Cutting down a sacred tree brings unexplained failure and misfortune.

Evidence

But as the woodcutters raised their axes, the tale tells, a power stirred — whether the guardian spirit of the tree, or the merit of Mahasena’s long devotion, or simply the conscience the rich man had ignored. The first cut would not hold; tools broke; an unease fell on the workers; and in some tellings the rich man fell ill or was visited by dreams until he understood. He relented, and the great Bodhi tree was spared. Mahasena went on tending it all his days, and the people came to honor both the tree and the humble man whose quiet love had saved it — learning that reverence for life, even for a tree, is not weakness or foolishness, but a deep wisdom that the proud and grasping cannot see. — , A Year of World Stories, 13229

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with the Thai variant at 13254 about the arrogant man who destroys a community-blessing tree — same motif retold.