banyan, a _Bhândîra_, near Mount Govardhana, that the Buddhist Vishnu plays with his companions, and, by his presence, illuminates everything around him. The Banyan of the Vedas is represented as being peopled with Indian parroquets, who eat its fruit, which, however, does not exceed a Hazel-nut in size. The Chinese Buddhists represent that Buddha sits under a Banyan-tree, turned towards the East, to receive the homage of the god Brahma. Like the sacred Bo-tree, the Banyan is regarded not only as the Tree of Knowledge, but also as the tree of Indian seers and ascetic devotees. Wherever a Bo-tree or a Banyan has stood, the place where it formerly flourished is always held sacred.----There is in India a Banyan-tree that is the object of particular veneration. It grows on the banks of the Nerbudda, not far from Surat, and is the largest and oldest Banyan in the country. According to tradition, it was planted by the Seer Kabira, and is supposed to be three thousand years old. It is said to be the identical tree visited by Nearchus, one of the officers of Alexander the Great. The Hindus never cut it or touch it with steel, for fear of offending the god concealed in its sacred foliage. De Gubernatis quotes the following description of this sacred tree given by Pietro Della Valle at the commencement of the seventeenth century:--“On one side of the town, on a large open space, one sees towering a magnificent tree, similar to those which I had noticed near Hormuz, and which were called _Lul_, but here were known as _Ber_. The peasants of this country have a profound veneration for this tree, both on account of its grandeur and its antiquity: they make pilgrimages to it, and honour it with their superstitious ceremonies, believing that the goddess Pârvatî, the wife of Mahâdeva, to whom it is dedicated, has it under her protection. In the trunk of this tree,