Abstract

STUDY OF B. COURTALLENSIS: FOLKLORE AND ETHNOMEDICINAL EVIDENCES SEARCH DECODING LESHOKTA / ANUKTA

Vd. Mrunalini Dnyaneshwarrao Pimpale* (M.D. Final Year), Ila S. Bhor (B.M.A.S.
M.D.)

ABSTRACT

Anukta – The operational definition of Anukta is the entity which is notsaid or not mentioned in Ayurveda texts. Leshokta - The operationaldefinition of Leshokta is the entity which is mentioned partly i. e. veryshortly discussed in Ayurveda texts. B. courtallensis is lesser-knownwild edible tree distributed in Western Ghats of Karnataka, Kerala andTamil Nadu and belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. of western ghats.It is an evergreen forest tree with 15-18 m height; bark greyish incolour; branchlets rough. Leaves 10-18 x 1.5-8 cm, simple, alternate;Flowers are unisexual, crimson red, in densely clustered slenderracemes forming rings around on tree trunk. Fruits are thick walled,pinkish red when ripe, after dry turns into brown in colour, oftenpubescent, dehiscent. Seeds 3, oblong, flat, leathery outer coat, innercoat brown, aril white. Irula, Kuruma, Kattunaika, Kurichia, Kani,Paniya, Adiya tribes from western ghats use Stem, Leaf, Root, Fruits of B. courtallensis ineveryday practices and for treating diseases traditionally. The plant commonly calledMootapalam, Muttithuri, Kalikuki, Muttathuri, Koli, Kukke, Moottilpuli, their edible fruits aresour in taste, fruit’s rind use for pickling purpose. Roots are used of treating piles, leaves,fruits, and bark are together taken internally to take poison out, other uses for treatment ofdiarrhoea, dysentery, skin infection, controlling diabetes, piles, antidote, anti-inflammatorypurposes etc. Dravyas mentioned in Ayurveda in form of food, dilatory suppliments, aspathyapathya or as medicine. The most useful part of B. courtallensis dravya is fruit which isedible, sour in taste, daily consumed in form of pickle and also useful anti toxic, antiinflammatorymedicine as per folklore evidences. The similar search is carried out in Ayurveda classics it is found that one leshokta dravya of phalavarga is ‘Prachinamalaka’with very limited description and need of faster exploration. The guidelines of such study aregiven in the classics. Palavarga drugs of classical text are all edible fruits. Some of them aevery commonly available and used in diet or in treatment. Some fruits are reginal specific notmuch common so un necessary detailing of them is avoided so they are leshokta (Delimitingelaboration). References collected from all Ayurveda literature search about‘Prachinamalaka’ show resemblance in its morphology, properties and uses with B.courtallensis fruits. Elaborating study of B. courtallensis fruit as hypothesis of textualPrachinamalaka dravya is done stepwise then one can fix it in the category of leshokta oranukta. Here the first step study is performed to search resemblance of B. courtallensis fruitin Ayurveda texts with the help of folklore, ethnomedicinal and classical references.

Keywords: Anukta, Lshokta, Folklore, Ethnomedicine, Phalavarga. Prachinmalaka, Western ghats.