Home Remedies

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Even before Charaka compiled the Samhita, his treatise on Ayurveda, in the second century B.C., women and men were using herbs from their kitchens, fields and forests to alleviate pain and cure sickness. But with the coming of Western medicine, such indigenous practices were condemned out of court as ‘unscientific’. This book, the outcome of over three decades of journeying and interactions with barely recognized vaids, ohjas and small community physicians, attempts to document these practices, while presenting also the findings of Western science that has only recently begun to acknowledge and legitimize them. Forty of the most common herbs in every Indian kitchen, including well-loved familiars such as garlic, ginger and pudina and the more special saffron, almonds and figs, are described here as known in local, specialized healing traditions. The botanical profile of each herb is followed by an extensive record of its medicinal uses in particular ailments, with detailed notes on the preparation and dosage of each remedy and an extensive bibliography of research articles. Comprehensive and separate glossaries of English and non-English technical terms and unfamiliar herbs, a multi-language index of plant names, and detailed illustrations make Home Remedies a unique reference guide to rediscovering a host of remedies for the most commonly encountered ailments.