Sala (pohon)
Tumbuhan sala ("Shorea robusta"), adalah sejenis tumbuhan pohon anggota suku keruing-keruingan (Dipterocarpaceae). Tumbuhan yang berasal dari anakbenua India ini sering kali dikacaukan dengan pohon kanon, "Couroupita guianensis", yang juga kerap disebut "sala" juga.
This tree is native to the Indian subcontinent, ranging south of the Himalaya, from Myanmar in the east to Nepal, India and Bangladesh. In India, it extends from Assam, Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand west to the Shivalik Hills in Haryana, east of the Yamuna. The range also extends through the Eastern Ghats and to the eastern Vindhya and Satpura ranges of central India. It is often the dominant tree in the forests where it occurs. In Nepal, it is found mostly in the terai region from east to west, especially, in the Churia range (the Shivalik Hill Churia Range) in the subtropical climate zone. There are many protected areas, such as Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park and Shukla Phat Wildlife Reserve, where there are dense forests of huge sal trees. It is also found in the lower belt of the hilly region and inner terai.
Sal tree is also known as Sakhua in northern India including MP, Orrisa and Jharkhand. Sal is moderate to slow growing, and can attain heights of 30 to 35 m and a trunk diameter of up to 2-2.5 m. The leaves are 10-25 cm long and 5-15 cm broad. In wetter areas, it is evergreen; in drier areas, it is dry-season deciduous, shedding most of the leaves in between February to April, leafing out again in April and May.
In Hindu tradition, the sal tree is said to be favoured by Vishnu. Its name "shala", "shaal" or "sal", comes from Sanskrit (, la, literally "house"), a name that suggests it for housing timber; other names in the Sanskrit language are "ashvakarna", "chiraparna" and "sarja", among many others.
There is a standard decorative element of Hindu Indian sculpture which originated in a "yakshi" grasping the branch of a flowering tree while setting her foot against its roots. This decorative sculptural element was integrated into Indian temple architecture as "salabhanjika" or "sal tree maiden", although it is not clear either whether it is a sal tree or an asoka tree.
In Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, one can find typical Nepali pagoda temple architectures with very rich wooden carvings, and most of the temples, such as Nyatapol Temple (Nyatapola), are made of bricks and sal tree wood.
Buddhist tradition holds that Queen My of Sakya, while en route to her grandfather's kingdom, gave birth to Gautama Buddha while grasping the branch of a sal tree or an asoka tree in a garden in Lumbini in south Nepal.
The sal tree is also said to have been the tree under which Koaa and Vessabh, respectively the fifth and twenty fourth buddhas preceding Gautama Buddha, attained enlightenment
In Buddhism, the brief flowering of the sal tree is used as a symbol of impermanence and the rapid passing of glory, particularly as an analog of "sic transit gloria mundi". In Japanese Buddhism, this is best known through the opening line of "The Tale of the Heike"- a tale of the rise and fall of a once-powerful clan- whose latter half reads, quoting the four-character idiom from a passage in the Humane King Sutra,.
Sal is one of the most important sources of hardwood timber in India, with hard, coarse-grained wood that is light in colour when freshly cut, but becomes dark brown with exposure. The wood is resinous and durable, and is sought-after for construction, although not well suited to planing and polishing. The wood is especially suitable for constructing frames for doors and windows. The dry leaves of sal are a major source for the production of leaf plates called as patravali and leaf bowls in northern and eastern India. The leaves are also used fresh to serve ready made "paan" (betelnut preparations) and small snacks such as boiled black "grams", "gol gappa", etc. The used leaves/plates are readily eaten by goats and cattle that roam the streets freely. The tree has therefore protected northern India
from a flood of styrofoam and plastic plates that would have caused tremendous pollution. In South India, fresh plantain and banana leaves are used instead. In Nepal, its leaves are used to make local plates and vessels called "tapari", "doona" and "bogata" in which rice and curry is served. However, the use of such "natural" tools have sharply declined during last decade. Sal tree resin, "la" in Sanskrit, is used as an astringent in Ayurvedic medicine. It is also burned as incense in Hindu ceremonies, and sal seeds and fruit are a source of lamp oil and vegetable fat. shorea robusta seed oilis extracted from the seeds and used as cooking oil after refining.