SANSKRIT CONNECTION – TALLAHASSE & WAKULLA SPRINGS, FLORIDA Tallahassee, Florida. Home to one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world – the Wakulla Springs.

‘Wakulla’ is a Timicuan (Native American) word. Wikipedia says, “‘Wakula’ may contain the word ‘kala’ which signified a ‘spring of water’ in some Native American Indian dialects”. This is where the Sanskrit connecton is evident.

Lets look at the word through the Sanskrit lense. In Sanskrit ‘va’ (व) means water. ‘Kulya’ (कूल्या) means ‘stream’, ‘canal’ or ‘a water body’. ‘Kulini’ (कूलिनी) means a ‘river’. ‘Vakulya’ would mean ‘water-body’ or ‘water canal’ or plain ‘river’ in Sanskrit.

Tallahassee has a similar meaning. In Sanskrit, ‘tala’ (ताल) again means a ‘water body’ and ‘talak’ (तलक) means ‘spring’ or ‘pond’. ‘Ulhas’ (उल्लस्) means ‘joyful’, ’cause movement’, ‘jump’, ‘shine forth’ or ‘come forth’. Another cognate ‘hasa’ (हास) means ‘joyful’, ‘frolic’, ‘mirth’ or ‘dazzling whiteness’. Tallahasee, therefore means ‘a place where the ‘water springs emerge’ or ‘white water springs emerge”.

Even though Tallahassee is generally translated as ‘Old Town’, it is interesting that the water-springs area of Calistoga in California, which was earlier known as ‘Tu-la-huasi’ is translated from Native American as ‘Place of Healthy Springs’.

If we take the translation cue from ‘Tu-la-huasi’, it just maybe that the Sanskrit translation of ‘Tallahasee’, as the place from where ‘water springs emerge’, is closer to the truth.
Posted by Neeta Raina