SACRED PLANTS OF INDIA. — BARBOUR. xli 



peculiar mark on their forehead. Visitors to India must often 

 have seen the nnmeroiis marks of different sects and castes. 



Punica granafum. Tern. ^■'Anar.'"' The Pomegranate. It is 

 sufficiently well known with its scarlet orange flowers and avidu- 

 lated fruit to need no description. It grows well in other parts 

 of Asia and Greece as well as India, where it was and is held 

 sacred and symbolic of fmctification and procreation and also 

 death and resurrection. 



Giotto placed a pomegranite in the hands of Dante, and 

 Eaphael crowned Theology with blossoms of its flowers. 



In the old testament it is referred to, and it is seen in 

 Assyrian and Eg}-ption sculpture. In India it has often been 

 referred to by Sanskrit writers, and has been seen in its sculpture. 

 Several alkaloids are obtained from various parts of the plant 

 and also organic acids and mannite. 



Saraca Indicci, Tern. "'"'Ashoka.'"' The Asoka tree. A small 

 tree belonging to the Leguminoseae, but unlike the usual t^'pe, 

 it hardly looks like a flower of this order. The flowers are orange, 

 changing to red in large round heads with long stamens. The 

 pod is broad, flat or scimitar shaped. It is a beautiful sight to 

 see when in full bloom, and its soft Hindu name occurs frequently 

 in old Indian poems. The flowers are used in temple decorations 

 and as a symbol of love is also dedicated to Kama. It possesses 

 a certain charm in preserving chastity and it is also a tree of 

 refuge, as in the legend of Buddha, when Maya is conscious of 

 having conceived the Buddis-Attya, she retires to a wood of 

 Asoka and sends to her husband. 



The tree is also held sacred by the Burmans as under it 

 Gaudama was supposed to have been born. 



It is much used by native physicians in womb affections, the 

 bark being mixed with milk and made into the form of a decoction. 

 Asoka Grita is made from the bark and clarified butter to which 

 some aromatic herbs are added. 



There are a few other plants which are held sacred, but which 

 I must . omit from this article if I am to endeavour to keep it 

 within reasonable limits. The ones I have told something 

 about are important and fairly common ones, and the writer 



