Category Archives: Medicinal Plants

Coconut or Naarikela (Cocos nucifera, Linn.)

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Dr. K.H.Krishnamurthy

There is a story in the Puraanas that explains why this plant received its Sanskrit name, naarikela (naariyal in Hindi).

The tree was the creation of the sage Vishvaamitra, as he ventured to bring forth a counter-creation to prove himself superior. After the tree had developed, the mighty sage produced a human child from its fruit. Lord Brahma (the creator), worried at this unseemly use of spiritual powers, came down in person with Lord Siva (the destroyer) and Vishnu (the upholder), to dissuade him. Lord Vishnu argued,

“O Visvamitra, if your intention of creating a human child from the fruit of your tree succeeds, it will cause havoc in the whole world and a terrible imbalance.There will ensue a supremacy of beast like men, bent on sucking human blood, and there will be no room for the religious. With the intention of doing good, you will actually cause great mischief. ” The sage agreed.

Pleased, Lord Vishnu said: “We shall pay due regard to the tree you have produced. As you planned to create a nara (the human being), we therefore bestow it with the name naarikela. Its fruit will be acknowledged throughout the world. A person who eats it daily will become a great genius like you. He will be spirited and wise. The fruit will be filled with sweet water which will quench the thirsty and cure many ailments.”

This legend emphasises the uncanny resemblance between the coconut and the face of man and the highly useful nature of the fruit as a rich, nourishing food and an invaluable medicine.

The plant is also called a ‘Kalpa Vriksha’, a wish-fulfilling tree as there is literally no part of it that does not find some useful application in food, industrial products, medicine, roofing etc. The whole economy of many islands and states depends on this tree. There is no religious or auspicious function in India where the fruit and its leaves do not find pride of place. An exchange of coconut fruits is compulsory in most ceremonies. Figures made from coconut, the puurna phala’(i.e., the complete fruit), are quite commonly seen in important and sacred places. Worshipping at temples, or welcoming distinguished people as honoured guests, invariably requires a coconut fruit. In Tamil Nadu, it is advised that the owner of a house should never plant a coconut sapling himself; it should be planted by someone else. The first fruit of the tree is greeted with a ceremony of worshipping the tree and distributing curds and rice. In the south, all paandaals (places of gathering), are decorated with a liberal use of its huge leaves. Even the flowers and fruit form inviting doorways. Its tender leaves are woven into fascinating patterns and hung as decorative garlands or toranas. Beautiful patterns are etched on the dried copras and set as inviting articles in a marriage ceremony. To greet the newly-married couple in Maharashatra and north Karnataka there is a festival called Naariyal Poornima, the Moonlight Function of the Coconut, where the coconut tree has the principal focus.

Names The name coconut and Cocos nucifera (nut bearing) are taken from the Filipinos who call it coco. In Sanskrit it is called daakIiKaatrya (from southern parts); drohaniira, dridhaphala (fruits firmly attached and yielding water), Karakambha, kaushikaphala (the fruit of Kaushika, a name of Vishvaamitra), Vishvaamitrapriiya, naarikelam, naarikari, kuurchashekhara, kuurchashiraska (with a brush-like tuft of leaves at the head); mahaa phala (great fruit); mrduphala (sweet fruit); maangalya (auspicious); payo-dhara (bearing milk); phalamunda, shiraphala (fruits borne in a clump at the crest); rasaphala (full of juice), sadapuIpa (always flowering); toyagarbha (with water in its womb), shubhaanga (sacred all over); trinaraaja (king amongst plants), trayakshaphala, trayambakaphala (bearing fruits with three eyes, like Lord Shiva), uccataru (lofty tree), varaphala (sacred fruits), rasayaanataru (a tree yielding elixir).

The plant is called narakel, narikel, nariyal in Bengali; naliyer, naryal in Gujarati; nariyal in Hindi; naral in Marathi; narla madde in Konkani; tenginakayi in Kannada; tenkayi chettu in Telugu; tengai in Tamil; ten in Malayalam. ‘Ten’ means ‘coming from the south’.

The Arabs call it sharjatuna narajila, while Persian refers to it as drhakat narejile. In Urdu, it is nariyel. The dried inner portion of the fruit is called copra in English after its name in Kannada, namely khobbari. Kannada has one more name for this, i.e. gitaku.

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Medicinal Plants

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Question Hour

In this issue, we publish an interview with Brij, a young computer scientist and former student of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry, whose love for knowledge systems led him to the underdeveloped regions of Equador. He was fascinated by the rich treasure of their knowledge of herbal medicinal plants. He felt, however, that the tribes were soon losing their knowledge carefully preserved through generations and that there was a need to do something about it. The result has been a painstaking study involving the tribals themselves and a unique book, bilingual (Spanish and Kichawai, meant to benefit not only the modern man sitting far away from the setting in his easy chair but also the community themselves who do not know the real worth of what they already hold.

Q. Brij, you are not yourself a doctor, yet what inspired you to such a labour, a turn about from computers to medicinal plants?

A. I have always been thinking about the problem of the poor and the underdeve­loped. As a software systems expert, I realised that computers may be okay for a certain type of work, but they cannot solve the problem of the world at large. And then, you see, there is no real about-turn. I am fascinated by knowledge systems and I feel they (the tribals of Equador) have their own knowledge systems which are largely in­accessible to us. I felt that it would be good if this knowledge could be preserved from fur­ther loss, hence I worked upon the project.

Q. Could you enlighten us about the nature of your work?

A. Well, yes. Firstly, we followed the ethno-biological approach. We did not try to make a value judgment on their system but simply collected the data as observed by them. In fact, we involved the community in the recording of data so that they could begin to value their own health care. Secondly, we used extensive pictorials, devising a kind of iconic language. This was done so that the knowledge can cut across language barriers and above all benefit the community itself. After assessment, we found about 121 plants that were used in consistent ways across the land among different communities.

Q. What do you think is their concept of health?

A. It is so very different from ours, you see. They are very scared of hospitals and feel that hospitals are places where people go to die. As for death, they take it in a natural way, the average lifespan being about sixty.

They believe a lot in psychosomatic illnesses. Strangely they use a plant for curing payne (the Kichawai equivalent for depression) whereas many of us feel that depression has purely psychosocial aspects.

Most healers are women (kuranderas) and they use strange methods of diagnosis with many magic rites for cure. But, I am pur­posely cutting out these parts since most people react against it and in the process even useful knowledge is lost. Besides, they have a great faith in their system. And well, you know, faith works.

Q. What do you propose to do next?

A. First of all, I will distribute the book among the tribals and see their response to it. It is very important to know how they are benefited, if at all. One never knows, they may use it for fuel. All the same, one must know why they have used it for fuel.

Secondly, I want to study the plants and their medicinal uses cross-culturally to see the consistency in their use. And then to design a software system to store this extensive data. It would be nice if one could have all this at the push of the button.

Q. How do you think your work is being received?

A. Oh! very well, very well indeed. It has been recommended as a textbook too. But then it is left to the medical community to do further studies and see the detailed effects. I am not an expert on that.

Q. You know Brij, in India we already have extensive documentation of over 1000 plants and on the basis of the method of prepa­ration, the same plant is used for different purposes, from treating a boil to cancer. Would you like to work in India over this?

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