Origin of Coconut Tree

Once there lived a king named Trishanku.

King Trishanku was a holy man and was blessed by Sage Vishwamitra to ascend the heaven in human form, according to the king's own wish.

Sage Vishwamitra performed a ritual and due to its effect, King Trishanku began rising towards the heaven.

The kingdom of heaven was ruled by Lord Indra. When Lord Indra saw a human in body form standing at the Gate of heaven, he was furious. He said, 'You are an ordinary human. You cannot come to live in heaven in this human form. If seek heaven, let your spirit ascend the heaven', and saying this Lord Indra pushed King Trishanku away.

King Trishanku began coming down hurtling in the vast open space between the Earth and the sky. When his benefactor, Sage Vishwamitra saw him, he envisioned what happened to the king and shouted in defense of the king, 'Let this saintly king stay where he is'.

Due to the power of his unbending words, king Trishanku came to be suspended in open space.

However, sage Vishwamitra knew that King would fall under the gravity pull unless he was supported. So he rooted a strong pole in the ground and supported him.

As the folklore around the story suggest, the pole supporting king Trishanku became the coconut tree. The tree bore his head as the coconut fruit. The shell of coconut has fibree around it which were originally Trishanku's bread and hair. If we remove the coir, the shell has three impressions which are considered as Trishanku's eyes and nose.