Bilva
Bilva, “the bilva tree, wood-apple”
Bhṛṅgarāja has other meanings too: see all meanings of Bhṛṅgarāja.
Grammar: masculine noun, bilva, the name of the tree; neuter for its fruit. Its leaf is bilva-patra or bilva-dala.
Meaning: the sacred bilva tree, whose leaf is offered in pūjā; its fruit, leaves, shoots, bark, wood and root are all used in the rites and in medicine.
In the scriptures:
In pūjā. Among the flowers and leaves to be offered to Śrī Mahāvishṇu, Agnideva says that by offering bilva and śamī leaves the highest state becomes easy to reach (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 202); the bilva leaf is named first among the leaves fit for his pūjā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 248). Parameśvara tells Skanda that one who every day at the three times makes a pārthiva-liṅga (an earthen liṅga) and worships it with bilva leaves raises a hundred and eleven generations of his line to svarga (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 327). In the pūjā of Lakshmī, the droṇa flower, the lotus and the bilva leaf must not be worn on the head (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 308).
In homa and offerings. In the dīkshā, bilva fruits are offered in homa for gaining a kingdom (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 81), and bilva leaves are offered in homa for wealth (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 215). With the mantra “namo vaḥ kirikebhyaḥ”, one who offers bilva fruits obtains a heap of gold (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 260). The samidhs of the yajña trees, ghee, grain, white mustard, akshata, tila, curd, milk, kuśa and bilvas give śānti and pushṭi (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 262). For the grace of Śrī Devī, homa is done with lotuses, bilvas, ājya and tila (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 263). A lakh of homas of bilva gives Lakshmī and the increase of wealth, and homa of bilva, ghee, lotus and pāyasa, together or separately, is good for obtaining Lakshmī (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 308). In the Trailokya-mohana rite, three lakh japas and a lakh of homas with lotuses, bilva leaves, ghee, rice, sandal and dūrvā give long life (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 307). In the pūjā of Tvaritā, homa of bilva gives aiśvarya, and of madhūka flowers with bilva fruits, knowledge of all (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 309); and for her vrata a lakh of homas is offered of tila, yava, parched rice, grain, wheat, mango and bilva with ghee (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 311).
In the rites. For the bath of a pratimā, the east kalaśa holds the shoots of twelve trees, among them the bilva (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 57). In the bathing festival, the vessels of the east hold the juice of the bark of palāśa, aśvattha, vaṭa, bilva and other trees (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 69). At the installation of the liṅga, bilva powder is made ready for the baths (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 95). The pavitrakas, still wrapped in cloth, are sprinkled with water mixed with bilva (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 35). In Pushkara‘s teaching on the āśramas, the daṇḍa (staff) of the brahmacārī is of palāśa, pippala and bilva for the three varṇas in order, the bilva staff being the vaiśya’s (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 153). Silk is purified with the pulp of the bilva fruit (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 156), and any substance is purified by washing it with water made pure by the young shoots of kapittha, bilva, jambū, mango and karavīra (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 224).
In the vratas. In the śrī-kṛcchra, one lives on bilva fruits alone (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 171). In a Tṛtīyā vrata the vratī eats bilva leaves in one of the months (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 178), and in the Ashṭamī vrata of Bhādrapada, when Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped as Tryambaka, one eats a bilva leaf (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 184).
In medicine. Bilva is one of the oshadhis of the cakra of thirty-six squares (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 141). For atisāra in an elephant, a ball of unripe bilva, lodhra, dhātakī and sugar is given (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 287); for atisāra in a horse, a decoction of dry ginger, ativishā, mustā, anantā and bilva root (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 289); for toothache in cattle, a paste of bilva root, apāmārga, dhātakī, pāṭalā and kuṭaja, and the same cooked in ghee for diseases of the mouth (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292). In the bāla-tantra, a child seized by a grahī is fumigated with nakha, mustard and bilva leaves, or bathed with water in which the leaves of palāśa, udumbara, aśvattha, vaṭa and bilva are mixed (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 299).
Related terms: Bilva-patra · Śamī · Tulasī · Bhṛṅgarāja · Pallava · Kṛcchra · Pārthiva-liṅga
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 35, 57, 69, 81, 95, 141, 153, 156, 171, 178, 184, 202, 215, 224, 248, 260, 262–263, 287, 289, 292, 299, 307–309, 311, 327