Nature Medicine - Parijaata or Night Flowering Jasmine

Parijaata-Night-Flowering or Coral Jasmine

பவழ மல்லி (Tamil), ಪಾರಿಜಾತ (Kannada)

I got interested in nature medicine after my mother who suffers from arthritis started following Dr. Sakthi Subramanian Ayya's Naatu Maruthuvam on SUN TV. It was she who introduced me to the programme that usually starts at 8.30am in the morning. I leave for work very much before that time and therefore invariably miss it. My mother is in front of the TV during the programme and meticulously takes notes in her little book and reads it back to anyone who cares. Since I was not able to watch the programme during telecast time I did a search of the programmes on the web and found them on YouTube.  

In this blog I wish to share with you a rough translation of the programme on the Night Flowering Jasmine or Parijaata as it is know in most Indian languages for the benefit of non-Tamil speaking people. All credits go to Dr. Sakthi Subramamanian  Ayya and as per his request on the programme wish to spread his word and knowledge on nature medicine.

The Parijaata or Night-Flowering Jasmine or the Coral Jasmine tree is also known by it's scientific name Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctanthes_arbor-tristis). Legend has it that Sri Krishna Vasudeva fought a battle with Indra the King of Gods in heaven and brought the Paarijaata flower to earth.  Planted and nurtured at the entrance gate of many independent houses in South India, it flowers by nightfall and spreads it's intoxicating scent into the cool air. The flowers fall to the ground at the first rays of the Sun. 

The flowers, leaves and berries are all of medicinal value and used in nature medicine. The flowers have a coral color stem which when crushed between the fingers  leave an yellow tinge on the skin. Thus the coral colored stem is used in the dyeing industry as a coloring agent.

The leaves of the Coral Jasmine can be used a a deworming medicine.

Ingredients:

• Finely ground paste of the leaves
• Honey
• Salt

Squeeze the paste of the leaves in a thin cloth until you have 10ml of liquid extract. Add a pinch of salt to it followed by a tea spoon of honey and mix. Take the mixture once a week for four weeks to deworm.

Next we may make a tea out of the leaves of the Coral Jasmine that can be used to treat arthritis and frequent bouts of fever.

Ingredients:

• 250ml of water
• 4-5 leaves of Coral Jasmine
• A piece of ginger
• Honey

Add the ingredients in a vessel and boil the contents until the leaves are cooked and the water reduces to one half. Remember to crush the piece of ginger before adding it so that its essence gets into the tea.  Filter the tea into a teacup with a tea filter and add a tea spoon of honey and mix.  The tea has a bitter sweet taste and is used to treat dengue fever and arthritis to relieve joint pains. It is used as an antibiotic, anti-fungal, anti bacterial/microbial. It is used to treat reduction of blood platelets in the blood. Reduction of blood platelets in the blood ca be life threatening as it can happen in dengue fever. It is used as an anti-inflammatory and an analgesic. 

The seeds of the Coral Jasmine plant can be used to treat dandruff, lice infestation in the hair and early baldness.

Ingredients:

• Coral Jasmine berries ground into a paste
• Coconut oil

Add the paste and coconut oil into a pan and heat on a low flame. The paste essence suffuses  into the oil as the temperature of the contents increases. Let the ingredients start to boil and the paste get cooked for a minute of two before putting of the flame. When the contents have cooled down sufficiently filter the oil and store it into a bottle. Apply the oil daily into the hair and massage gently to get rid of lice and dandruff problems. The oil can be also applied to the skin to treat fungal problems.

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