by Sheela Rani Chunkath
An old family friend of mine Mr. R. Anbalagan was recollecting his childhood in his village of Annamangalam near the historic fort of Gingee. The area is rocky with small hillocks and a unique biodiversity. His grandfather Mr. Arumugham Koneri, he recalled, used to be called Swamiji as he used to interact with the itinerant Siddha Vaidyas who used to come to Gingee looking for medicinal herbs and plants. His grandfather’s pastime was to perambulate the hills and dales identifying the medicinal plants that the vaidyas would come looking for. The vaidyas would be accommodated in the veranda outside the house, be given food by his grandmother Mrs. Ramayee Ammal and taken around by his grandfather during the day collecting herbs and plants. As a young boy it was Anbalagan who would call the Siddha vaidyas inside for dinner to be served by his grandmother. The members of the household would apparently have their food only after the visitors had finished their dinner. Such was the hospitality some 70 – 80 years ago.
The Siddhas would collect the herbs during the day and process them in the evenings for use in their own villages and for their patients. Mr. Anbalagan recalled with respect that his grandfather never took any money from the vaidyas for the hospitality or for the long hours he would spend with them collecting the herbs and minerals.
Mr. Anbalagan recalls that the vaidyas looked at his skinny frame and told his grandfather that they would give him something that would help his general health and immune status. The grandfather was asked to bring a small bucketful of earthworms. Some workers were dispatched to the fields who came back with a bucketful of fresh earthworms that they had dug up from the field.
As Mr. Anbazhagan recalls these earthworms were washed, the juice was extracted from the earthworms, it was put in a small earthen crucible, closed and then subject to heat with fire from dried cow dung. After a long process a round medicinal ball was produced. The grandfather was instructed to drop the hard medicinal ball in milk, boil it and give the milk to the young boy every day. I am not very surprised to learn about this earthworm concoction as earthworms called Bhunaga are quite often used in Ayurvedic medicine. In Rasa Tarangani, a book on Rasa Sastra methods to prepare Bhunaga satwapatana have been dealt with in detail. Similarly Rasa Ratna Samuchayam explains in detail how balls of copper are obtained from earthworms. Bhunaga Satwapatana is dealt with in the chapter on copper. Since earthworms are collected from the soils with abundant copper, pure copper is said to be extracted from the extract of earthworms. The therapeutic value of Bhunaga Sattva is the same as that for Tamra Bhasma. Tamra Bhasma is used in the treatment of pitta and Kapha predominant diseases. It is also used in cases of cough, cold, asthma, chronic respiratory conditions, tuberculosis, anaemia, dyspepsia etc., It has a lekhana property that is a scraping effect and hence used in the treatment of atherosclerosis. Tamara Bhasma is used in cases of poisoning to induce vomiting and to treat cancers. Tamra bhasma also revitalizes the liver and spleen and hence has a rasayana effect.
Our Siddha vaidyas made a present of 'Shuddha Tamra', as these extracts from earthworms were called, to the young Anbalagan to boost his immunity and free him from childhood ailments. Instead of the myriad tonics now being prescribed(all of which contain preservatives) how much healthier would have been the medicinal ball made from the extract of earthworms which had assimilated the goodness of the earth in which it lived. And so our Siddha Vaidyas repaid the hospitality of their hosts by presenting a medicinal ball for the grandchild to keep him healthy.
--- 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/