Vedic Plants (Medicinal and other Uses)

Vedas which are thousands of years old constitute the main religious literature of the Hindus even during the present time. There are several drugs mentioned in the Vedas and especially in Atharvaveda for the treatment of various diseases. Bheshaja means drug and Atharvaveda are also known as Bhaishajyaveda. It provides a foundation for the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Because of the rapidly growing interest in herbal medicine in the western world and
their attempts in the past to patent plants and plant products, it is being felt that there is an urgent need to bring to limelight the effectiveness of those herbs and related preparations which are being used in different Indian systems of medicine for thousands of years. The authors of this book have done their best to identify plants in Vedas and have recorded medicinal properties assigned to them in Ayurvedic, Unani, Chinese, Tibetan and Folk medicine. Further therapeutic evaluation of plants from our ancient repository of knowledge should be carried out and the results should be brought to the notice of both the common folks and the scientific community. This work will definitely extend help to students, scientists and other interested persons in Vedic literature and may also serve as an excellent source for future research work to further evaluate the potential of Vedic plants.