Village mourns the death of century-old tree on the bank of Akhanda Godavari 

Century-old Indian siris tree on the bank of Godavari river in Kumaradevam panchayat collapses, mourned by villagers.

A pall of gloom descended on Kumaradevam gram panchayat, located on the western bank of Akhanda Godavari in the East Godavari district, after the death of the century-old Indian siris tree. The tree was featured in more than 100 movies.

Akhanda Godavari is where the Godavari river that flows up to Sir Arthur Cotton barrage splits into branches.

On the night of August 3, the lone tree collapsed, reportedly after the soil under it weakened due to the heavy inflow of floodwater into the river. The Godavari witnessed two spells of floods over the past two weeks. The tree had been suffering from illness and began to weaken over the past year.

By early 2024, the lone tree was dubbed as the most photographed tree on the banks of river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. 

Fifty-four-year-old vice-sarpanch of Kumaradevam, Gadde Ramakrishna, told The Hindu: “Everybody in our panchayat is mourning the death of our tree on the bank of River Godavari. We used to relax under it after attending our agriculture fields. Our village has decided to plant another Indian siris tree at the same spot.”

The tree was planted a century ago by a farmer Singuluri Tatabbai, say the locals.

In an interview with The Hindu in March 2023, Mr. Tatabbai’s grandson Singuluri Nageswara Rao claimed: “My grandfather planted three saplings in the spot where the tree is. But they were not conserved by the locals. In his fourth attempt, he conserved the sapling for a few days.” By 2023, only one tree survived after the Kumaradevam village lost nearly 20 of them to the Godavari flood.