Hamilton (New Zealand), March 8, 2020
By Gurbir Singh:
Christchurch (New Zealand) Mayor, Lianne Dalziel has applauded the documentation and conservation of sacred trees of Sikhism by an Indian environmentalist & retired Punjab cadre IAS Officer, D S Jaspal.
Author of ‘Tryst with Trees-Punjab’s Sacred Heritage’, Jaspal was in Christchurch(NZ) at an event hosted by the City Council on Friday, March 8, to make a presentation of sacred trees of Sikhism as part of the 550th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev ji.
Christchurch City Council Mayor, Lianne Dalziel inaugurated the event which was attended by several prominent persons, including National’s List MP, Nicky Wagner; Retd. High Court judge, Sir John Hansen; Director of Botanic Gardens, Wolfgang Bopp and Tania Wati from Ngāi Tahu, the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand.
Mayor Dalziel thanked Jaspal for not only documenting sacred trees, but also taking the initiative for their conservation and propagation. She also applauded the ‘Museum of Trees’ –a project of unique environmental significance for the conservation of sacred trees that he has initiated in Chandigarh.
It is probably the only project of its kind in the world, where genetically true replicas of sacred trees have been reproduced outdoors.
Mayor, Lianne Dalziel with DS Jaspal (R)
In his book, ‘Tryst with Trees-Punjab’s Sacred Heritage‘ Jaspal has compiled a pictorial documentation of 59 sacred Sikh shrines in India and Pakistan, named after 19 species of trees.
Jaspal emphasized that trees, nature and environment are repeatedly referred in the hymns of Guru Nanak and “though love and respect for nature and environment are common to every religious faith, the naming of sacred shrines after trees is unique to the Sikh religion”.
He also gave a description of the ‘Museum of Trees’ project where genetically true replicas of the sacred trees are being reproduced through vegetative propagation to preserve them for posterity.
Copies of the book, ‘Tryst with Trees-Punjab’s Sacred Heritage‘, were presented to the Council and to Ngāi Tahu.
It reportedly took over three years for Jaspal to travel to various places in Indian and Pakistan to photograph and compile the images.
The retired civil servant & environmentalist has reportedly earlier held exhibitions in several centres, including New York, Washington, Oslo, Delhi and Lahore.
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Gurbir Singh is a freelance Feature Writer & Journalist based in New Zealand.