केला / कदली — Kelā / Kadalī
HINDI NAME - केला
SANSKRIT NAME - कदली
BOTANICAL NAME - Musa paradisiaca L.
Sanskrit verse in Devanagari
उत्तरमेघः — श्लोक १७
तस्यास्तीरे रचितशिखरः पेशलैरिन्द्रनीलैः
क्रीडाशैलः कनककदली-वेष्टनप्रेक्षणीयः ।
मद्गेहिन्याः प्रिय इति सखे चेतसा कातरेण
प्रेक्ष्योपान्त-स्फुरिततडितं त्वां तमेव स्मरामि ॥ २.१७॥
Transliteration
tasyās tīre racita-śikharaḥ peśalair indranīlaiḥ
krīḍāśailaḥ kanaka-kadalī-veṣṭana-prekṣaṇīyaḥ |
mad-gehinyāḥ priya iti sakhe cetasā kātareṇa
prekṣyopānta-sphurita-taḍitaṃ tvāṃ tam eva smarāmi || 2.17 ||
Plant part in the verse
Expression | Botanical / poetic feature | Poetic role |
कदली | Banana / plantain | Lush garden plant |
कनककदली | Golden banana plants | Prosperity, beauty, glowing enclosure |
वेष्टन | Surrounding / encircling | Garden boundary around pleasure-hill |
सरसकदली | Moist, juicy Kadalī | Freshness and tenderness |
कदली-स्तम्भ | Banana pseudostem | Soft pale comparison for the thigh |
स्तम्भगौर | Pale like the banana stem | Bodily delicacy |
चलत्वम् | Trembling | Emotional and physical fragility |
English translation
On the bank of that pond stands a pleasure-hill, its peaks made of polished sapphire. It is beautiful to look at because it is encircled by golden Kadalī plants. O friend, when I see you with lightning flashing near your side, my anxious heart remembers that very pleasure-hill, dear to my wife.
Literary meaning
Kadalī appears in the Yakṣa’s home garden. It surrounds a jewel-like pleasure-hill near a pond. The golden banana grove, sapphire hill, pond, lightning and memory of the wife create an intimate domestic landscape of Alakā.
Why did Kālidāsa select Kela?
1. For lushness
Kadalī immediately creates a lush, moist, garden-like atmosphere. Around the Yakṣa’s pleasure-hill, it suggests a rich and carefully maintained domestic garden.
2. For golden colour
The expression कनककदली gives a golden glow to the garden. The banana plants visually frame the sapphire pleasure-hill and make the scene jewel-like.
3. For enclosure
The word वेष्टन shows that Kadalī is used as a living screen or enclosure. Its broad leaves can form a soft green wall around a private pleasure-space.
4. For memory of the wife
The pleasure-hill is dear to the Yakṣiṇī. When the Yakṣa imagines the cloud’s lightning near such a hill, he remembers his wife. Kadalī becomes part of emotional memory.
5. For bodily softness
The fresh banana pseudostem is smooth, pale, moist and tender. Kālidāsa uses it as a precise comparison for the beloved’s thigh.
6. For contrast with jewels and lightning
Kadalī is paired with sapphire peaks and the cloud’s lightning. It brings living softness into a setting of gems and light.
Kālidāsa selected Kadalī because it unites prosperity, softness, domestic garden beauty and sensuous comparison. It creates a golden living enclosure around the Yakṣa’s pleasure-hill and becomes a delicate image for the Yakṣiṇī’s body.
