Ashta Bilvas

Having seen about  the flowers/ leaves enumerated by Azwar in his verses, now let's see what kind of leaves, have been mentioned in Bilvashtakam or the 8 verses about Bilva. Bilva tree has been glorified both in Vead ans this sloka. These days, Bilva leaves are offered to Lord Shiva, primarily. But in a place in Krishna Yajur Veda, called Sri Suktham or the praise of Godess Lakshmi,this tree has been glorified. This Sukta describes Bilva tree as the one belonging to Sri laksmi (Vasapathi: Thava Vruksho tha Bilva:). Going further , this Sukta also has a prayer to Maha Lakshmi to remove the illusion, in-Auspisciousness etc.. by it fruits. (Thasya Phalani Thapasa Nuthanthu Maayanta Raayascha Paashya Alakshmi:"). Such is the greatness of this tree.

Bilvashtakam, a verse glorifying the results of offering Bilva leaves to Lord Shiva, mentions 7 other leaves, which are equivalent to Bilva. Thse are called together as asta bilvas.

As per the below sloka, 8 different kinds of leaves are revered as Vilvas or glorified as Vilva(s):

Thulasi Bilva Nirgundee Apaamarga Kapihtagou
Shamee Cha Aamalakam Dhoorva Asta Bilva Prakeerthitha:

 Thulasi (Tulasi, Thuzai) - Ocimum Sanctum

Bilva (Vilvam) - Cynodon Dactylon

Nirgundi  (Nochi) - Vitex negundo

ApaaMaarga (Nayuruvi) - Achyranthes aspera

Kabitha (Vilam) - Limonia acidissima

Shamee (Vanni)-Prosopis Spicigera

Aamalakam - (Malai Nelli) - Phyllanthus Emblica

Doorva - (Aruham pul) - Cynodon Dactylon

Needless to say, each of these leaves have unique medicinal qualities and also some of them have falvors. Some of them like Thulasi are consumed directly, while others are powdered and used in various Ayurvedic perparations. Thus offering these medicnal leaves to God, in in our glorious tradition, which also makes them readily reachable when in need of them for certain disease curitng etc..

Bilva,Thulasi & Nochi hav good fragrance. Thulasi and Noci are usedin the cure of cold, fever etc.. Our siptures, thus give us, unvaluable treasures, in the form of slokas, etc.. Let's enjoy our lives with those.

Flowers from Azwar Pasuram(s)

Lotus is a common flower in the poems (pasuram) of all the Azwar saints of India, comparing Lord's eyes, his fore-hand etc. with its petals or its color. But our Big Azwar or Sri Vishnu Chitha, who had a great interest in flower-gardening, has enumerated a list of flowers and fragrant leaves. Out of devotion he had sung a group of 10 poems inviting baby Krishna to wear these flowers in his hair, which are collectively called as Poochoodal Pasurams in Thamizh. Each of these flowers / leaves mentioned here have unique (from mild to strong) fragrance(s) and medicinal properties.  Now let's see what flowers have been listed in his songs:

1. Senpakam - Champaka - Michelia champaca

    Large tree with seeds. 

   
   

2. Mallikai - Mallika - Jasminum sambac

    Perennial creeoer and can be grown from cuttings. 

   

3. Damanaham - Davana - Artemisia Pallens 

   Annual shrub, which can be grown from seeds. 

   

4. Paadhiri - Patala  - Stereospermum tetragonum  

   Big tree with seeds. 

   
   

5. Punnai - Punnaga - Calophyllum inophyllum 

    Tree and can be grown from seeds.

   
   

6. Kurukkathi - Madhavi  - Hiptage benghalensis 

    Woody climber with seeds.

   

7. Segazhuneer - Red Water Lily -Nymphaea nouchali

    Perennial water plant with seeds.

   

8. Karumuhai -  Mano Ranjitham - Artabotrys uncinatus 

   Woody climber,  and is a perennial. Can be grown from seeds.
   

   
   

9. Irvachi - A  specialized variety of Jasmine

    As the name suggests it rules the night with it's fragrance .

   (irul = darkness, atchi = ruling in Thamizh) Creeper like jasmine and can be propagated

   vegetatively. 

10. Maruhu - Marvaka - Origanum majorana

    This called as Sweet marjoram in English. Very easy to grow from seeds / cuttings. 
    

    

11. (Kadir) Pachai - Patchpan - Pogostemon patchouli  (optional)

    Extremely unique fragrant shrub with seeds.

Note: 8 flowers and two leaves make complete sense. I had added Pachai to this list assuming that Azwar wanted to include Pachai with Davana. Maruhu, Davana and the 8 flowers make a total of 10 equating the number of flowers/leaves to the number of poems in this group of pasurams.

Davana or Thanamaham gets mentioned twice here by Azwar. Needless to say the beautiful aroma of this plant had motivated Azwar to talk about this plant twice in his 10 verses. First he combines this Davana with Maruhu and makes a garland (Maruvum Thanahamum SeerMalai manam kamazkinra) and describes Sri Krishna as the one, who has his hair smelling with the sweet aroma of that garland. Since Azwar himself loves gardening he is very creative in selecting the best combination of fragrant flowers for his Sweet Lord.

Next time Davana is mentioned along with Pachai (Pogostemon patchouli), which is called as Kadir Pachai in Thamizh, which I have heard to have a very distinct fragrance and Padiri flowers (Patali pushpam). Azwar beautifully mentions (Pachai Thamnahathodu Pathiri Poo Chooda Varai) and he combines another herb with a unique fragrance (Kadir Pachai) with Davana and padiri flowers.

Note: Pachai could also be interpreted as the color green, which would make it sound that Azwar is describing it as - Green Davana. But Davana is ash-colored and I made the assumption that Pachai really meant Kadir Pachai and not the green Davana. As mentioned earlier this may be optional in this group of 10 verses but considering the great fragrance of this plant it is worth giving it the status of being included in this list.

Karumuhai flowers mentioned in Azwar's pasuram is currently known in Thamizh by its Sanskrit name - Manoranjitham. Sengazhuneer is mentioned as water flower by Azwar, which means it is the red water lily (which blooms in the day). He mentions it as "Thelliya Neeril Ezhunda Sengazhuneer Sooda Vaarai" - which means he invites his Sweet Lord to wear the Red Lily flowers, which had blossomed and had, arose from clear water. As there is another flower, with the same name, which is called as Bhu Champaka in Sanskrit Azwar's description of this flower as water flower really helps us to avoid any confusions.

In addition to inculcating the divine devotion, Azwar had done a marvelous job of preserving the tradition of those flowers used in garlands for the Lord. Although most of them are still used and available not all of them have been commercialized. For example we can never find Kurukkathi poo in the market. Manoranjitham is usually grown at homes (although in some markets they sell these flowers) jasmine, lotus etc. are readily available in the markets.

So, devotion is very closely associated with gardening too, where we grow those plants, which would bear fragrant flowers with great care and offer their flowers to Sweet Lord. The pleasure one attains by do that is end-less.

Fragrant Flowers

Plants and flowers are nature's gifts to cure our worries etc.. and make us happy. The beauty of growing flowers from our own garden(s) and enjoying them is really great! And going a step further, making cut flowers, garlands,e tc.. and offering them to God is even more enjoyable. In almost all the religions, offering flowers / gralnds etc.. to their respective God(s) is dscribed as a creditable act. With it rich (10000+ years) cultural hertiage obviously in India, a wide variety of flowers are grown and used - both for decoration and offerings etc..When I came to US, this flowers database grew much, as I found so many interesting and beautiful flowers , which are very easyt o grow. I thought that, it was worth while writing about those gifts of Mother Nature to us, who are struck in this world of materialism.

Depending on the climate, rainfall, hardiness etc.. different kinds of flowers could be grown in different parts of the world and country. Some indoors and some out-doors, , some creepers, some trees etc.. In general, flowers are selected for two reasons:

1. For their color or brightness
2. For their fragrance.

For example, fuschia(s),dahlias etc..a re grown for their colors - whether used in cutflowers or being offered. On the other hand tea-roses, columbines, jasmine, gardenia etc.. are grown for their unique fragrance(s). As we know, from time to time various different flowers have been cultivated by our ancestors for spiritual or commercial purposes. Flowwing that grounds, I am trying to collect the biological name(s) of those ancient flowers found in out scriptures , and also the modern beauties. For exmaple, Gardenia is called as Gandhraja (King of fragrances) in Sanskrit and is mentione din various places in the scriptures songs etc..

This article would be in-complete if we dont talk about fragrant leaves or herbs. When I found out that, basil was cokked with tomoato, I was really surprised.  IN my child-hood, I have seen various kind sof basils, grown and offered to Gods, used in teas etc.. as medicine for cold,fever.. - but for the first time I found that, it was in Italy that, ethey had consumed Basil. SImilar was the case with Mugwort (Masi), which I found in a Korean grocery shop for sale. There are a brand of leaves or herbs, whicha re offered in religious services in Inda, and each of them have a unique medicinal value. So, some of the leaves are fragrant and some of them were not. But all of them certainly do posess medicinal vlaues curing diseases.

I wanted to post about various flowers, leaves etc.. mentioned in the scriptures , so that we can very easily associate their names (in Sanskrit) to their corresponding botanical  names + also see the picture sof how they would look like.