GRAMINEM 587 



History, Uses, &C. — The Bamboo, in Sanskrit YausS and 

 Veuu, is considered by the Hindus to have the hardest of woods. 

 The word also signifies ^ spine' and * lineage/ thus Vansa-visuddha 

 means ^'made of a good bamboo/' t\e,, of a pure or good family, 

 and Yansa-dhara " carrying a bamboo/' i.e., maintaining a 

 family, Yansa-pratishthana-kara "establishing a family on a 



sure foundation.' 



of 



states that the young Indian bride and bridegroom are made 

 to stand in two bamboo baskets placed side by side, and tbe 

 Kul or Arbor generationis of tlie caste, at Hindu marriages, is 

 placed in a winnowing fan made of bamboo. The wild tribes 

 of the Garrow hills, who have no temples or altars, set up 

 opposite their huts a bamboo post which they deck with flowers 

 and tufts of cotton, and before it they make offerings to their 

 god. Indian anchorites carry a bamboo stick having seven 

 knots. A bamboo flowering is an event of rare occurrence, 

 and which is supposed to bring in its train all sorts of evil, 

 accompanied by dire distress and famine. The seeds of the 

 bamboo, in Sanskrit Vansa-tandula, Vansa-ja, V^nu-yava, 

 Venu-vija, have often proved of great value in famine seasons, 

 saving thousands of lives ; this was the case in Orissa in 1812 

 and in Canara in 1864. The young shoots which appear 

 towards the end of the rainy season are used as a vegetable ; 

 they are minced very finely and soaked in water to remove the 

 titter taste, and then cooked with cW, and seasoned according 

 to taste : they are also made into pickle. 



A decoction of the Joints of the bamboo is supposed to have 

 an action on the uterus, and is used by females after delivery 

 to cause a free flow of the lochial discharge. The same part of 

 the plant pounded with water is appHed to inflamed joints. The 

 juice of the leaves with aromatics is given in hacmatemesis. 

 The leaves are very commonly given to horses by syces as a 

 remedy for couo-hs and colds. 



Bamboo manna is the Yansa-lochana of the Indian physi- 

 cians ; in the Nirghantas it bears many sjoionjTns, such as 

 "Vansa-rochana, Tvak-kshird " bark-milk," Vansa-karpura 

 " bambnn oaT«T.i.-.^ " v„^i«.«nrknra " bamboo sugar," Vansahva 



