184i PIPERACEM 



History, Uses, &C. — According to tlie Hitopadcsa, tlie 

 Betle-leaf (tambula) has thirteen properties ^Tamhulasya trayo- 

 daslia gunali svarge'pi te duiiabhah). It is sour, bitter, heating, 

 sweet, salt, astringent; it expels flatulence (vataghna), phlegm 

 (kaphanasana), worms (krimihara) ; it removes bad odours; 

 beautifies the mouth, cleans it, and excites voluptuous sensations. 

 According to Hindu tradition, the plant \Naga-valli) was 

 brought from heaven by Arjuna, who stole a branch of it, which 

 he phmted on his return to earth. The leaves with Botle-nut and 

 spices form the rira, or pan-supurij so much used by the natives oi 

 India as a token of civility or affection. It is also given in confirm- 

 ation of a pledge, promise, or betrothal, and, among the Rajpoots, 

 is sometimes exchanged as a challenge ; thus the expression hra 

 uthana signifies "to take up the gauntlet,'^ or take upon one 

 self any enterprise ; &/>a dahia, *'to propose a p 

 the performance of a task : the phrase originated in a custom 



emitmi 



'' for 



assem 



in token of an invitation to undertake some difficult affair ; lor 

 instance, in the first story of the ''Vetalapanchavinshati," the 

 king, when he sends the courtesan to seduce the penitent ^vho 

 was suspended from a tree, nourishing himself with a smoke, 

 gives her a hira. Bira dena signifies ''to dismiss'' either m a 

 courteous sense or otherwise. A hlra is sometimes the cover 

 of a bribe, and a bira of seven leaves {mt pan ka bira) is ^^'^^ 

 by the father of the bride to the bridegroom as a sign of 

 betrothal. At marriages the bride or bridegroom places a riri or 

 cigarette-shaped vira between the teeth, for the other party to 

 partake of by biting off the projecting half ; one of the tricks 

 played on such occasions is to conceal a small piece of stick W 

 this tin, so that the biting it in two is not an easy matter. 



The betle-leaf was probably the Malabathron or Indian leaf 

 of the Greeks, sometimes called simply ''leaf" (<fvAAdi/), and sold 

 in rolls in a dried state. Dioscorides .speaks of its being thread- 

 ed on strings to dry, a practice which, before the introduction 

 of steam caniago by soa, was common in Bombay among the 

 Indian traders who sent the leaves to their friends at foreign 

 ports. Ihe passage in Dioscorides cV ro) ^xcXavi'^nV t* atf^av<rro»' «al 



