Healing Oils and Powders

              by Sheela Rani Chunkath

​The last fifteen days I have used various oils and treatments to bring my leg back to normal. So, from Puttur kattus to Zimad Aouja and Murivennai, I have tried quite a few of them. Murivennai, which I mentioned about in my last article, is not a classical ayurvedic preparation, but has been in use to good effect in Kerala for the last 200-250 years. Murivennai contains equal quantities of Aloe vera, Erythrina indica (Kalyana murungai in Tamil and Mullumurukku in Malayalam), Pongamia pinnata (Pungam in Tamil and Malayalam), Borreria hispida (Nathaichuri in Tamil and Malayalam), Allium cepa (Chinna vengayam Tamil and Cheriya ulli in Malayalam), Moringa oleifera (Murungai in Tamil and Malayalam), Piper betle (Vettilai in Tamil and Malayalam), Asparagus racemosus (Thaneervittan kizhangu in Tamil and Shatavari in Malayalam) and either rice bran or rice kanji. I decided to make my own Murivennai and it smelt quite fragrant and delightful. Nathaichuri or Borreria hispida alone is a little difficult to source in urban areas but I got it from my farm. If you have the time, making your own oils and poultices at home gives you an easy familiarity and knowledge of dravyas and herbs so that you know what to do when you have a feeling of malaise. One of our great vaidyar said that 85% of all diseases can be dealt with by the individual himself and only 15% need recourse to a vaidyar. Broken being one of those conditions.

There were two other preparations that I used as local applications. One is the ayurvedic Jatamayadi churanam and the other an Unani preparation Zimad Aouja. Zimad Aouja is available as a powder. When water is added to the powder it becomes a sticky paste which is then applied to the affected part. Zimad Aouja is made with ingredients which include turmeric (Curcuma longa), tree turmeric (Berberis aristata). In South India, a substitute called Coscinium fenestratum of the family Menispermaceae is used. An interesting herb that is used to make the churanam pasty is maida ka lakdi (Litsea glutinosa). The bark of the tree is made into a powder and used in the preparation. As its name suggests, when water is added to the powder, you get a glutinous paste ideal for healing traumatised ligaments and for bringing down the swelling and inflammation following an injury. Wheat is yet another ingredient which keeps the churanam pasty. Fenugreek powder is yet another ingredient. Fenugreek also has a mucilaginous texture when water is added to the powder. Both Aloe vera and fenugreek have been extensively described in Unani literature. It is called ‘Sibr’ and its healing benefits described in the Ebers Papyrus of 1550 BCE. Its anti-inflammatory properties have been well documented there. Fenugreek or mulla as it is called in Unani literature was much favoured by the Prophet. It is learnt that the Prophet said "Mix fenugreek in your medicines". Modern research shows that fenugreek reduces both internal and external inflammation. Many of the pastes and oils are from our traditional pharmacopoeia with turmeric and tree turmeric leading the charge.

If you have no time to go to the shop, a good first aid would be to make paste of the following ingredients in the kitchen to ease the selling thick tamarind paste,turmeric,salt and fenugreek powder all mixed together make for an instant home remedy for swollen get etc. Similarly fry some coarse sea salt to dry it and fill a small bag with it (made from old cloth both ends stitched), heat it for a minute in the microwave and use it for fomentation. Something which is neither allopathic nor ayurvedic but is very useful in bringing down swelling and inflammation are proteolytic enzymes such as chymotrypsin and serratiopeptidase about which I will write in a future article.

--- 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/