Hi Ryan,

A cursory google search reveals a similar phrase in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa at 2.5.3: karāmalakavadviśvam, or something like 'everything is just like an āmalaka fruit in hand.' So, at least the this fruit appears to be a known object of comparison. I can't speak for the translucent qualities of this particular fruit however. Skyu ru ra seems to mean 'something that is perfectly clear in front of the eyes,' whether perfectly clear refers to vegetal translucence or visibility is a matter of some opaqueness it would seem...

Charlie DiSimone
Stanford University

Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:47:23 -0700
From: rdamron@BERKELEY.EDU
Subject: [INDOLOGY] an āmalakī in the palm of the hand
To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk

Dear all,

I recently came across a reference to the āmalaki fruit in the Buddhist Mahāmāyātantra and in its commentary, the Guṇavatī by Ratnākaraśānti. The citations are as follows:

First from the root tantra, in Tibetan (there is no extant Sanskrit manuscript): lag tu skyu ru ra bzhag bzhin.

Which Ratnākaraśānti glosses with: svahaste sthitamekamāmalakam yathetyarthaḥ

I initially took this to mean simply that the referent was as clear to the subject as a fruit placed in one's own hand. However, two Tibetan colleagues both asserted that the āmalakī fruit, as understood in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition at least, is a translucent fruit which reveals its inner structure to the subject (not my personal experience with the contemporary version of Amalaki fruit). Thus for a situation to be "like an āmalakī fruit in one's own hand" means one is able to see the referent inside and out, that is, in totality. My question then is this: is this analogy common in Indic traditions and, more importantly, are there any known references to these properties of the āmalakī in Sanskrit works?

Much thanks,

Ryan

Ryan Damron
Graduate Student 
Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
University of California, Berkeley