Śāla (tree)
Śāla · śāla, “the śāla tree”
Śala has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śala.
Grammar: masculine noun; printed साल.
Meaning: a tree whose wood is used for a yūpa (pillar).
In the scriptures: where a pillar is needed, the Madhyama Parva says that yūpas of sāla, khaira, palāsa, kesara, bela and bakula are praised in Kaliyuga (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 10–11).
In the Brahma Purāṇa: the śāla is among the great trees of Naimishāraṇya, the holy forest crowded with munis where the munis held their twelve-year satra when the Sūta Lomaharshaṇa came to them (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 1). When Pṛthu milked the earth and each kind of being drew its own milk, Lomaharshaṇa tells, for the trees the calf was the plaksha, the milker was the flowering śāla, the milk was the power to grow again where cut or burnt, and the vessel was a cup of palāśa leaves (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 4). At the wedding of Devī Pārvatī and Bhagavān Śiva, when Vasanta came, Brahmā tells the munis, flowering aśoka creepers embracing the sāla trees were as lovely as loving women embracing their lovers’ necks (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 36). Teaching the munis the rules of śrāddha, Vyāsa names the śāla fruit among the things forbidden in the rite, with buffalo milk and curd, the palmyra fruit, jambīra and the red bilva fruit (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220).
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 10–11
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 4, 36, 220