# Tibetan grains: arora, jurora, banqua



## Zsuzsu

Hi there,

Does anybody happen to be able to identify the following grains:

arora
jurora
banqua

These names are transliterations of Tibetan and I would like to find out what they are!

Thanks in advance!


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## Pierre Lucien

_A ru ra_ is the emblic myrobalan (Terminalia chebula), not a grain but a translucent medicinal fruit the size of a date.

_Ju ro ra_ must be _skyu ru ra_ (_skyu_ being pronounced _chu_ in Western Tibetan), another kind of myrobalan -- Emblica officinalis (the fruit of Phyllantus emblica?). Sanskrit _amlaka_ ?

_Banqua_ ??? Could you retranscribe more clearly ? -- as I don't know any _-qu-_ in Tibetan transliteration...

Köszönöm szépen !


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## Zsuzsu

Hi Pierre!

Thanks a million!!!!!!! It's great help to me!

Unfortunately, I cannot give another transcription for _banqua_ because I saw it written in a paper in which the authors admit that they can't identify any of these "grains" (in the authors' words).

The paper is about the funeral customs of Minhe Monguors, who live in Qinghai (close to the border of Gansu). These grains(?) are put into a kind of jar (mentioned as _bengba_ in the paper), which is put into the grave during funerals. It is most likely that they are used for medicinal purposes as well.

Now that you know the circumstances do you have any idea what word it might be that the authors heard as "banqua"?


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## Pierre Lucien

For _banqua_, it may be a Chinese word, _gua_ 瓜 meaning a kind of melon... I'll try to find it out. 

As for the _bengba_, I'm sure it's from Tib. _bum pa_, "vase" (Ssk. _kalāśa_).


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## Zsuzsu

Thanks again, Pierre, I'm looking forward to hearing what you've found!


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