Older banyan trees are characterized by their aerial prop roots which grow downward from branches into thick woody trunks which with age can become indistinguishable from the main trunk. Old trees can spread out laterally using these prop roots to cover a fairly wide area. This one certainly shows these characteristics in abundance: it's hard to tell what/where the original main trunk is. I'm guessing that by themselves the trunk roots just can't slurp enough water to sustain the tree growth so the Banyan has developed a way to literally plant more roots into the soil.
All these images are of the Banyan. Just one tree. The one shot that was not possible to get was an establishing, wide, overview shot. The surrounding land was just too flat. The amount of land coverage was staggering.
A close-up view of one of the aerial prop roots that has planted itself into the ground.
And finally: the obligatory monkey shot.
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