The Ashoka Trees with red folioles

          आमूलतो विद्रुमरागताम्रं

     सपल्लवाः पुष्पचयम् दधानाः।

     कुर्वन्त्य् अशोका हृदयम् सशोकं

     निरीक्ष्यमाणा नवयौवनानाम् ६-१६

     

      āmūlato vidrumarāgatāmraṁ

      sapallavāḥ puṣpacayam dadhānāḥ |

      kurvanty aśokā hṛdayam saśokaṁ

      nirīkṣyamāṇā navayauvanānām|| 6-16

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      All-over adorned are those ashoka trees with bunches of reddish folioles and reddish flowers that resemble the hue of red corals, true to its name a+shoka , one that makes everyone griefless ; but, when new entrants to adulthood observe the newly unfolded red flowers, those very ashoka trees are making them engrieved , for unconsummated is their new longing for a newish love as yet. [6-16]The aśoka puts forth its blossom when struck by the foot of a woman – preferably the lotus-like foot jingling with anklets of a beautiful woman. In this it is one of the most important trees in the dohada tradition.  Dohada literally refers to the cravings of a pregnant woman and in this context the desire of trees, just before they bloom, for some kind of contact with a woman.  Women can thus trigger their flowering by a sort of ritual that varies for each tree.  For instance, a woman need only glance at the tilaka to make it bud, the campaka succumbs to her laugh, the nameru to her voice and the kurabaka to her embrace.  The dohada tradition was associated with the festival of spring, vasantotsava. 

The aśoka trees that surround the imprisoned Sītā in Laṅkā are said to destroy grief (‘śoka-nāśana’) in the Rāmāyaṇa, but they are also seen – in the Haṃsasandeśa – as appropriate co-mourners for Sītā in her burning grief.

The aśoka tree cuts across Indian traditions and legends appearing almost always as a sacred and largely benevolent tree.  For the girl whose lover is away from home, though, the aśoka serves only as a further torment for her lovesick heart.  Flowering at the beginning of vasanta with a large fire-red bloom, it is say the poets a-śoka only in name for it brings grief (śoka) to each pair of separated lovers.