Banka City, Bihar is in the headlines after water is continuously dripping recently from a tree trunk without any rainfall. According to Local 18 Bihar, this happened in the Inarabaran Hathgarh, a small village in the Fullidumar Block of Banka city. The natives in this city consider it a divine miracle.
They tied a chunari (cloth) to the tree and started worshipping by lighting a lamp. This news has surfaced in Banka city and hundreds of people are coming from far-off places to see this phenomenon. These places include Khesar town, Bhitiya village and Sahebganj village, Bihar. They are offering prayers to the tree and believe that their wishes can become true after praying. The natives also opine that the water coming out of the tree trunk is no less than nectar. They are consuming it as prasad (a religious offering in Hinduism).
A villager named Heera Rai said that preparations were going on to plant a maize crop in a native named Suresh Varnmal’s field. During this time, ploughing (digging land with a plough) was going on and the water was dripping from the tree trunk but no one paid attention to it. As per the villager, the water kept oozing from the tree when he checked it after a few days, even though it had stopped raining for 4 days. The exact reason behind the water dripping from the tree trunk has not been known yet.
As per the reports, water leaks out from the tree trunk because the wet wood-causing bacteria enter trees through wounds in the roots, trunk or limbs. Once inside, this bacteria produces gas within the tree. Due to this, the pressure increases and eventually runny liquid seeps out through openings in the bark. The liquid starts thin and transparent, then turns into a slimy, smelly ooze.
As it drips down, it stains the tree’s trunk a yellow or dark brown. Bacterial wet wood, also known as slime flux is a disease that works its way into tree wood and drips out in the form of thin, water-like liquid. The bacterial wet wood is most common in maple, elm, oak, poplar and birch trees.