The aSOka flowers are waving in the spring breeze!
In kAlidAsA's RtusaMhAram, you will find the following poem:
aa mUlatO vidrumarAgatAmraM
sapallavaM pushpachayaM dadhAnAH
kurvatyaSOkA hRdayaM saSOkaM
nirIkshyamANA navayauvanAnAm
From top to bottom
the trees are resplendant
with the copper red flower bunches
Alas, the joy-giving aSOkA blooms
are filling with sorrow
the hearts of the love-lorn young ones
The aSOka flower is also one of the five flower-arrows of manmatha.
These flowers are coral red. Of course, we all know that sItA spent her
time in the aSOkavana as a prisoner of rAvaNa. It is also called vanjula
in Sanskrit. In one of jayadEva's ashTapadis (haririha mugdha vadhUnikarE)
there is a mention of manjula vanjula!
Here are some patterns with an idealised aSOka flower.
The spring is around the corner, is it not?
Regards! - mOhana
Comments
Lata
Sat, 2009-03-21 09:10
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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is this called Ixora too, or is Ixora a shrub, unlike Asoka?
The color also reminds me of Gulmohar ( a tree I'll never see where I live).
jkmrao
Sat, 2009-03-21 09:36
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latAjI, you're right. Ixora is a shrub and its flowers also have four petals.
But aSoka is a huge tree. In fact, even in India the tall mast tree which is
generally planted in the campuses and has mango-like leaves, but curvy, is
mistaken for the aSoka tree. The tall mast tree is so called because its wood is
used as a tall mast in ships. The gul mohr is called the flame of the forest
and my favourite too. We used to have a lot of those trees both in the Bangalore
IISc where I studied and in Madurai University where I worked. Interestingly,
gulmohr can shed all its leaves before putting forth new flowers. Again kAlidAsa
somewhere mentions that in those days, the most beautiful women used to put the
first sod when the aSoka was planted!
Regards! - mOhana
indira sundar
Sun, 2009-03-22 06:14
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Excellent!
-Srenithy
jkmrao
Sun, 2009-03-22 06:57
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Srenithy, thanks! You've developed beautiful beauty-spotting eyes
Regards! - mOhana