Medicines Growing at Home - Part I

A village has remedies for most conditions at hand's reach. In plants at home, around the fields. Plants that grow wild thus have more power, than cultivated plants as per the ayurveda texts.

Thippa theega – Tinospora cordifloria (L), Seenthil kodi (Tml), Guduchi (S)

This creeper with heart shaped leaves, and a thin papery layer peeling off the matured stems,  grows wild everywhere. Our home has this creeping over all the trees. Just tossing a peice over the tree leads to its letting ariel roots which reach the ground and take root !

For fevers a decoction of this is the first choice. The local people were not using it thus, though they started to as it was an important ayurvedic remedy we knew of. Now it is part of local folklore, and Eashwaramma says where nothing else works for the fever, this works. 

When there was a chikunguniya epidemic in our village, our ayurvedic doctor asked us to keep a big pot of this decocotion and give to all in the village as a preventive. It would stave the fever, or at least make sure the attack was mild if it did come on.



Chirubenda – Sida cordifloria (L), Bariar (H), Kurunthotti/ Sitramutti (Tml), Bala (S)
This again grows wild, and is an important ayurvedic drug. A decoction of this and Salava gadda  is very useful for giddiness (sometimes the symptom on BP).

This is there all around our home. The village has incorporated this also.


 

Pithiki poo/ Paalpindaaku -  Aerva lanata (L), Sirupeelai (Tml),Pasana bheda (S)

This grows commonly through winter. This is a flower that is placed on the gavaramma, the bob of cowdung that is placed over the muggu (kolam/ rangoli)  through the month of January.

This is an excellent medicine for kidney stones. When I gave this to Akkalavva, she reported the stone coming out after 2-3 days. The Sanskrit name itself means Stone Breaker (Pashana Bheda).

Addasaramu – Aadathoda vasica (L), Adusa (H),Aadathoda (Tml), Vaasa (S)  

This plant that we planted at the entry to our home has served many children. Varalu uses it as first line for her nephew and other children when they have wheezing. 

It is also very effective in bleeding conditions, and a few drops of the leaf juice is instilled in cases of nose bleeding, and the decoction is also given internally.