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Shorea robusta Gaertn.f. in Pandanus database of Indian plant names
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  Shorea robusta Gaertn.f. details in Pandanus database of Indian plant names

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 Latin nameShorea robusta Gaertn.f.
 FamilyDipterocarpaceae
 Identified with (Skt)sāla, aśvakarṇa
 Identified with (Pkt)sāla
 Identified with (Hin)sāl, ṣāl
 Identified with (Ben)śāl, sāl
 Identified with (Tam)ṣālam, āccā, kuṅkiliyam
 Identified with (Mal)sālavṛkṣam, muḷappūmarutu
 Identified with (Eng)Sal tree
 Botanical infoA robust deciduous timber-tree up to 30m high, large leathery leaves, yellowish flowers, grows in North-East and Central India up to 1700m elevation.
 Search occurrencesāla, aśvakarṇa, aśvakarṇa, in the Pandanus database of Sanskrit e-texts
 See plant's imageShorea robusta Gaertn.f. in Google image search
 Encyclopedias &
 Dictionaries

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 114)
aśvakarṇa, m. the ear of a horse, KātyŚr.; (mfn.) 'resembling the ear of a horse', said of a particular fracture of the bones, Suśr.; (as); m. the tree Vatica Robusta (so called from the shape of its leaves), R.; Suśr.; N. of a mountain, Buddh.

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 1210)
m. (often incorrectly written for 1. śāla) the Śāl tree; a wall, fence &c.; for these and other meanings and compounds such as salagrāma &c., see 1. śāla; (ā) f. see next.

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 1067)
mfn. (fr. śṛ for śri) being in a house &c. ŚBr. (am ind. at home ib.); m. (also written sāla), an enclosure, court, fence, rampart, wall Inscr. Kāv.; the Śāl tree, Vatica robusta (a valuable timber tree) MBh. Kāv. &c.; Artocarpus locucha, L.; any tree, L.; a kind of fish, Ophiocephalus wrahl Vās.; N. of a son of Vṛika BhP.; of king Śāli-vāhana, L.; of a river W.; (ā) f. see below; n. (ifc.) = śālā

Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 114f.)
aśvakarṇa, m. the ear of a horse, KātyŚr.; (mfn.) "resembling the ear of a horse", said of a particular fracture of the bones, Suśr. [115,1]; (as); m. the tree Vatica Robusta (so called from the shape of its leaves), R.; Suśr.; N. of a mountain, Buddh.

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 208)
āccā: 1. Sal, l. tr., Shorea robusta

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 954)
kuṅkiliyam: 1. Tripterocarp dammar, Shorea; 2. Bastard sal, l. tr., Shorea robusta; 3. Sal, l. tr., Shorea robusta; 4. Piney varnish tree; 5. Konkani resin, l. tr., Boswellia serrata glabra; 6. Indian bdellium, s. tr., Commiphora mukul; 7. Downy hill balsam tree; 8. Black dammar tree; 9, Australian dammar, l. tr., Agathis robusta

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 1390)
ṣālam: 01 1. Artfulness, pretence; 2. Multitude, company, flock, herd, shoal; 3. Assembly, court; 4. Net; 5. Latticed window; 6. Flower-bud; 7. Slander; 8. Learning; 9. Medical science
02 cālappu, indian jalap
03 1. Surrounding wall, fortress; 2. Sal.; 3. Ceylon ebony
04 width

Dymock, Warden, Hooper: Pharmacographia Indica (vol. I, pp. 195-196)
Shorea robusta, Dipterocarpeae
Fig.- The Saul tree (Eng.)
The Sāl tree, called in Sanskrit Sāla and Asvakarna, is of interest from a mythological point of view, as the mother of Buddha is represented as holding a branch of the tree in her hand when Buddha was born, and it was under the shade of a Sāla tree that Buddha passed the last night of his life on earth. The small branches of the Sāla are used by Indian villagers to detect witches; they write the name of every woman over 12 years of age in the village upon a branch; the branches are then placed in water and left for 4 1/2 hours; if any woman's branch withers, she is the witch.
This tree is very widely distributed throughout India, and is undoubtly the source of the Rosin or Rāl of Hindu and Mahometan writers on Materia Indica. Rāl, in Sanskrit Rāla and Sāla-veshta, is regarded by the Hindus as attenuant, detergent, and astringent, and is sometimes prescribed internally mixed with sugar, honey or treacle; as resin does with us, it enters into the composition of stimulating plasters and ointments; it is also used for fumigating rooms occupied by the sick. The seeds of the Saul tree are eaten in times of scarcity with Mahwa flowers by the wild tribes of India. Mahometan writers give a similar account of its properties and uses. The author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya (vide article Kaikahr) notices the fact that more than one kind of Rāl is met with, but names the Sakoh or Sāl as the source from which the genuine article is obtained. In another part of his work (vide article Sakoh) he describes the tree, and says that when old the bark becomes separated from the trunk by the deposit of Rāl beneath it. Ainslie mentions three kinds of resin or dammar as common in the bazaars of Southern India, but is in doubt as to the sources from whence the different kinds are obatained. He observes that a great portion of the dammar used in India is imported from Java, Bornea, Joanna, and several of the Soloo Islands. The author of the Bengal Dispensatory, after conducting a series of experiments with genuine Sāl resin, pronounced it to be an efficient substitutw for pine resin. In Bombay, at the present time, American resin is to a great extent displacing Indian Rāl. Dr. Sakharam Arjun states (Bomb. Drugs) that he has seen Shorea resin mixed with sugar, given with good effect in dysentery. The oil of the seeds is extracted in Malabar. In the Wynaad Shorea Talara, Roxb. (S. laccifera, Heynne), yields a fragrant resin, known as Sambrani, which is burnt as an incense.


 
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