Anyone heard of a flower called "aniccam?"

[Whitney Cox]

Dear Rajam,

In line with your observation that the flower is supposedly "super
sensitive", it seems possible to me that the derivation of the name
might be from a-nitya ("impermanent," "perishable"), rather than
an+icchā (I see that the MTL, p. 191 thinks the same thing).  However,
I don't know of any flower called anitya in Sanskrit.

Best regards,

Whitney

On 21 March 2010 06:00, rajam <rajam at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Has anyone on this list come across a plant/flower type named "aniccha" in
> any non-Tamil literature?
> Has anyone seen it (in person or in a picture)?
>
> "Aniccam" is listed just as a flower in early Tamil poetry. Later on, the
> focus is on the flower's super sensitivity--about how it would wilt at the
> contact of human breath, how it would harm a woman [with a slender waist] if
> she wears the flower without removing its stem, ... and so on.
>
> There is a thought that the term "anicca" is derived thus: a + iccha (a +
> icchaa - Without Desire/Wish).
>
> What is your thought? Are there similar flowers extolled in non-Tamil poetry
> for such super sensitivity?
>
> Thanks and regards,
> V.S. Rajam
> < (www.letsgrammar.org)>
>



-- 


Dr. Whitney Cox
Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia,
School of Oriental and African Studies
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG