Behind the Name

Stabaka is a Sanskrit word. In Sanskrit literature, it is used to signify a cluster of flowers.

In the ‘History of Ayurveda’ (the ancient Indian traditional system of medicine), the author and well known Ayurveda practitioner, N V Krishnakutty Varier, says that a bunch of flowers arranged as cymose is called Stabaka. Cymose is a type of inflorescence – a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches.

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4 Chapter 1 Verse 18 contains the word Stabaka.

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The translation of this verse by the The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. reads –

“In that mountain valley flows a river named Nirvindhyā. On the bank of the river are many aśoka trees and other plants full of palāśa flowers, and there is always the sweet sound of water flowing from a waterfall. The husband and wife reached that beautiful place.”