Mallikā
Mallikā, “the jasmine”
Grammar: feminine noun: the jasmine plant and its flower.
Meaning: the jasmine, a white, fragrant flower; navamallikā and vanamallikā name kinds of it.
In the scriptures: Indra sent Rambhā and the apsarās, with Manmatha and Vasanta (Spring), to break the tapas of Nara and Nārāyaṇa at Badarikāśrama. There Vasanta, proud of having conquered the elephant of frost, seemed to mock it under the pretext of the whiteness of the jasmine buds (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6).
When Madana stood before Bhagavān Śiva again, bow in hand, Śiva looked at him with eyes raining fire, and Madana let fall his bow, which broke into five pieces. The grip above the nāha-sthāna (a part of the bow), set with candrakānta gems, became the five-petalled jasmine, white like moonlight. The tiers adorned with coral below the curved ends became the many kinds of forest mallikā (vanamallikā). “In this way, Nārada, the fragrant flowers, the jasmine and others, were created through Parameśvara” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6).
In the Kālāshṭamī vrata, in the month Phālguna, Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped with jasmine flowers after his abhisheka with pañcagavya (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17).
Prahlāda teaches Bali that flowers of good colour, form, fragrance and honey are fit for the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Among the flowers excellent for the pūjā of Acyuta he names, in order: jāji, the hundred-petalled lotus, the layered mallikā, bāṇa, campaka, aśoka, karavīra, navamallikā, pāribhadra, pāṭala, vakula, giriśālinī, tilaka, japākusuma, pītaka and nāgara (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 68).
Related terms: Pushpa · Campaka · Vakula · Pāṭala · Manmatha · Pūjā
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 6, 17, 68