feminine
Kadalī 1 (feminine) [Sanskrit kadalī] 1. the plantain, Musa sapientium. Owing to the softness and unsubstantiality of its trunk it is used as a frequent symbol of unsubstantiality, transitoriness and worthlessness. As the plantain or banana plant always dies down after producing fruit, is destroyed as it were by its own fruit, it is used as a simile for a bad man destroyed by the fruit of his own deeds: S I 154 = Vin II 188 = S II 241 = A II 73 = Dhp-a III 156; cf. Miln 166; — as an image of unsubstantiality, Cp III 2, 4. The tree is used as ornament on great festivals: Ja I 11; VI 590 (in simile), 592; Vv-a 31. 2. a flag, banner, i.e. plantain leaves having the appearance of banners (-dhaja) Ja V 195; VI 412. In compounds kadali°. {165} -khandha the trunk of the plantain tree, often in similes as symbol of worthlessness, e.g. M I 233 = S III 141 = IV 167; Vism 479; Nidd II §680 A (II) 4n ; Ja VI 442; as symbol of smoothness and beauty of limbs Vv-a 280; -taru the plantain tree Dāṭh V 49; -toraṇa a triumphal arch made of plural stems and leaves Mhbv 169; -patta a plural leaf used as an improvised plate to eat from Ja V 4; Dhp-a I 59; -phala the fruit of the plantain Ja V 37. Kadalī 2 (feminine) a kind of deer, an antelope only in °miga Ja V 406, 416; VI 539; Sv I 87; and °pavara-paccattharaṇa (neuter) the hide of the k. deer, used as a rug or cover D I 7 = A I 181 = Vin I 192 = II 163, 169; cf. D. II 187; (adjective) (of pallaṅka) A I 137 = III 50 = IV 394.
the banana or plantation plant
(fem, fem) plantain tree; banana tree banana or plantation plant Construction: kadali > kadalī