Andhra Pradesh-Culture and Commons : The Sacred Grove of Thimmamma Marrimanu

[Indu]

While stationed at Madnepalle, Andhra Pradesh for my internship, I am exploring the local landmarks, cultural hotspots or interesting legends that are connected to the Commons or the villages nearby. In this post, I would like to refer to a sacred grove by the name Thimmamma Marrimanu (తిమ్మమ్మ మర్రిమాను), a banyan tree located in Anantapur, located about 25 kilometers from Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh. It is recorded as the largest canopy on a living tree in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989.

The legend surrounding the tree speaks of a woman named Thimmamma, who is said to be a pativrata with many powers. After she lost her husband to leprosy, she sought to commit sati. While doing the act it was told that she predicted that a tree shall sprung from her pyre and become recognized by the world and that it’d bring development to the area. Accordingly, one of the Banyan sticks from her funeral pyre is said to have sprung into the tree it is today that occupies over 8-9 acres. Given the large area it covers, the tree by itself is called a sacred grove. Hailed as a goddess, Thimmamma was dedicated a temple a decade ago.

This sacred grove is a tourist hotspot cared by the Forest Department given its link with the Guinness World Book. Under the purview of the forest department, the nearby forest was developed. With various developmental ecological works under NREGA, 2005 like Black Plantations, the drought prone area is far more developed in the present day. Basic facilities like water are readily available to the villagers and the tourism and government provide livelihoods for the unemployed. The commons surrounding it provide the villagers with herbs, cattle grazing grounds and other requirements that earn them other alternative means of livelihood.
The celebrations conducted during Maha Shivrathri (jatra) in the premises of the temple make the area a hotspot for religious and commerce activity which benefits the villagers. Both the village and the forest Department hold an importance to this sacred grove and protect the bio-diversity of the area. This for me presents a very vivid image of the development that is brought forward by the Thimmamma Marrimanu as the tree made its surroundings develop financially, ecologically and culturally.

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