The Legend of the Dewadaru Tree

The Dewadaru tree is mostly found to the north of the island of Java, among the Sunda islands of Karimunjava, in the Java Sea, bearing the coordinates of Latitude 5° 52' S, and Longitude 110° 26' E. It has a human population of approximately 20,000 people. The Dewadaru tree had been sanctified by the local inhabitants of the island for countless generations as a result of a myth perpetuated by the elders of the society. In one of the local dialects, "daru" means "blessing from heaven," while "dewa," (derived from Sanskrit) is the Indonesian term for "god." "Dewadaru" is thus interpreted as the "gift of the gods," implying that this tree genus is a tangible symbolic gift from the gods/esses to the islanders. To the local inhabitants, the Dewadaru represents the wisd View the rest of this article