In other Indian languages, it is known as harsinghar (Hindi), sephalika (Sanskrit), shiuli/shephali (Bengali), pavalamallikai (Tamil), prajakta (Marathi), parijaata (Kannada), pavizhamalli (Malayalam), and siharu.

[9] Nyctanthes arbor-tristis is a shrub or a small tree growing to 10 m (33 ft) tall, with flaky grey bark.

The fruit is a bilobed, flat brown heart-shaped to round capsule 2 cm (0.79 in) diameter, each lobe containing a single seed.

[16] Krishna is described to have battled with Indra to uproot the parijata from his capital of Amaravati and plant it in his own city of Dvaraka.

[15] In regional tradition, Satyabhama grew aggrieved when Krishna offered his chief consort Rukmini a parijata flower.

[17][18] The tree is the subject of a work named Parijatapaharanamu in Telugu literature, written by Nandi Thimmana, the court-poet of Krishnadevaraya.