The literal translation of Akshaya Vata is “indestructible banyan tree”.
This Tree of Life in Hinduism is a banyan tree that existed before the formation of the universe and would be the only object to survive the cosmic disintegration (pralaya) at the conclusion of the cosmic cycle, according to Hindu mythology.
- According to legend, the philosopher Markandeya had a vision of pralaya in which all that remained was a solitary tree under which lay the deity Krishna in baby form suckling on his toes.
- The akshaya vata is associated with a specific banyan tree in Allahabad, which is currently contained inside the fort constructed by the Moghul emperor Akbar at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
- Earlier authors described a massive tree on the location, but the tree is now very tiny.
- According to legend, one of Akbar's successors chopped it down.
- One of the favored ways for committing religious suicide, according to the seventh-century Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, was to leap from the branches of the vata tree; this practice is also described four centuries later by the Islamic philosopher Alberuni.
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