PLANTS IN POTANA's BHAGAVATAM #3
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20) mamda'ra (mamdAra/mamdaara) (Sanskrit) (As Potana called)
The most famous poem of Potana "mamda'ra makaramada...."
starts with this plant. The name mamda'ra, when it rings in the
ears, the person may instantaneously recall the China Rose or the
Hibiscus. Now see what it means to your surprise:
This is actually the "GIGANTIC SWALLOWORT" or
the "CORAL TREE" (in simple English).
Telugu : mamda'ramu; jillEDu; dEvavRkshamu
English : Madar; Gigantic Swallowort; Coral Tree
Sanskrit : Arka; mamda'r; manda'raha
Botanical Name: Calotropis gigantea
Family : Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family)
Actually, there is another species also in this genus :
Calotropis procera. In Sanskrit it is called "Alarka"
In English, it is called the "Swallowort" or "Akund".
In Marathi, this one called "manda'ra" and in Hindi it is
called "madar".
This "mamda'ramu" or "jillEDu" is one of the 5 Celestial Trees
(kalpavRkshamulu).
In nature, one would notice the red-flowered variety and the
lilac-flowered variety, often called "tella jillEDu" and "nalla
jillEDu".
This mamda'ra (jillEDu) grows wild all over, especially in the
Southern India. If one cuts the plant any where (aerial portion)
or decapitates or makes an inscission on the leaf, a milky
substance called latex, oozes out. That is why this plant and
other members are called "milkweeds". In actuality, many members
of this family in Telugu start or end with "pa'la/pAla".
Housewives, rural Ayurvedic doctors and my village kith and kin
use this plant to cure scores of ailments. The plant contains
compounds like calotropin, akundarin, and calotoxin (in case of
Calotropis gigantea). The plant contains medicinally important
cardiac glycosides present in the latex and if latex is consumed,
it slows the heart beat (rate). If one notices the plant much
closely, insects 50-100 times bigger than locusts (miDatalu) can
be seen grazing on the plant voraceously. These insects, called
the milkweed bugs, camouflage with the plant. Interestingly,
these insects, upon eating the leaves of the jillEDu, accumulate
the toxic principles of the plant (cardiac glycosides) and the
toxic compounds are not toxic to the insect. If predatory birds
catch these bugs, they will get hurt upon eating them - the
jillEDu toxic compounds in the bugs cause toxicity to the heart of
the predatory birds. From the first trial, the birds will not
touch the bugs. In turn, the insect pollinate the jillEDu plant.
This is mutualistic symbiosis - in nature both plant and the bug
evolved. These glycosides have pharmacological properties. A
similar species close to Andhra jillEDu is present here too.
Similar milkweed bugs do live on the plant with similar mutual
dependence in the US also. The milkweed of the US also contains
toxic cardiac glycosides.
The flowers of this "mamda'ra" or "jillEDu" contain a lot of
makramdamu (honey). Honey eating insects and birds do visit these
plants on a regular basis.
An interesting note - the famous jillEDu ka'yalu is a pimDivamTa.
That is shaped like a jillEDu ka'ya with poorNam in the middle.
Then it is fried. I remeber wooden templates available to make
those jillEDu ka'yalu.
The ripen fruits dehisce (split open) and the silk cotton flies in
the air. The cotton fibers have the seeds at the base. This is a
seed dispersal mechanism for the plant. This silk cotton from
jillEDu is used to stuff pillows and mattresses - it is really
comfortable to sleep on those.
Also, how many of you remeber sisimdriilu and tooriigalu during
diipa'vaLi? Do you know we used to use jillEDu charcoal in the
sisimdrii or tooriiga mixture. The reason for choosing jillEDu
charcoal was because jillEDu charcoal was very light.
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The "mamda'ra" often we use is to call (or identify) the China
Rose or Hibiscus.
Botanical Name : Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Family : Malvaceae (gOmgoora family or bemDa family)
Sanskrit : Joba
Hindi : jasun; gurhal
Tamil : Sapattuppu
Telugu : da'sanam; javada'sanamu ceTTu
(va'sana lEni oka dinusu gula'bi)
English : Rose of China; Hibiscus; Shoeflower
In none of the Indian languages, this Hibiscus or China Rose, is
called "mamda'ra" and certainly in Telugu not at all! This is an
introduced plant into India (According to Desmond, the jasun or
the China Rose, reached India from China - as the name implies).
Certainly, this China Rose (Hibiscus) is not Potana's mamda'ra and
people who read "mamda'ra makaramda...." and any other related
poems on mamda'ra or with mamda'ra should not mistake this
Hibiscus (China Rose) for mamda'ra. It is still not clear, why
the China Rose is called "mamda'ra" (only) in Telugu of all the
other Indian languages.
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There is another plant called by the name "manda'r" in Sanskrit.
Botanical Name: Erythrina variegata
Family : Leguminosae (Pea or Bean or Legume Family)
Hindi : dadap
Bengali : palita mamda'r
Tamil : kaliya'na murukku
Telugu : ba'Disa; ba'Didepu ceTTu; ba'Disepu ceTTu
Sanskrit : manda'r
This is similar to mOduga (Butea monosperma - another member of
the same legume family).
But this is not what Potana meant by his Mamdara name.
ba'Disa is not a celestial tree unlike the jillEDu or real
mamda'ramu.
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There is another plant called by the name "mamda'ra" in Telugu.
Botanical Name: Bauhinia variegata
Family : Leguminosae (Pea or Bean Family)
Sanskrit : kOvida'ra
Hindi : kachnar
Bengali : raktakanchan
Telugu : manda'ra
This is similar to the "aDDa or aDDa'kula ceTTu" (with which the
vistara'kulu are made) - Bauhinia vahlii (belongs to the same
family - Leguminosae).
This is not the Potana's manda'ra either. This is not one of the
5 celestial trees.
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Now strengthening my arguments in favor of jillEDu as Potana's
mamda'ra, I put forward the following discussion.
According to Amarakosam:
pamcaitE dEvataravO manda'raha pa'rija'takaha
santa'naha kalpavRkshaSca pumsi va' haricamdanam.
The 5 celestial trees (dEvata' vRkshamulu aidu. lEda' va'tinE
aidu kalpa vRkshamulani kooDa' piluva vaccunu).
(1) mamda'raha : madamti mOdamtE anEnEti
diini cEta samtOshimturu.
(2) pa'rija'taha : samudramu valana puTTinadi
(3) santa'naha : aBiisTamu niccunadi
(4) kalpavRkshaha : samkalpamu kaligimcu vRkshamu
(5) haricamdanam : yimdruni samtOshimpajEyunaTTidi
These 5 plants are in Indra's garden, hence, they are called
the 5 celestial plants (trees). This mamda'ra is also called
the "a'rkavRksha" or "jillEDu" (According to the
Suryarayandhra Nighamtuvu and Samskruta'mdhra Nighamtuvu and
other sources). (I will come to the list of 5 celestial
plants later.) Also according to C.P. Brown and Apte, Mamdara
stands for jillEDu.
What is this kalpavRkshamu? This kalpavRkshamu fulfils the
desires - dEvata' vRkshamu. As said in Raghuvamsa,
"kalpadruma'Na'miva pa'rija'taha". This jillEDu (mamda'ramu
as Potana called), the a'rkavRksha, is one of the 5 celestial
trees. Husbands (guys) practising polygamy marry this
jillEDu (mamda'ra) ceTTu before they marry the third wife.
Finally it can be concluded that Potana's mamda'ra is not the
so-called mamda'ra (Hibiscus or China Rose) of now-a-days at
all and it is neither any other plant belonging to the family
Leguminosae (which are called mamda'r or mamda'ra). Potana's
mamda'ra is the jillEDu or the Coral Tree or the Giant
Swallowort, the milkweed of India.
---pa'lana
References:
1) Amarakosam - samskRta'mdhra vivaraNamu - pradhama ka'mDam
Editor: Sri Chalamrla Venkataseshacharyulu
Jayalakshmi Publications, Hyderabad (1989)
2) The Practical Sanskrit - English Dictionary
By V.S. Apte, Motilal Banarasidas Publishers, New Delhi (1992)
3) Samskruta'mdhra Nighamtuvu - Vavilla Publications
4) Sri Suryarayamdhra Nighamtuvu vols: a-au; ka-Ca; ba-Ra
Telugu Visvavidyalayam, Hyderabad, 1988
5) English - Telugu Dictionary
By P. Sankaranarayana, Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu & Sons, Madras, 1964.
6) Teugu - English Dictionary
By C.P. Brown, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1991.
7) Medicinal Plants of India - Vols I & II.
By S. K. Jain & Robert A. DeFilipps, Reference Publications Inc., 1991.
8) Dictionary of Economic Plants in India
By P. Maheswari and UMrao Singh, ICAR, New Delhi, 1965.
9) Flora of Visakhapatnam
By Jillella Venkateswarulu, Piratla Narasimharao, and P.V. Bhairavamurty
10) Medicinal Plants by S.K. Jain
National Book Trust of India, New Delhi, 1968.
11) The European Discovery of the Indian Flora
By Ray Desmond, Royal Botanical Gardens, Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.
12) Dhanvamtari
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P.S. The chief author of #8, Prof. Panchanan Maheswari was an FRS and the
chairman of dept. of Botany, Univ. of Delhi. He was the only author who
published a book on Plant Embryology which till today is highly
acclaimed. An excellent botanist who trained hundreds of plant
embryologists and tissue culture scientists all over the world.
The chief author of #9, Prof. Jillella Venkateswarulu (my grand teacher)
was the pioneer of plant embryology and cytogenetics and plant breeding
in Andhra Desa. He established the advanced center of genetics and
plant genetics in Andhra University. He was a versatile scientist,
trianed hundreds of botanists all around the world.
Venkateswarulu, in fact, enhanced the glory of Andhra University and
Andhra dESa by his invaluable scientific discoveries.
When cytogenetics was in an infantile state in India, Venkateswarulu
was a leading scientist in the world (in plant genetics).
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--pa'lana
21/Nov 95