^ESCHYNOMENE 



ASPERA 



Sola Pith 



The Boot-bark 

 Medicinal. 



THE BAEL TREE 



Dasamula. 



Poultices. 

 Juice. 



Timber. 



Trade. 



Snuff-boxes. 



Fireworks. 

 Beads. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 125-6. 

 Sola Pith. 



In addition to the fruit, the root-bark is viewed as medicinal and 

 employed in the treatment of intermittent fevers. The former is one 

 of the chief ingredients in the much-talked-of dasamula of Hindu medicine 

 a preparation from ten roots. The leaves when fresh are made into a 

 POULTICE and used in ophthalmia and maggot-infested wounds. The 

 JUICE expressed from the leaves is bitter and pungent. Diluted with 

 water it is highly spoken of as a remedy in catarrh, fever and biliousness. 

 It may be preserved by being boiled in oil. The leaves are eaten in order 

 to destroy the desire for food, and are so employed by sadhus. Bael fruit 

 is employed in the treatment of scum in vinegar manufacture (seep. 1110). 



The TIMBER, yellowish-white, mottled, close-grained, hard, has no heart- 

 wood, is not very durable and is readily attacked by insects. It weighs from 

 40 to 50 Ib. per cubic foot. When freshly cut it has an aromatic smell. Ac- 

 cording to certain Hindus it is sacrilege to cut this tree down, but chiefly when 

 cultivated and more especially when near temples. In the wild state, or when 

 the tree has been neglected or has been killed, it may be felled and the timber 

 utilised even for fuel or charcoal. It is used in the construction of sugar and 

 oil mills, carts, agricultural implements, and, according to some writers, in the 

 construction of idols, combs, and beads for certain rosaries. In the Institutes of 

 Manu(ii., 45) the wood is given as an alternative with that of Bfe /rou<fo, 

 whence the Brahman sticks may be made. 



Although there must be a very largo local TRADE in bael, nothing in the way 

 of actual returns can be quoted. The dry fruits sell at about Us. 1 per 100 and 

 the green fruits at less than half that figure. The dry pulp (belgiri) can be 

 purchased at about Us. 20 per cwt. Although several firms, such as the Great 

 Eastern Hotel Company, Ltd., in Calcutta, regularly manufacture the mar- 

 malade, the article does not appear to be exported to any appreciable extent. 

 In the London " price-current," quotations are given of dried and sliced fruit 

 fetching from Id. to 4d per Ib. It is often observed, however, that the market 

 is neglected and the demand very limited. 



The dried fruits, with pulp excavated, are largely employed as boxes in 

 which to store medicines, sacred ashes, etc. Small ones are beautifully carved, 

 and made into SNUFF-BOXES. A considerable trade is done all over India in 

 these ornate boxes, but it is feared that the majority may in reality bo 

 made from the small hard fruits of Verania, rather than of JKgle. In the 

 snuff-boxes made at Peshawar there is a considerable export to Kabul and 

 Lower India. Ganjam, far to the south, is famed for its charmingly carved 

 snuff-boxes these show the 10 incarnations of Vishnu. Charged with gun- 

 powder, the small dry fruits are also employed as bombs in FIREWORK exhibitions. 

 Very young fruits (about half an inch in diameter) are used as BEADS and are 

 arranged alternately in necklaces with the seeds of Eia-ocnrini (JanittiiH 

 (the rudrak). These are specially worn by religious men of the Siva sect. The 

 wood ground down on a stone to a paste, with a little water, is often employed 

 alone or in combination with sandal-wood to give the white transverse caste 

 markings on the forehead of the Sivites. 



[The following works may be consulted, in addition to those indicated above 

 or mentioned in the Dictionary : Buchanan-Hamilton, Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 1833, 

 153; Journ. As. Soc., 1819, vii., 264; Ainslie, Mat. Ind., 1826, ii., 188; Taleef 

 Sheeref (Playfair, transl.), 1833, 42, 54; Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind. (Proc.), 

 1857, 133 ; 1859, x., 157 ; 1863, xii., 348 ; 1865, xiii., pt. ii., 61 ; 1869 (n.s.), i., 

 pt. ii., 58; 1872, iii., pt. ii., 14-26; Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, i., 130; 

 Moodeen Sheriff, Mat. Med. Mad., 1891, 84-7 ; Bull. Dept. Agri., 1896, Nos. 2, 8; 

 Innes, Jungle Prod., 1898, 8 ; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 191 ; Woodrow, 

 Gard. in Ind., 1899, 217 ; etc., etc.] 



^SCHYNOMENE ASPERA, Linn. ; Roxb., Trans. Soc. Arts, 

 1806, xxiv., 156; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 152; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 



1902, 237 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, i., 418 ; Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang. Plain, 



1903, 271 ; LEGUMINOS^E. The shola (Hind.), sola (Beng.) a word 

 corrupted into solar by English writers and manufacturers ; is also 

 atunete, benda, pani ( water) -kuhila, kagdia, kagdia-dhendor, etc. The 



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