Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 3

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 370

ADDITIONAL NOTES
341
The Man who misses his Chance The Monkey who misses his Branch
cannot be saved. P. 87 (4. 2. 336). Dr. S. K. Belvalkar gave me the ex
planation and reference for ghrtayonyādikarañaiḥ. This permissible purification was instigated by the abduction of Hindu women by foreign invaders (Mlecchas). The women would be abandoned and, of course, would be outcastes from Hindu society, unless some special provision were made for their reinstatement. A legislator, named Devala, is said to have ordained that fasting and a douche of ghi, accompanied by mantras, should be accepted as
sufficient prāyaścitta. P. 117 (4. 4. 94). The tāpiccha is the same as the tamāla
(Abhi. 4. 2. 12). The Prativāsudevas (like the Vāsudevas) were black. Hence the tāpicchakusuma must be black. Balfour, in his Cyclopaedia of India, says of Xanthochymus pictorius (syn. Garcinia xanthochymus), with which the tamāla is unanimously identified, “This beautiful tree is remarkable for its black flowers." Bate's Dictionary of the Hindee Language also says, "noted for the dark hue of its blossoms." The difficulty is that G. xanthochymus does not have black blossoms, but yellowish white ones. Tamāla is used frequently as a symbol of darkness, not only by Hemacandra but also by others (Cf. Penzer, VI, 102; VII, 162; IX, 43), with nothing to indicate what part of it was in mind. MW, indeed, says of it, 'with dark bark and white blossoms. The translators of the Priyadarsikā say, "Evidently Balfour has confused the color of the bark and that of the flowers.” (p. ci). But the inconsistency can not be dismissed so easily. Bate possibly followed Balfour; but Hemacandra's black tãpicchakusuma remains to be explained. I can not reconcile the literary and botanical colors. To make confusion worse