Harad, the King of Medicinal Trees

-


   
Harad, the King of Medicinal Trees
Of all medicinal trees, perhaps the most useful one is Terminala Chebula known locally as Harad or Haritaki in the Himalayas. It truly is a gift from the gods and mother earth for mankind and this blogger is sorry he did not learn of it much earlier.

It is a deciduous tree growing to 30-metre tall, with a trunk up to 1 meter in diameter.  The flowers are dull white with spikes. The fruit is hard and each fruit has a single seed.  The seed of the fruit has an elliptical shape, enveloped by a fleshy and firm pulp. It is regarded as a universal panacea in  Ayurvedic Medicine and Traditional Tibetan medicine. It is reputed to improve eyesight in the aging and is believed to inhibit the growth of malignant tumors, is rejuvenating and helps to control weight. It also helps cure many common disorders of stomach as well as the entire digestive tract. It helps the mind, memory and nervous system. In fact, so broad and numerous are its benefits that it may be regarded as an ideal general tonic for all humans over the age of fifty. It is consumed by dissolving a tea spoon of its powder in warm water for daily consumption. This is one magical remedy that any herbal enthusiast cannot afford to miss. Perhaps it is not recommended for younger and very lean persons including pregnant women by some but especially recommended for those who suffer from constipation or are overweight.. The fruit definitely needs more scientific studies and research. The peeling old bark of this tree has medicinal value and it is likely that the leaves are medicinal too although there does not appear to be much research or information on that. because in the experience of this author when a tree is good for food and medicine, most of it is useful except the roots in some cases such as the drumstick tree, that appears to be a punishment for humans who uproot trees rather than grow and care for them.

The reason why herbal medicines are not popular with many modern humans is because these act slowly and the effects of many may takes not just days but weeks to build up in the same way as it does with food. It is not a quick fix like chemical medicines that act fast but also produce most adverse side affects. In the view of this author their use must be reserved for emergencies and conditions that cannot afford to wait. In other cases when a human is seeking general health improvement and an escape from troublesome chronic conditions the world of herbal medicines is the right one to explore. The only limitation is that they have not had the benefit of modern research so that one does not know the best precise dosage as with modern medicines and a modern human may have to play it by the ears here. Nevertheless, one can proceed with less hesitation provided it has been a herb that has the benefit of long human usage, not just of hundreds of years but thousands. This fruit is also a component of a widely used tonic powder called Triphala in India that is a mix of two other fruits, one of them the vitamin C rich Amla.

The beneficial properties of this fruit arise from a number of its organic components held in a delicate balance to compliment each others property. Researchers have isolated a number of glycosides, phenol compounds and organic acids from Haritaki.


Image Courtesy: Satish Nikam from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwwssncomphotos/5828451752/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Birds to Telepathy

-
Image
  Sparrow by  Laitche T he house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house. I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden. Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living room cavity and began
Read more

The Palash Tree - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers and Back Pain

-
Image
The Palash Tree Flower B efore modern medicines became prevalent, humans treated many ailments with flowers, leaves, roots and barks of plants and trees. Ayurveda,  an ancient Indian medicinal science, makes use of many herbs and plant materials without substantial extraction of active ingredients as modern medicine does. The idea is that additional compounds in a medicinal or edible plant is an organic whole and a part of life that supports other life.  The complimentary compounds appear to play a useful balancing role whereas individually extracted and isolated compounds can be harmful. A modern example in wide use as food is sugar, a pure chemical isolated from the juice of sugar cane. Indeed there is no food or herb that does not contain a compound or two that could be from mildly to extremely dangerous if isolated and consumed but is beneficial as a group with other compounds. That is the reason why alcohol distilled from a natural fermented fruit juice and then dilu
Read more

Spirituality and Evil

-
Image
Albert Einstein   " A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.”   Albert Einstein I t is so much nicer to talk of beautiful things that exist on our lovely planet that it is really a pity that I had to write this post that touches on something that to me is evil. Nevertheless I have written it because if an evil is ignored it is difficult to eradicate it. The evil I am referring to is about the denial of freedom of belief and imposition of beliefs on people and that is something even the followers of the greatest of religions on earth have not been free of though they have done so much g
Read more