Pāṭalā
Pāṭalā
Grammar: feminine noun; also written pāṭala.
Meaning: a fragrant flower.
In the scriptures: A fragrance arising from the homa fire like candana, agaru, karpūra, pāṭalā and yūthikā is wholly beneficial (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 13–15). Pāṭalā is among the flowers always approved in the Viśoka Dvādaśī vrata: kamala, karavīra, bāṇa, kuṃkuma, kesara, sinduvāra, mallikā, pāṭalā, kadamba, kubjaka and jātī (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 84). In the Śiva Caturdaśī vrata, pāṭala is the eighth of the twelve flowers with which Umā-Maheśvara are worshipped on the twelve caturdaśīs (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 96–97).
In the Brahma Purāṇa the pāṭala is among the great trees of the holy Naimisha forest, where Lomaharshaṇa the Sūta told the Purāṇa to the munis (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 1). Brahmā tells the munis how, at the wedding of Umā and Maheśvara on Himavat, the signs of all the seasons met together. Pāṭala flowers, opening little by little, moving in soft winds and spreading their fragrance, made the directions rosy; and when Grīshma came, breezes lovely with pāṭala flowers, with kadamba and arjuna blossoms, spread wide and blew cool (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 36). Of the three daughters of Himavat and Menā, Ekapāṭalā is named from her tapas: for a thousand years she ate only one leaf of the pāṭala tree and did not stand in the shade (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 34).
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 13–15; Uttara Parva, Chapters 84, 96–97
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 34, 36