Uptala
Utpala in Sanskrit is a neuter noun with two meanings, both given by Amarakoṣa (a lexicon of circa. 400 AD). The first meaning is Nymphaea caerulea, the "blue lotus", also known as kuvalaya in Sanskrit.[1][2] The second meaning of utpala is a variety of medicinal plant known as 'kooṭh' in Hindi and 'kusṭham, vyādhi, paribhavyam or pāribhavyam, vāpyam, pākalam' according to Amarkośa.[3][4]
In Buddhist art the utpala flower is an attribute of the goddess Tara, who very often holds one in her hand,[5] 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).[6] 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.[7]
Monier-Williams gives the following meanings of utpala:
(1) the blossom of the blue lotus Nymphaea caerulea (-Mahābhārata, Rāmāyana, Suśruta, Raghuvamsa, Meghdoota, etc.),
(2) a seed of Nymphaea caerulea (-Suśruta),
(3) the plant Costus speciosus (-Bhagavata Purāna),
(4) any water-lily, any flower, (-lexicons)
(5) a particular hell (-Buddhist literature),
(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).
