utpala

{{Short description|Sanskrit neuter noun}}

{{Other}}

File:Nymphaea nouchali kz02.jpg]]

File:Tara Bianca.jpg holding an utpala flower.]]

Utpala in Sanskrit is a neuter noun with two meanings, both given by Amarakosha (a lexicon of circa. 400 AD). The first meaning is Nymphaea nouchali, the "blue lotus", also known as kuvalaya in Sanskrit.{{IAST|Amarakoṣa}} 1.10.37For electronic edition of Amarakoṣa definition see: [http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sohum/amar/amar1.itx]. The second meaning of utpala is a variety of medicinal plant known as '{{IAST|kooṭh}}' in Hindi and '{{IAST|kusṭham}}, vyādhi, paribhavyam or pāribhavyam, vāpyam, pākalam' according to {{IAST|Amarkośa}}.{{IAST|Amarakoṣa}} 2.4.126For electronic edition of Amarakoṣa definition see: [http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sohum/amar/amar2.itx].{{cite book |last1=Khare |first1=C. P. |title=Indian Herbal Remedies: Rational Western Therapy, Ayurvedic and Other Traditional Usage, Botany |date=27 June 2011 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-642-18659-2 |page=456 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njLtCAAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Caraka Saṃhitā |date=1996 |publisher=Sri Satguru Publications |isbn=978-81-7030-491-3 |page=766 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGxFAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}

In Buddhist art the utpala flower is an attribute of the goddess Tara, who very often holds one in her hand,Donaldson, Thomas Eugene, Iconography of the Buddhist Sculpture of Odisha, p. 356, 2001, Abhinav Publications, {{ISBN|81-7017-375-2}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DbxE8zOuRbUC&pg=PA356 google books] as other Buddhist and Hindu figures may also do. Later, the utpala becomes specific to the Green Tara form, while the White Tara holds a white lotus flower (probably Nymphaea lotus).Getty, Alice, The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History and Iconography, p. 120, 1988 (reprint), Dover Pictorial Archive Series, Courier Corporation, {{ISBN|0486255751}}, 9780486255750, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KxczE2AZ7T8C&pg=PA120 google books] In Tibet, where none of the tender aquatic plants that may be known as lotus can grow, utpala became a general term for all of them.Beer, Robert, The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols, p. 170, Serindia Publications, Inc., {{ISBN|1932476032}}, 9781932476033, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-3804Ud9-4IC&pg=PA170 google books]

Monier-Williams gives the following meanings of utpala: (1) the blossom of the blue lotus Nymphaea nouchali (-Mahābhārata, Rāmāyana, Suśruta, Raghuvamsa, Meghdoota, etc.),(2) a seed of Nymphaea nouchali (-Suśruta), (3) the plant Costus speciosus (-Bhagavata Purāna), (4) any water-lily, any flower, (-lexicons) (5) a particular hell (-Buddhist literature), (6) name of a Nāga, (7) names of several persons, including an astronomer, (8) its feminine form utpalā meant a river (-Harivamśa), (9) its feminine form utpalā also meant a kind of cake made of unwinnowed corn (-lexicons);

An unrelated homonym, compounded from ud "apart" + pala "flesh" means 'fleshless, emaciated' (-lexicons) and is the name of a particular hell (-lexicons).