Jāji
Jāji, “the jasmine flower”
Grammar: the word as the Telugu print gives it (జాజి).
Meaning: the jasmine flower.
In the scriptures: the Brahma Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa names it often in the pūjā of Bhagavān Sūrya.
- On the Bhadrā, the Shashṭhī of the śukla paksha of Bhādrapada, Sūrya’s pūjā is best done with jāji flowers, white sandal, Vijaya dhūpa and pāyasa (Chapter 83).
- In the Jayā Saptamī it is used at the second pāraṇa, with śrīkhaṇḍa, the dhūpa called Vijaya and pāyasa (Chapter 96).
- In the Jayantī Kalpa it is used at the third pāraṇa, with red sandal, Vijaya dhūpa and ghee sweets (Chapter 97).
- In the Nandā Saptamī it is used at the first pāraṇa, with fragrant sandal, a dhūpa of karpūra mixed with agaru, and curd rice with pulakaṇḍa (Chapter 100).
- On the śukla paksha Saptamī, in upavāsa, Bhāskara is worshipped with white things: jāji flowers, jasmine, white water-lilies, kaḍimi flowers, pāyasa and vajras (Chapter 80).
- Brahmā names jāji first among the flowers usually within reach that are approved for Sūrya’s pūjā (Chapter 115).
Jāji flowers are the offering to the apsarās in the list of the Ratha Saptamī Kalpa (Chapter 57). A mouth with the fragrance of jāji, bakula, lotus or blue water-lily never lacks drink, food and tāmbūla (Chapter 5). Jāji is also in the medicine printed for poison passing from pitta to śleshma, with pippaḷḷu, atimadhura, pulakaṇḍamu, ghee, honey, sorakāya, nūguḍosa and peddapāpara, ground in cow’s urine (Chapter 35). In the meditation on the letters of a mantra, the Hīṃ-kāra is thought of as the colour of the jāji flower (Chapter 136).
Related terms: Jātī · Vijaya Dhūpa · Pāraṇa
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 5, 35, 57, 80, 83, 96–97, 100, 115, 136