DRUGS. 



N. O. 117. VALERIANACE.E. VALERIAN WORTS. 

 Nardostachys Jatamansi. De C. Spikenard. 



Linn. Syst. Triandria Monogynia. 



The root, Spikenard (quasi Spica Nardi). 



Vernacular. Jatamansi, Sans., Hind., Beng., Tarn. Chehur, Bale- 

 har, Sumbul, Hind. Shadamanjie, Tarn. Sumbul-hindee, Sumbul- 

 ul-teb, Usrureh, Mooeygeeah, Arab. Nard, Pers. 



Habitat. Nepaul and Bootan at great elevations. 



Remarks. Said to be the Spikenard (nared) of that " Epithalamium 

 Epithalamiorum," the " Song of Songs" of King Solomon on the occasion 

 of his unscriptural marriage with the daughter of Pharaoh. St. Mark also 

 writing " vdpdov TTIO-TIK^S noXvreXovs (" nardi spicati pretiosi" Fula.), 

 and St. John in the same terms, both are thought to refer to Jata- 

 mansi. Dioscorides unequivocally specifies it as vdpdos 11/81*07, called also, 

 as he states, " Gangetic, from a river called Ganges." He also mentions 

 vdpdos K\TiKrj, vdpdos opfivf], and vdpdos SupiaKj), the last a variety of the In- 

 dian. There can be no doubt that the ancients, as Sir W. Jones has sug- 

 gested, " used the word nard for any Indian essence in general, meaning 

 what we now call atar, and either the dtar of roses from Cashmir and 

 Persia, that of Cetaca or Pandanus, from the western coast of India, or that 

 of Aguru or Aloe-wood, from Assam or Cochin China, * * * or the mixed 

 perfume called abir t of which the principle ingredients were yellow-sandal, 

 violets, orange flowers, wood of aloes, rose-water, musk, aiid true spike- 

 nard." The word nard Sir W. Jones proved to be Persian, who, as the 

 carriers of Jatamansi between India and the west, must have communi- 

 cated the name to Hebrews (nerd), Greeks (vdpdos), and Romans (nardum). 

 Russel informed Sir W. Jones that " spikenard is carried over the desert 

 (from India, I presume,) to Aleppo, where it is used in substance mixed 

 with other perfumes, or worn in small bags, or in the form of essence, 

 and kept in little boxes or phials, like atar of roses." The various phials 

 of the ancients, called " alabastron," were used for precious scents and 

 cosmetics. Avicenna (Royle) used the word sumbul as the synonyme of 

 vdpdos, and Persian books describe four kinds, viz. 1st, Sumbul-hindee 

 (vdpdos ivdiKr)) ; 2nd, Sumbul-italioon or Sumbul-uklete (vdpdos KeXriKr)) ; 3rd, 

 Sumbul-jiballee (vdpdos 6pivr)) ; and 4th, Sumbul-farsee (vdpdos 2upia*q ?) 

 The synonymes of Sumbul-hindee they give as Sunbul-ool-teeb, Arabic; Nar- 

 den, Greek ; Nardoom, Latin ; and Balchar and Jatamasee, Hindee ; and, 

 moreover the <pov of Dioscorides, the Valeriana dioscoridis of Sibthorp 

 they call Bekh-i-sumbul or Sumbul-root. This should have early afforded 

 a clue to the identification of Jatamansi with true or Indian Spikenard, 

 but every writer on the subject considered that Nard was gramineous, until 

 Sir W. Jones clearly established it to be the root of Nardostachys Jatamansi. 

 Sir W. Jones in a paper (Asiatic Researches, vol. iv.) in reply to Dr. Sir 

 G. Blane, completely destroys the arguments of the latter in favour of An- 

 dropoaon Iwarancusa (Rox.), Sir W. Jones remarks that it is very curious, 

 as noticed by Dr. Anderson of Madras, that in Tamulmost words beginning 

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