History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c11.s7.4

c11.s7.4

¹ *Esa nam tilatthambhaë nipphajjissaï, no na-nipphajjissaï, eë ya satta tila-puppha-jīvā . . . egäë tila-saṅguliyäë satta tilā paccāyäissanti.* Op. cit., loc. cit. In this context the meaning of the word *saṅgulikā*, which I have translated "cluster", is uncertain. Abhayadeva interprets it as *phalikā* seed-pod. Each sesamum flower produces a pod, and in this case seven pods would therefore be expected; yet the text mentions only one *saṅgulikā*, which I therefore take to mean a cluster of pods or flowers. A single sesamum pod contains many more than seven seeds, and the *satta tilā* here seem to be not single seeds, but pods.