by Sheela Rani Chunkath
I was in Auroville, the intentional experimental community near Pondicherry when I happened to chance upon this beautiful tree with winged seeds. My husband identified it as Pterocarpus marsupium or the Malabar kino tree. Pterocarpus (pteros=wing; carpus=seed) literally means ‘winged seed’. The tree looks magnificent with its tender green seedpods and the more mature brown seedpods lending a graded colour effect to the tree's presentation. I was so happy to just happen upon the tree right in my backyard so to say as I had read an article where a young naturalist had to trek quite a bit to reach a specimen of this tree in a forest in Karnataka. I guess that is why it is nice to be in Auroville, you will really run into many interesting and unusual trees. Called Bijaka in Sanskrit, Vijayasara in Hindi and Vengai in Tamil, the Pterocarpus marsupium is a tree that is useful as it is handsome.
Susruta and Charaka, the great Acharyas of Ayurvedic medicine have both referred to this tree in their treatises 2200 to 2400 years back. Much research has been done since then on the tree and its properties. Its major constituents are pterocarpol, marsupol, marsupin, epicatechin etc. Scientific experiments and research point to epicatechin as having hypoglycaemic effects or that it reduces blood sugar levels.
The medicinal uses of the kino tree are interesting. It had anti-diabetic properties and so some innovative person had fashioned 'glasses' or containers made out of the heartwood of this tree. I had long ago ordered a wooden tumbler because I was very intrigued by it and I gifted it to a friend who has diabetes. The containers are filled with water and left overnight. The water turns a beautiful orangish-red and is a great treat to drink it in the morning. It has a slight woody flavour. While use of kino wood alone will not take care of high sugar levels, it is one of the many things you can do to keep diabetes and its side effects under control. Controlling diabetes is not just about keeping the numbers in check, it is also about keeping the vital organs healthy and preventing the other well documented side effects of diabetes. Ayurvedic medicine plays this dual role effectively. Those who are diabetic need to look at both. The heartwood tumblers are available online but please be wary of unscrupulous traders who are out to make a quick buck.
The decoction of heartwood of kino is also said to reduce obesity when taken with honey. Ayurvedic practitioners have also documented that external application is useful for treating leucoderma. The local application of the resin is said to strengthen loose teeth. It is also said to be an excellent remedy for fractures and is also a rasayana drug.
Now to the more 'romantic' use of kino wood. I have been for a long time wondering how to use a bindi that stays 'kempt' throughout the day. Organic kumkum (the red sindoor type powder) rubs off or leaves red marks all over your face. So I went back to sticker bindis as they were far more practical. I have now discovered that the resin of the kino wood is a thick exudation which is collected by local villagers in a coconut shell. It used to be the common practice to only use this paste put the black 'drishti' mark for babies to ward off the evil eye. Adults would use this as 'chandu' to put a pottu on their forehead. Most women of course preferred the red sindoor or kumkum as red is considered more auspicious. But I use the 'kino chandu' as it stays intact and unsmudged throughout the day and anyway I love black!
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/