Udumbara
Encyclopedia
Ficus racemosa is a species of plant
in the Moraceae
family. Popularly known as the Cluster Fig Tree or Goolar (Gular) Fig, this is native to Australasia
, South-East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent
. it is unusual in that its figs grow on or close to the tree trunk.In India the tree and its fruit are called gular in the north and atti in the south.The fruits are a favorite staple of the common Indian macaque
. In Vietnam
, it is called sung.
It serves as a food plant for the caterpillars of the butterfly
the Two-brand Crow (Euploea sylvester
) of northern Australia.
: uumbara or udumbara) is given prominence as a means for acquiring prosperity and vanquishing foes. For instance, regarding an amulet of the udumbara tree, a hymn (AV
xix,31) extols:
It has been described in the story of Raja Harischandra of the Ikshvaku dynasty, that the crown was a branch of this Udumbura tree, set in a circlet of gold. Additionally, the Throne (simhasana) was constructed out of this wood and the royal personage would ascend it on his knee, chanting to the gods to ascend it with him, which they did so, albeit unseen.
Both the tree and the flower are referred to as the udumbara (Sanskrit
, Pali
; Devanagari
: उडुम्बर) in Buddhism
. Udumbara can also refer to the blue lotus (Nila udumbara) flower. The udumbara flower appears in chapters 2 and 27 of the Lotus Sutra
, an important Mahayana
Buddhist text
. The Japanese
word udonge (優曇華) was used by Dōgen Zenji to refer to the flower of the udumbara tree in chapter 68 of the Shōbōgenzō
("Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma"). Dōgen places the context of the udonge flower in the Flower Sermon
given by Gautama Buddha
on Vulture Peak. Udonge is also used to refer to the eggs of the lacewing
insect. The eggs are laid in a pattern similar to a flower, and its shape is used for divination in Asian fortune telling.
, (Original name is Taksha Sila) travelling through vast areas of Indian forests
used to consume the fruit during their travels. One challenge to vegetarians were the many fig wasp
s that one finds when opening a gular fig. One way to get rid of them was to break the figs into halves or quarters, discard most of the seeds and then place the figs into the midday sun for an hour. Gular fruit are almost never sold commercially because of this problem.
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
in the Moraceae
Moraceae
Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 40 genera and over 1000 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates...
family. Popularly known as the Cluster Fig Tree or Goolar (Gular) Fig, this is native to Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, South-East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. it is unusual in that its figs grow on or close to the tree trunk.In India the tree and its fruit are called gular in the north and atti in the south.The fruits are a favorite staple of the common Indian macaque
Rhesus Macaque
The Rhesus macaque , also called the Rhesus monkey, is one of the best-known species of Old World monkeys. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats...
. In Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, it is called sung.
It serves as a food plant for the caterpillars of the butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
the Two-brand Crow (Euploea sylvester
Euploea sylvester
The Double-branded Crow , also known as the Two-brand Crow in Australia, is a butterfly found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Australia that belongs to the Crows and Tigers, that is, the Danaid group of the Brush-footed butterflies family.Several races of the butterfly are recognized...
) of northern Australia.
In Hinduism
In the Atharva Veda, this fig tree (SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
: uumbara or udumbara) is given prominence as a means for acquiring prosperity and vanquishing foes. For instance, regarding an amulet of the udumbara tree, a hymn (AV
Atharvaveda
The Atharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda"....
xix,31) extols:
- The Lord of amulets art thou, most mighty: in thee wealth's
- ruler hath engendered riches,
- These gains are lodged in thee, and all great treasures. Amulet,
- conquer thou: far from us banish malignity and indigence,
- and hunger.
- Vigour art thou, in me do thou plant vigour: riches art thou, so
- do thou grant me riches.
- Plenty art thou, so prosper me with plenty: House-holder, hear
- a householder's petition.
It has been described in the story of Raja Harischandra of the Ikshvaku dynasty, that the crown was a branch of this Udumbura tree, set in a circlet of gold. Additionally, the Throne (simhasana) was constructed out of this wood and the royal personage would ascend it on his knee, chanting to the gods to ascend it with him, which they did so, albeit unseen.
In Buddhism
Both the tree and the flower are referred to as the udumbara (Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
; Devanagari
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: उडुम्बर) in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. Udumbara can also refer to the blue lotus (Nila udumbara) flower. The udumbara flower appears in chapters 2 and 27 of the Lotus Sutra
Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras, and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-Title:...
, an important Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
Buddhist text
Buddhist texts
Buddhist texts can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another says that scriptures can be categorized...
. The Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
word udonge (優曇華) was used by Dōgen Zenji to refer to the flower of the udumbara tree in chapter 68 of the Shōbōgenzō
Shobogenzo
The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
("Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma"). Dōgen places the context of the udonge flower in the Flower Sermon
Flower Sermon
Within Zen, and thus from an emic perspective, the origins of Zen Buddhism are ascribed to what is rendered in English as the Flower Sermon, in which Śākyamuni Buddha transmitted direct prajñā to the disciple Mahākāśyapa. In the original Sino-Japanese, this story is called nengemishō...
given by Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
on Vulture Peak. Udonge is also used to refer to the eggs of the lacewing
Chrysopidae
Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There are about 85 genera and 1,300–2,000 species in this widespread group...
insect. The eggs are laid in a pattern similar to a flower, and its shape is used for divination in Asian fortune telling.
Uses
In historical times both Hindu and Buddhist ascetics on their way to TaxilaTaxila
Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...
, (Original name is Taksha Sila) travelling through vast areas of Indian forests
Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests
The Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of northern India. It lies on the alluvial plain of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, with an area of , covering most of the state of Uttar Pradesh and adjacent portions of Uttarakhand, Haryana, Madhya...
used to consume the fruit during their travels. One challenge to vegetarians were the many fig wasp
Fig wasp
Fig wasps are wasps of the family Agaonidae which pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, a coevolutional relationship that has been developing for at least 80 million years...
s that one finds when opening a gular fig. One way to get rid of them was to break the figs into halves or quarters, discard most of the seeds and then place the figs into the midday sun for an hour. Gular fruit are almost never sold commercially because of this problem.
International naming
- மலையின் முனிவன் (Malaiyin munivan) in TamilTamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
- அத்தி (atti) in TamilTamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and MalayalamMalayalam languageMalayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...
. - उंबर (Umbar) / औदुंबर (Oudumbar) in MarathiMarathi languageMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
.