I think for all Sanskritists , the etymology of the word tailam from tila = is not unknown.

So sesame oil seems to be so fundamental as an oil that the word tailam came to refer to all oils.

In Ayurveda, तैलेsनुक्ते तिलोद्भवम्‌ is the tradition.

This expression is from Saarangadhara Samhitaa Prathama kaanda first section first chapter.

Both Charaka and Vagbhata mention tailam and commentators explain that

तत्र तैलेषु मध्ये श्रेष्ठं तिलोद्भवम्‌ ( सर्वांग सुंदरी टीका )

चरक संहिता सूत्रस्थान 13 अध्याय explains स्नेहकर्म and mentions sesame oil.

On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 3:50 PM Robert Zydenbos <zydenbos@lrz.uni-muenchen.de> wrote:

Dear list friends,

A non-Indological colleague asked me whether there are any references in
ancient Indian literature to the medicinal use of sesame oil.

Related: is there any Indian word in any language for 'sesame' that
resembles 'shumshum', 'simsim' or 'shamashammu'?

Any information concerning these two questions would be most welcome.

RZ

--
Prof. Dr. Robert J. Zydenbos / ಪ್ರೊ. ಡಾ. ರೊಬೆರ್ತ್ ಜೆಯ್ದೆನ್ಬೊಸ್
Institute of Indology and Tibetology
Department of Asian Studies
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (University of Munich – LMU)
Germany

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Nagaraj Paturi

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BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

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FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Liberal Education,

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