Mar: अमरावती amarāvatī
‘(Place with) Figs’ [Udumbravati, Umbravati, Oomrawutty] -City/District Maharashtra
From Mar: udumbara, ‘Cluster or Indian Fig’ [Ficus glomerata/racemosa]; and vāḍī/vāṭī, ‘enclosure’, ‘garden’.
The Udumbara fig grows in bunches on the tree trunk. Its therapeutic uses soothe symptoms at both ends: it is efficacious for both vomiting and diarrhoea.
The ancient name of Amravati is Udumbravati and the settlement here dates back to at least the 11thC.
In Buddhism the hidden flower is symbolic of the rarity of Enlightenment:
To see a fully awakened person, a Buddha, is so rare that it is like seeing an udumbara flower. In the Tu Hieu Monastery in Hue, there is a scroll which says: “The udumbara flower, although fallen from the stem, is still fragrant.” Just as the fragrance of the udumbara flower cannot be destroyed, our capacity for enlightenment is always present. The Buddha taught that everyone is a Buddha, everyone is an udumbara flower [Thich Nhat Hanh (1990), Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living. Parallax Press p.28]
Cluster Fig Vinayaraj
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