In the deep South of India lies in the small and remote village of Alvar Tirunagari a temple that was built around a sacred tamarind tree. In India trees are revered as givers of knowledge. Many people here in India who are still connected to nature think for example that the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha sat played an important role in the Buddha being able to achieve enlightenment as it helped him in gaining wisdom.

The Tamarind Tree in Alvar Tirunagari is supposed to be more than 5000 years old. It's leaves never close like the ones of others of the same species and it is said that it is always awake and offering prayers to the divine. Also the tree rests on the roof of the temple with no roots to be found.

One of the priests of the temple told me that the tree is an incarnation of Adishesha, the divine snake that carries the God Visnu. It is also closely connected to Nammalvar, one of the twelve most revered saints of Vaishnavism that lived 3000 BC.