Hinduism In
Hindu tradition, the sal tree is sacred. The tree is also associated with
Vishnu.
Jains state that the 24th
tirthankara,
Mahavira, achieved enlightenment under a
sal. Some cultures in Bengal worship
Sarna Burhi, a goddess associated with sacred groves of Sal trees. There is a standard decorative element of Hindu
Indian sculpture which originated in a
yakshini grasping the branch of a flowering tree while setting her foot against its roots. This decorative sculptural element was integrated into
Indian temple architecture as
salabhanjika or "sal tree maiden", although it is not clear either whether it is a sal tree or an asoka tree. The tree is also mentioned in the
Ramayana—specifically, where Lord Rama (on request of deposed monkey-king
Sugriva for proof he can kill Sugriva's older half-brother Vali) is asked to pierce seven
sals in a row with a single arrow (which is later used to kill Vali, and still later to behead
Ravana's brother
Kumbhakarna) In the
Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, one can find typical Nepali pagoda temple architectures with very rich wooden carvings, and most of the temples, such as
Nyatapola Temple, are made of bricks and sal tree wood.
Buddhism Buddhist tradition holds that
Queen Māyā of Sakya, while en route to her grandfather's kingdom, gave birth to
Gautama Buddha while grasping the branch of a sal tree or an
Ashoka tree in a garden in
Lumbini in south Nepal. Also according to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha was lying between a pair of sal trees when he died: The sal tree is also said to have been the tree under which
Koṇḍañña and
Vessabhū, respectively the fifth and twenty-fourth Buddhas preceding
Gautama Buddha, attained enlightenment. In Buddhism, the brief flowering of the sal tree is used as a symbol of
impermanence and the rapid passing of glory, particularly as an analog of
sic transit gloria mundi. In Japanese Buddhism, this is best known through the opening line of
The Tale of the Heike – a tale of the rise and fall of a once-powerful clan – whose latter half reads , quoting the
four-character idiom from a passage in the
Humane King Sutra, . ==Confusion with cannonball tree and other trees==