Āmalaka
Āmalaka · āmalaka, “the āṃvalā tree and fruit”
Grammar: masculine noun; the name of a tree and its fruit.
Meaning: the tree and fruit also called āṃvalā, honoured in pūjā, vratas and rites for the pitṛs.
In the scriptures: The Pratisarga Parva gives the tree its own pūjā. One who places mālatī and tulasī under it and does pūjā of the śālagrāma satisfies the pitṛs and becomes a jīvanmukta. Śrāddha under it gives the fruit of thousands of śrāddhas at Gayā, and homa there the fruit of thousands of yajñas (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 26).
In the vratas the fruit serves for bathing: the observer applies fragrant āmalaka, or bathes in water mixed with bilva and āmalaka (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 21, 117). In the snāna of Bhagavān Sūrya‘s mūrti, oshadhis, then āmalaka, then earth, then water fall on its head with mantras (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 135). It is put into the vessel of the jala-dhenu (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 153), and it is among the fruits of the twelve months in one vrata (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 42). The Āmalakī-yāga has its dakshiṇā of one svarṇamudrā, as has the Tulasī-yāga (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 2, Chapters 3–5). One rite forbids it for its span: one does not bathe with āmalakas then (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 65). On a dvādaśī one eats āmalaka and sleeps on the ground (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 86). Its wood is called excellent for the sruvā at a deva-pratishṭhā (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 19–21). One who plants an āmalaka among the trees named by the text never sees naraka (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 127–129). It is also stored among the fruits of the house (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 11).
Related terms: Vṛksha · Tulasī · Śrāddha · Vrata
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 11, 65, 135; Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 19–21; Bhāga 2, Chapters 3–5; Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 26; Uttara Parva, Chapters 21, 42, 86, 117, 127–129, 153