254 ^UPEOBBIACEM. 



Bomma-jemudu {Tel)y Mudu-mula-kalli {Can,), Katak-kalH 

 (Mai), Tandhari-thohar {Guz,). 



History, Uses, &c.— These two plants are included 



under the Sanskrit names of Snuhi, Sehunda, Yajra, Vajra-tundi, 

 Vajra-dantaka, Gandira and Maha-taru, and are supposed to 

 ward ofi lightning strokes, on which account they are sometimes 

 cultivated in pots placed on exposed positions in Hindu houses. 



Mans4 



In some 



parts of India, in July and August, on Tuesdays and Thurs- 

 days, the natives approach the trees with offerings of rice, 

 milk, and sugar, praying to be delivered from snake-bites. 

 They also employ the root mixed with black pepper as a 

 medicine for the cure of snake-bites internally and externally. 

 Dutt informs us that in Bengal, on the fifth day after the full 



H 



E. neriit\ 



W. 



cani Brahmins in connection with this plant. At the time of 

 the Dewali they cut a portion of the stem, hollow it out, and 



Darried from house to house with 



fill it with oil, in which they place a wick. The little lamp 

 thus formed is lighted and 

 the object of depositing it unextinguished in the house of 

 some friend or acquaintance, saying at the same time, " A son- 

 in-law for you/' that is, wishing them good fortune (Neva- 

 dunga) . The people of the house pretend not to want it, and 

 try to extinguish the light by throwing water at it. These 

 lamps are also placed upon little heaps of cowdung and 

 worshipped. 



In the Nighantas the plants are described as purgative, pun- 

 gent, digestive , bitter and heavy, and are said to be useful in 

 constipation, flatulent distention, tumours, swellings, abdominal 



enlargements, rheumatism, spleen, leprosy, mania and 

 jaundice. 



They abound in an acrid milky juice, which is a popular 

 application to warts and other cutaneous affections. The 

 native doctors purify arsenious acid by packing it in a hole 



