India's Bonsai connection

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The word Bonsai is a combination of the words ‘bon’ (potted) and ‘sai’ (plant) which loosely means the art of planting a tree in a pot. The art is usually associated largely with Japan. However, Bonsai art actually has origins in India!

Back in 12th Century India, Bonsai was known and practiced as Vaman Vriksha Kala, or the art of miniature trees. The word is said to have been derived from ‘Vamana’ the 5th Avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. In this Avatar, he appeared as Dwarf Brahmin Priest.

Ayurvedic practitioners especially benefited from this art. Creating miniature versions of trees allowed them to transport them easily to remote areas and have access to medicinal properties of nature. With time, the art of Bonsai began to reach other regions. Buddhist monks from India carried these miniature trees or Vaman Vrikshas and the knowledge to cultivate Bonsai along with them. Through their travels, this art spread to other regions along with them and today, countries like Japan, Taiwan, China, Indonesia etc. are all well-versed in the art of Bonsai.

There is tremendous recognition and demand for Bonsai internationally. There are special greenhouses abroad that create ideal conditions for Bonsai trees to grow. Japan has Bonsai gardens in major cities, China exports around 1 lakh pre-material plants for Bonsai every week. There is a huge market for Bonsai that has remained untapped by India.

Moreover, India is naturally blessed with ideal conditions for large-scale Bonsai creation. While Europe has 1500 species that can be made into Bonsai trees, India has as much as 15,000 species ideal for Bonsai! In addition to this, India has 12 out 16 atmospheric conditions present naturally that are required for cultivation. With such a large bounty of nature already present within the country, Bonsai has tremendous potential to grow in India!
 

ShadyStump

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😲 Wow. I knew bonsai was a thing there, but didn't realize the length of it's history in the region.

Somehow India's cultural contributions to the world are consistently understated, despite being universally recognized as one of the cradles of civilization. This is something I really should work on in myself.
 
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"Back in 12th Century India, Bonsai was known and practiced as Vaman Vriksha Kala, or the art of miniature trees."
Seems this is your supporting evidence of your claim that bonsai originated from India?

You may need to do more research to make your statement even arguable. Because bonsai had already been a mature art form in China much earlier than 12th century.

Btw, many people in the States tend to talk about Penjing and bonsai as if they are two different things. They are not. Their differences are much smaller than water color vs oil painting. More like different styles in oil painting.
 

ShadyStump

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"Back in 12th Century India, Bonsai was known and practiced as Vaman Vriksha Kala, or the art of miniature trees."
Seems this is your supporting evidence of your claim that bonsai originated from India?

You may need to do more research to make your statement even arguable. Because bonsai had already been a mature art form in China much earlier than 12th century.

Btw, many people in the States tend to talk about Penjing and bonsai as if they are two different things. They are not. Their differences are much smaller than water color vs oil painting. More like different styles in oil painting.
I didn't take that statement as India being THE one origin of bonsai, but that India has it's own bonsai story to tell.
This argument that early CE China was the root of all things tiny tree related I think is a misconception, or at least a misunderstanding of the ways cultures, including arts like bonsai, evolve. Yes, many places learned and adopted the practice from the Chinese over history, but virtually every culture that evolved to have horticulture and pottery concurrently began some sort of potted plant/tree art, many independently from one another. In genetic terms they call this convergent evolution: two unrelated organisms evolving significant similarities, essentially following the same survival strategies yet still being completely unrelated. I don't know the anthropological term for similar phenomena on human cultural levels, but one certainly exists.

Now, the video he posted DID explicitly say bonsai originated in India, and I'm very curious to know the argument there. I suspect that it's something along the lines of the practice of keeping medicinal plants in pots, as mentioned before, is being considered as the birth of bonsai practice, which is debatable. However, if such is the case, there is record of the plants as described being kept for quite some time, potentially meaning UP TO the 12th century AD, presumably when road and trade networks expanding made it obsolete. If this is true, we're just dealing with the more subtle aspects of language barriers in how timeframes are related conversationally.

Again, I'm actually very intrigued by the whole notion, and what potted tree art looked like in various cultures in various times, and would love to research it more given the opportunity.
 
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Not sure if anyone could argue that some ancient British people and native American people might planted some trees in pots,if can not prove that they did not,clearly that means penjing/bonsai originated from UK, US as well.

oh well, who cares.
 
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