Thanks for reopening the thread. Few months back I received Sanskrit Pandulipi (Manuscript) from Krishna Devotee of Nepal which describes Tam, Tamal, Tamala, Tamalini, Tamalak, Tamal Patra, Tamali with different Shlokas. From reading it, it seems that neither Garcinia nor Diospyros is suitable candidate for it. Sacred Tamala was once used in Yagyas specially Soma Yagyas. And also in Yagyas for Healing.
regards Pankaj Oudhia On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Subrata Mahapatra <[email protected]>wrote: > > 1. The long search for the Tamala - the most famous but the least > known tree - has ended. Famous because it is glorified by celebrated poets > of sixth century, Kalidasa, down to twentieth century poet Tagore. For > devotees of Krishna this is sacred as it epitomizes the divine personality. > Such a famous tree is not known to anybody whom i come across. > > Recently i have seen this tree in the Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah, quite > comfortably thanks to the courtesy of the Director, Dr. Debnath. I am > attaching a few photos of the tree and its parts provided by Basant K. > Singh. > I am adding a synopsis of the long investigation extended to five years. > If any one is interested he or she may read the following :- > It all started in a get-together. A friend was reading the Gospels of Sri > Ramakrishna (Kathamrita). Tamala was mentioned in the text. I asked my > friends-' do you know Tamala'. Nobody knows. The hostess took out a > dictionary and found the name - 'it is a tree similar to Gaab' [Eng.Gaub > persimon - Diospyros peregrina] The search for Tamala began. In a > reciprocal request i urged Garg ji to help me. He put a notice. Information > poured in from many, in particular from Dr Pankaj Oudhia.All these boil > down to Cinnamomum tamala. Its leaf called Tejpata is daily used in > culinary preparation. Interestingly in Gujrati it is called 'tamal patra'. > This tree grows wild in tropical and subtropical Himalayas, Khasi and > Jaintia hills. > Ayurvedacharya Shibkali Bhattacharya is an authority on plants. He > specified Tamala is Garcinia xanthochymus(syn. G. tinctoria). Sometime back > i brought this to the notice of our group members. Its Sanskrit, Hindi, and > Bengali name is Tamala, Eng.name Sour mangosteen,false mangosteen, Gambose. > Sanskrit , Hindi or Bengali namesake may also refer to other species or > genus viz. G. morella, Cinnamomum tamala, Diospyros montana. > The sacred Tamala of Vrindavan is yet to be conclusively identified. > George Harrison and Srila Prabhupada wrote some fifty pages on Tamal and > Vrindavan. They say 'Radaharani in separation was embracing the Tamala > tree. - - And they say that in Vrindavan only there are four trees left.' > It is possible. Since the time of Sri Chaitanya pilgrims from different > parts took a plant on their return.One Swami of Belur Math brought a plant > from vrindavan some thirty years back.I took a twig and put it before the > members. Experts say it belongs to Diospyros montana. Interestingly its > Sanskrit name is Tamala. Since the fruit or flower of this particular tree > not seen a conclusion could not be arrived at. >
