मौलसिरी / बकुल — Maulasirī / Bakula
HINDI NAME - मौलसिरी
SANSKRIT NAME - बकुल
BOTANICAL NAME - Mimusops elengi L.
Sanskrit verse in Devanagari
उत्तरमेघः — श्लोक १८
रक्ताशोकश्चल-किसलयः केसरश्चात्र कान्तः
प्रत्यासन्नौ कुरबक-वृतेर्माधवीमण्डपस्य ।
एकः सख्यास्तव सह मया वामपादाभिलाषी
काङ्क्षत्यन्यो वदनमदिरां दोहदच्छद्मनास्याः ॥ २.१८॥
Transliteration
raktāśokaś cala-kisalayaḥ kesaraś cātra kāntaḥ
pratyāsannau kurabaka-vṛter mādhavī-maṇḍapasya |
ekaḥ sakhyās tava saha mayā vāma-pādābhilāṣī
kāṅkṣaty anyo vadana-madirāṃ dohada-cchadmanāsyāḥ || 2.18 ||
Plant part in the verse
Expression | Botanical / poetic feature | Poetic role |
केसरः / बकुलः | Bakula / Maulasirī tree | Fragrant love-garden tree |
कान्तः | Charming, beautiful | Attractive tree near the bower |
वदनमदिरा | Wine from the beloved’s mouth | Bakula-dohada |
दोहदच्छद्मना | Under the pretext of flowering desire | Erotic tree-personification |
माधवीमण्डपस्य | Mādhavī bower nearby | Love-garden architecture |
कुरबकवृतेः | Enclosed by Kuravaka shrubs | Garden enclosure |
रक्ताशोक…केसरः | Aśoka and Bakula as a pair | Foot-touch and mouth-wine dohada |
English translation
Near the Mādhavī bower, enclosed by Kuravaka shrubs, stand the red Aśoka with trembling young leaves and the charming Kesara / Bakula tree. One of them longs for the touch of your friend’s left foot, as it once did when I was with her; the other, under the pretext of dohada, desires the wine of her mouth.
Literary meaning
This is a love-garden verse from Alakā. Mādhavī forms the bower, Kuravaka forms the hedge, Raktāśoka and Bakula stand nearby, and both trees are personified through dohada, the classical idea that certain trees flower through contact with beautiful women. Raktāśoka becomes the tree of foot-touch, spring desire, flowering, and romantic memory.
Why did Kālidāsa select Lal Asoka?
1. For dohada symbolism
Bakula is the classical tree connected with mouth-wine dohada. Kālidāsa selects it because वदनमदिरा immediately awakens the poetic tradition of a beautiful woman causing the tree to bloom.
2. For fragrance
The Bakula flower is small but strongly scented. It suits a private garden bower better than a large showy avenue tree.
3. For pairing with Aśoka
Aśoka desires the beloved’s foot; Bakula desires the beloved’s mouth-wine. This creates a delicate contrast of body imagery: foot-touch and mouth-fragrance.
4. For śṛṅgāra rasa
The verse contains Mādhavī, Kuravaka, Raktāśoka, Bakula, dohada, foot, mouth and wine. Bakula deepens the erotic and fragrant atmosphere of the Yakṣa’s garden.
5. For domestic intimacy
Bakula is not used as a distant forest tree here. It stands beside the Yakṣa’s own home garden, close to the Mādhavī bower. It is therefore a tree of memory and personal love.
6. For hidden fragrance
Bakula flowers are not large and dramatic. They are subtle, fragrant and refined—perfect for Alakā’s elegant, intimate garden world.
Kālidāsa selected Bakula because it is the ideal fragrant tree of mouth-wine dohada. It turns the Yakṣa’s garden into a living śṛṅgāra space where trees remember past union and long for the beloved’s presence.
