Utpala

Utpala in Sanskrit is a neuter noun with two meanings, both given by Amarakoṣa (a lexicon of circa.

[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.

[8] 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.

[9] 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).

White Tara holding an utpala flower.