Oak and the Tribe of the Buddha

[Alex Passi]

On 09/10/2005, at 8:36 AM, Plamen Gradinarov wrote:
Dr. Ambedkar writes in his Patana:

"Sidhartha Gautam Buddha belongs to Shakya Gana of Adivasis having  
totem of the tree of Salai and Gautam means a bull which was his totem."

http://www.ambedkar.org/patana/patana8.htm

What is Salai?

Thank you

The Salai is apparently the incense tree, Boswellia Serrata, also  
known as Dhup or Salar. I wonder if Dr. Ambedkar here is confusing it  
with  the 'Saal tree, Shorea Robusta, which appears in Buddhist lore  
as the tree upon which Maya rested when she gave birth to the  
Bodhisattva, as well as the tree(s) under which the Buddha passed  
into Parinirvana. Neither is the same as the 'Saaka or teak tree,  
Tectona Grandis, apart from the fact that both Shorea and Tectona are  
valuable timber trees.

Alex Passi