The brahmanas associate me with river Saraswati rising from the water pot of Brahma in the Himalayas.
The tribals in Bengal address me as Vasudeva and water me in the month of Vaishakh.
Parents who face difficulty marrying their daughters of age marry them to me and all of them soon find suitable grooms. In olden days, when remarriage was forbidden for widows, they were married to me and then allowed to remarry.
In many communities a marriage ceremony is not complete without a branch of my tree. The branch, along with a pot of water, is placed between the bride and the groom while the pundit chants the mantras. The presence of a Peepala leaf assures a happy and secure marriage because it has the blessings of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.
In contemporary times I am the shade where the Panchayat assembles to grant justice to the villagers…
Keshava: A Magnificent Obsession available on https://amzn.to/2vogOtk
This concludes all the characters of the book
@bhawanasomaaya