Ikshu
Ikshu, “sugarcane”
Grammar: masculine noun.
Meaning: sugarcane.
In the scriptures: when Bhagavān Sūrya was drinking amṛta, the drops that fell from his mouth became śāli, mūṅga and ikshu. Śarkarā is the essence of ikshu, and so it is very dear to Bhagavān Sūrya in havya and kavya and is of the form of amṛta (Uttara Parva, Chapter 49). Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa names ikshu first among the eight things called the Saubhāgyāshṭaka, which arose from the half of saubhāgya that Daksha Prajāpati did not drink (Uttara Parva, Chapter 25).
The Bhavishya Purāṇa uses it in many rites:
- One who bathes Brahmā with sugarcane juice goes to Sūryaloka, lighting up the sky (Brahma Parva, Chapter 17).
- On the Bhadrā, a śukla Saptamī on which Hastā nakshatra has primacy, Sūrya Deva is bathed first with ghee, then with milk, then with sugarcane juice (Brahma Parva, Chapter 101).
- In the Rasakalyāṇinī-tṛtīyā vrata the mūrti of the Devī is bathed with honey and sugarcane juice (Uttara Parva, Chapter 26).
- Ikshu is among the homa materials (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 17–18).
- Sugarcane is among the gifts to a brāhmaṇa at the end of the year in the Śubha Saptamī vrata (Uttara Parva, Chapter 51).
- The gold chariot of the Hiraṇyāśvaratha-dāna is furnished with it (Uttara Parva, Chapter 187).
Ikshu is also the second of the seven oceans, the ocean of sugarcane juice, after the ocean of salt (Brahma Parva, Chapter 17).
Related terms: Śarkarā · Saubhāgyāshṭaka · Amṛta
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 17, 101; Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 17–18; Uttara Parva, Chapters 25–26, 49, 51, 187