Tāla

Tāla · tāla, “a measure of height; the palm tree”

Grammar: masculine noun: the palm tree; also a measure of length.

Meaning: a measure of the height of a mūrti; and the palm tree. In Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 12, nine tālas are four and a half hastas.

In the scriptures: the Madhyama Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa gives the height of each mūrti in tālas:

The tree is named among the omens: śāla, tāla, aksha, khadira, lotus and the like springing up inside the house are faults born of Ketu (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 3, Chapter 20).

In the Brahma Purāṇa: the tāla, the palmyra palm, stands among the great trees of Naimishāraṇya, the holy forest of the munis, with the sarala, panasa, mango, jambū, banyan, devadāru, aśvattha, pārijāta, sandal, śāla, tamāla, coconut and others (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 1). Brahmā tells the munis that at the wedding of Devī Pārvatī on the Himavat, when the signs of all the seasons met together, the kadamba, nīpa, tāla, tamāla, sarala and every other kind of tree stood in flower and fruit around the wedding maṇḍapa (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 36).

In the śrāddha-kalpa that Vyāsa teaches the munis, the palmyra fruit is forbidden at the śrāddha, with buffalo milk and curd, the jambīra, the red bilva fruit and the śāla fruit. It is named among the naraka-giving substances whose offering makes the yajamāna fall, together with the pitṛs, into the naraka called Pūyavaha (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220).

Related terms: Aṅgula · Hasta · Mūrti

Other meanings

Tāla has more than one meaning in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Besides the meaning above, it names those listed here, each with where it is told.

  • Tāla (Naraka): Tāla is also a naraka ruled by Yama, fourth in Lomaharshaṇa‘s list of the narakas into which those who do pāpa are cast. Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22

Sources

  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 12; Bhāga 3, Chapter 20
  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 22, 36, 220