Villagers crowd ‘miracle’ neem tree oozing ‘milk’

Mysore/Mysuru: Call it the height of ignorance or blind faith, but people have been believing incomprehensible incidents as God’s blessings. Mysterious incidents have always brought blind faith among people to the fore.

The latest is the news of white milk-like fluid oozing out from a neem tree at Murudahalli village near Jayapura Hobli in Mysuru Taluk that has raised tremendous curiosity and people are offering pujas to the tree thinking that the juice is a form of divine blessings.

Residents of the village and neighbouring villages are rushing towards the neem tree in the land that belongs to Chamaraju to find milk-like fluid oozing out from the tree. For the past four to five days, villagers have been queuing up to offer incense sticks, flowers and currency coins to it and conducting special prayers for fulfilment of their wishes.

With liquid seeping out from the tree, the villagers believe it to be a supernatural event. Some consider the liquid holy and have been storing it to cure diseases while others are praying to the tree.

The villagers have transformed the tree into a place of worship. They have been applying vermilion, turmeric to the tree and have offered coconuts. Some villagers said that they had never witnessed such a mysterious incident in their lives while others said the neem tree liquid was bitter in taste.

Fluid seeping due bacterial infection, says Forestry Professor

However, a Forestry Professor from V.C. Farm in Mandya Dr. J. Mahadevu said the fluid is seeping out of the tree because of bacterial infection. He added that it is not an unusual feature and usually happens when a tree is 50 years old or more.

“After a neem tree turns old, it starts storing excess water in the tissues. Because of bacterial infection, which is known as ‘agrobacterium tumefaciens,’ tumours form in the stem of the tree. When atmospheric humidity is high, the tissues of these tumours turn weak and get cracked, resulting in discharge of liquid. The liquid continuously seeps out of tumours for four to six days,” Dr. J. Mahadevu said.