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तिलांजलि tilāñjali is a ritual in Hindu funeral rites when sesame seeds and water are offered to the dead as a libation. tilāñjali is made up of two words tila तिल (sesame) + añjali अंजलि (cup of hands). In the idiomatic usage, tilāñjali conveys the sense of renouncing, relinquishing or giving up something or someone. Although it sounds like a Sanskrit word, it is not available in Sanskrit literature. It is a neologism in Indian languages dating back to at least the 16th century when Goswami Tulsidas used it in his Shri Ramcharitmanas. In किष्किंधा कांड kiṣkiṁdhā kāṇḍa, Sampātī, the vulture and the brother of Jatāyu speaks to the Vanaras:

मोहि लै जाहु सिंधुतट देउँ तिलांजलि ताहि। 

बचन सहाइ करवि मैं पैहहु खोजहु जाहि।

mohi lai jāhu sindhutaṭ deũ tilāñjali tāhi. 

bacan sahāi karavi maĩ paihahu khojahu jāhi.

[Take me to the sea-shore, so that I may make an offering of water with sesame seeds (to my departed brother). I can help you only with my instructions, by following which you will succeed in recovering Her whom you seek.]

This word was perhaps coined on the pattern of another Sanskrit word tilāmbu तिलाम्बु (sesame and water) or Tilodakam तिलोदकम्‌ (sesame and water) which is offered to the departed soul as an oblation. Sesame seeds have long been associated with the rites of the dead. Sesame seeds with cooked rice and honey, are used in making funerary balls (pinda पिंड), which are offered to dead ancestors. They are also used in making balls in the form of cows (tiladhenu तिलधेनु), which are sometimes given to the relatives and friends who attend funerals.

Tila has been in use in religious ceremonies from antiquity. In the Mahabharata, Bhishma answering to the question of Yudhishthira as to which food offered to the Pitris (ancestors), stay inexhaustible, spoke: “Pitris remain gratified for the period of a month if tila seeds and rice, and barley and Masha (Urad Dal), water, roots and fruits are given at shrāddha श्राद्ध. According to Manu, shrāddha performed with copious amounts of tila seeds become inexhaustible. Tila seeds are regarded as the best among all foods.

But the question could be – why do we have such an association of tila with the dead? The answer could lie in the ancient belief of Indians in sesame seeds as a source of fecundity, fertility and creation of life. Thus by offering tila to the dead, we are helping them acquire a Bhogadeha भोगदह ‘the body of feeling’ (the intermediate body which a dead person acquires through the shrāddha after cremation, and with which, according to his/her works, he/she either enjoys happiness or suffers misery in the next world.

Interestingly tila has given us the word tel तेल tel in Indian languages, and scholars believe that tila is ultimately of Munda origin in Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages, marking it an ancient seed from India.

Since til तिल has such an intricate connection with Indian society, there are several idioms related to it:

📌तिल का ताड़ करना / बनाना til kā tār̤ karnā / banānā = to make a mountain out of a molehill, to exaggerate

📌तिल की ओट पहाड़ til kī oṭ pahār̤ = a mountain hiding behind a sesame seed: a large question underlying one apparently trivial.

📌तिल रखने / धरने की जगह न होना til rakhne / dharne kī jagah na honā = to have no room, or space, (left) at all

📌इन तिलों में तेल नहीं है in tilō̃ mē̃ tēl nahī̃ hai = there is no oil in these seeds: no benefit, or hope

📌तिल-तिल का हिसाब til-til kā hisāb = a meticulous account

📌तिल चाटना til cāṭnā = a Muslim marriage ritual in which groom eats a few black sesame seeds from the palm of his bride, to remain loyal forever to her.

📌तिलों से तेल निकालना tiloṃ se tel nikālnā = to achieve a purpose with difficulty.

📌तिल तिल कर मरना til til kar marnā =  a long painful and slow death.

📌काले तिल खाना kāle til khānā = to become free from a long debt (as if of last life)

📌तिल-तिल कर जलना  til-til kar jalnā =  to burn slowly

📌तिल – तंडुल न्याय til – ṭaṇḍul nyāy = The maxim of rice and sesame seeds, i.e. even when mixed together, they are visible separately

References:

Apte, Vaman Shivaram. Revised and enlarged edition of Prin. V. S. Apte’s The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary. Poona: Prasad Prakashan, 1957-1959

Molesworth, J. T., & Nārāyaṇ Govind Kālelakar. (1991). Molesworth’s Marathi-English dictionary = Molsvarthakṛt marāṭhī-iṃgrejī śabdakoś. (4th repr. with some corr. which were not effected earlier / pref. to repr. N.G. Kalelkar.). Shubhada-Saraswat Prakashan.

Haradev Bāharī. (1990). Śikṣārthī Hindī śabdakoś (1. saṃskaraṇ). Rajpal and Sons.

Folklard R. (1884). Plant lore legends and lyrics : embracing the myths traditions. Bonson.

Crooke W. (1896). The popular religion and folk-lore of northern India. Constable.

Gupta, S. M. (1971). Plant myths and traditions in India. Brill.

Simoons, F. J. (1998). Plants of life, plants of death. University of Wisconsin Press.

Varmā, Ś. B. (2016). Prabhāt br̥hat Hindī śabdakoś (D. Varmā, Ed.). Prabhāt Prakāśan.

Tulsidas, Shrirāmacaritamānas, Hindi Translation by Hanuman Prasad Poddar (275th reprint), Gita Press, Gorakhpur: 2016