NELUMBIUM SPECIOSUM.

Sunday, 02 July 2006

Ayurvedic cure for Diarrhea, cholera .Sans.----Svetakamala; Pankaja; Shatapatra; Padma; Kamala (white). Kokonad (pink); Induvara (blue). Ben.----Padma. Eng.----Egyptian or Sacred Lotus. Fr.----Nelumbo, Ger.----Pactige nelumbo. Hind.----Kanwal. Arab. & Pers.----Nilufer. Mah. Can. & Kon,----Kamala. Tel,----Tamara; Erra tamara (red). Tam.----Tamarai; (red)----Shivappu Tamarai; Ambal. Mal.----Aravindam. Can----Tavare. Cing.----Nelum, The entire plant including root, stem and flower is called Pad-mini. The torus or receptacle for the seed is called Karnikara. Habitat This large aquatic herb with its elegant sweet-scented flowers is generally met with in tanks and ponds throughout India. Parts Used----Flowers, filaments and anthers, seeds, leaves and roots. Constituents----The rhizome and seeds contain resins, glucose, metarbin, tannin, fat and an alkaloid similar to nupharine identical with that obtained from Nuphar-luteum. Action----The seeds are demulcent and nutritive; the filaments and flowers are cooling, sedative, astringent bitter, refrigerant and expectorant. The root is demul-cent. Preparations.----Syrup of dried flowers, dose 1 to 3 drachms. Compound decoction (1 in 10) of flowers and filaments with liquorice and sugarcandy, dose is « to 1« ounces. Powder of seeds, dose is from 10 to 30 grains. Confection of seeds. Paste of leaves. Uses----This is held in great regard by the Hindus on account of its flowers, called Padma or Kamala, which are sacred to Laksmi the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Medicinally the entire plant, the root, flower, stalks and leaves are all useful. The flowers, filaments and juice of the flower-stalks are useful in diarrhea, cholera and in liver complaints and also in fevers; it is recommended also as cardiac tonic. The compound decoction is useful in bilious fevers. The honey formed in the flowers by the bees feeding upon the padma is called padmamadhu or makaranda. This is very useful in eye diseases. The syrup of flowers is used in coughs, to check haemorrhage from bleeding piles and in menorrhagia and dysentery. The tubers of the whits lotus boiled in gingelly oil are rubbed on the head to cool the head and eyes. The expressed juice is also employed instead of pieces of the tuber. The root is mucilaginous and given in piles. The seeds are used as an a pplication in leprosy and other skin affections. The seeds with those of Euryale Ferox are used as an article of diet to diminish venerial desires. The pistils are used with black pepper externally and internally as an antidote in snake poison-ing. In bleeding piles the filaments of the lotus are given with honey and fresh butter or with sugar----(Bhavaprakash). The large leaves are used as cool bed-sheets in high fever with much burning of the skin. Also a paste of the leaves made with sandle-wood is used locally for the same purpose. The leaf stalks are used as a cooling application to the forehead in cephalalgia. The lotus flowers and fresh leaves ground with sandal-wood or emblic myrobalans also form a cooling application to the forehead in cephalal-gia, to the skin in erysipelas and to other external inflammations.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 July 2006 )

 

< Prev		Next >