Article Published In Vol.2 (Jan-Feb-2014)

Medicinal potential of some mythologically important plants of India: A Review

Author : Vikas Shrivastava, Rajesh Singh Tomar, Raghvendra Kumar Mishra, Anurag Jyoti and Shuchi Kaushik

India is full of biodiversity and has rich fauna & flora. Many plants have medicinal values. The Sacred plants are named as Kalpa-vriksha (Adansonia Digitata) and Chaitya-vriksha (Ficus religiosa) in the ancient scriptures indicating that the worship of the tree is indeed an ancient Indian practice. The Plants, trees and the other elements were always revered and several mythological rituals are connected to them. Tree worship continues to be an element of modern Indian traditions. There are many plants which are considered Sacred. For this paper, we selected the following 5 sacred plants: Sandalwood (Santalum album), Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum), Amla (Phyllanthus emblica), Peepal (Ficus religiosa) and Bamboos (Bambuseae arundinacea). For each plant, we have listed their sacred associations, a brief description of the plant, its distribution and its medicinal values.

Keyword: Scared plants (Sandalwood, Tulsi, Amla, Peepal and Bamboos) medicinal value, mythology