The Garden of Life

Naveen Patnaik is one of the longest-serving chief ministers of any Indian state having won five consecutive terms. Before he became Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik authored 3 books including The Garden of Life.  

This book covering 70 healing plants out of the 1500 that Charaka’s treatise describes in Charaka Samhita (pre-2nd century CE), was a great introduction for me to Ayurveda.

Along with the Sushruta Samhita, Charaka Samhita or Treatise of Charaka (pre-2nd century CE) is one of the two foundational texts of this Ayurveda that have survived from ancient India. Charaka’s treatise describes 1,500 plants and identifies 350 of them as valuable for medicinal purposes.

The Garden of Life is divided into five sections--Sacred, Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic, and Aromatic--and features discussion of the applications of seventy plants along with some interesting anecdotes.

SACRED PLANTS

1. Banyan (Ficus bengalensis) - Indian merchants, or banias, frequently conducted their business under this great tree...leading the British to name the tree of the banias the banyan.
2. Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) - this beautiful water flower Padma is associated with divinity & enlightenment
3. Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum) or Tulasi's essential oil is an antiseptic and insect repellent, while its root, reduced to paste, soothes bites and slings, acting even as an antidote to snake venom and scorpion bites
4. Flame-of-the-Forest (Butea monosperma)
5. Coconut (Cocos nucifera) - the fruit of aspiration, and a guarantee of auspicious beginnings
6. Bel (Aegle marmelos) 
7. Ustram Bead (Elaeocarpus ganitrus) or Rudraksha bead is worth its own weight in gold. A bead’s value is determined not only by its size but by the number of faces with which Nature has endowed it, from the rare single-faced bead representing the One Reality treasured by temples, through twenty-one faces symbolic of various philosophical concepts, to the fused or double bead symbolizing infinity, which is set in gold, emerald, and rubies.
8. Indian Hemp (Cannabis sativa) in its various forms is used as a stimulant (“ganja”), exhilarant ("bhang"), aphrodisiac & sedative
9. Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) is called Ashvatta in Sanskrit and Pipal in Hindi. Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment (bodhi) while meditating underneath a Ficus religiosa. A branch of the original tree was rooted in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka in 288 BCE and is known as Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi; it is the oldest living human-planted flowering plant (angiosperm) in the world. The sacred fig is the state tree of the Indian states of Odisha, Bihar and Haryana. It has a lifespan ranging between 900 and 1,500 years.
10. Jamun (Syzygium cumini) or the Indian Blackberry - Jambudvīpa or the Continent of the Jamun Trees, is a name often used to describe the territory of Greater India in Ancient Indian sources.
11. Margosa (Axadirachta indica) - Renowned for its antiseptic and disinfectant properties. Its termite-resistant timber is invaluable to house construction in the tropics.

MEDICINAL PLANTS

12. Indian Pennywort (Centella asiatica); Sanskrit & Hindi name Brahmi
13. Asparagus Racemosus (Asparagus racemosus) -  its tubers or roots are rich in vitamin A
14. Asoka (Saraca asoca) 
15. Castor (Ricinus communis) - Excellent hair tonic & laxative. The lamp black produced by the combination of castor oil with wicks dipped in herbal preparations has provided the universal eye cosmetic of India known as kohl
16. Indian Gentian (Andrographis paniculata) 
17. Liquorice (Glycyrrliiza glabra) or Mulethi is used in the treatment of coughs, colds, and other bronchial irritations
18. Vasaka (Adhatoda vasica)
19. Chebulic Myrobalan (Terminalia chebula)
20. Emblic Myrobalan (Emblica officinalis) - Amla is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C available in India. It can he used both fresh and dried. Together with the chebulic and belleric myrobalans, the emblic myrobalan forms the classic three fruits which are used as the basis of almost every Ayurvedic tonic, and Ayurveda’s claims for the tonic properties of the myrobalans have attracted much scientific attention in India.
21. Bauhinia (Bauhninia variegata) - the Latin name was given by two 16th-century German botanists & identical twins, Jean and Gaspard Bauhin. Bauhinia leaves resemble the imprint of a camel’s foot.
22. Swallowwort (Calotropis gigantea)
23. Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula)
24. Plantain (Musa paradisiaca) - regarded as a reincarnation of the Goddess of Plenty herself, and whole living trees are made an integral part of the marriage ceremony
25. Eclipta Alba (Eclipta alba) - Bhringaraja is used as a hair oil
26. Hogweed (Boerhaavia diffusa)
27. Indian Madder (Rubia cordifolia)
28. Arjun (Terminalia arjuna)
29. Indian Bedellium (Commiphora mukul) - drugs for the treatment of arthritis, water retention, rheumatism, and glandular and neurological disorders  are extracted from the fragrant oleoresin of Guggulu.
30. Thorn Apple (Datura alba) - Dhatura seeds are the drug of choice for homicidal and suicidal Indians. with cases of the criminal use of datura poisoning in murders. 
31. Winter Cherry (Withania somnifera) or Ashvagandha recurs in almost all Ayurvedic prescriptions for tonics for general debility

CULINARY PLANTS

32. Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) or Jeera had a considerable trade value as one or the fabled spices of India
33. Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) - The early Greeks imported this black gold from India both as a spice and as a medicine. It is said that when Attila the Hun sacked Europe, he demanded three thousand pounds of black pepper as part ransom for the city of Rome.
34. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) or Dhaniya is particularly effective as a diuretic, to increase the flow of urine, and as a refrigerant to break fevers.
35. Mango (Mangifera indica)
36. Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia) or karela is high in vitamin C, renowned not just for its anti-diabetic action and efficacious against intestinal worms
37. Palmyra (Borassus flabbifer) - female palmyra tree yields twelve times more molasses than its male counterpart. The thick saccharine sap tapped through incisions in the branches of fruit if drunk immediately is a nutrient and stimulant. When fermented, it is either drunk as tadi or "toddy," or distilled into the more potent spirit known as arak.
38. Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) or elaichi was first cultivated in south India for aromatic, culinary, and medicinal purposes
39. Indian Cassia Lignea (Cinnamomum tamala)
40. Eggplant (Solanum melongena) - Native to India, where its culinary and medicinal value had been recognized for centuries, the eggplant was taken by Arab traders to the Mediterranean in the fourteenth century, joining the European food vocabulary as the aubergine.
41. Drumstick (Moringa oleifera)
42. Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) or imli is an important source of vitamin & valued as an antidote to heat stroke
43. Garlic (Allium sativum)
44. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or shunthi was widely used by ancient Indian and Chinese physicians as a digestive and against respiratory infections
45. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) - Ayurveda uses a combination of three aromatics—Indian cassia lignia, cardamom, and cinnamon or dalchini—to disguise the taste of medicines.
46. Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) also called the “Butter Tree” is an important source of food for the forest dwellers, animals & birds alike. The distilled juice or the flowers is considered a tonic, both nutritional and cooling, but the forest dwellers generally drink the juice in a fermented form as a wholesome spirit, which was shunned by Europeans traveling through the forest areas because “the chief objection. ... is its peculiar penetrating smell of mice.”

COSMETIC PLANTS

47. Henna (Lawsonia inermis) - anti-irritant, a deodorant, and an antiseptic
48. Sesame (Sesamum indicum) closely resembles olive oil and is similarly utilized
49. Indian Sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus indicus) - It is plant number 274 in Charaka’s classification or medicinal plants & prescribed for respiratory and digestive illnesses
50. Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) 
51. Areca Nut Palm (Areca catechu) - anti-helminthic
52. Soap Nut (Sapindus trifoliatus)
53. Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
54. Indian Kamila (Mallotus philippensis)
55. Lime (Citrus medica)
56. Saffron (Crocus sativus) or kesar is the name given to the dried stamens or the crocus plant
57. Betel Leaf (Piper betle)
58. True Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) - Indigo is a Latin term for the greatest Indian dye, meaning the color of India

AROMATIC PLANTS

59. Jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum) - the entire mogra plant is used for a variety of Ayurvedic prescriptions
60. Fragrant Screw Pine (Pandanus odoratissimus) - the kevda flower is so famous for its fragrance that the tree is not planted near a house for fear of snakes, which are reputed to be attracted by its perfume
61. Bakula (Mimusops elengi) 
62. Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)
63. Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) - The fragrant clove, today so mundanely associated with the clove oil used as a remedy for toothaches, is one of the spices over which the nations of Europe went to war during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Marco Polo numbered cloves among the most valuable treasures he brought hack to Europe from his travels, and for several centuries they were such an expensive commodity in the West that the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the French fought to control the trade in cloves, on occasion even destroying all the clove trees cultivated by Eastern farmers rather than letting them fall into the hands or their European enemies.
64. Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora)
65. Golden Champa (Michelia champaca)
66. Aloeswood (Aquilaria agallocha) - provides the basis for Indian incense—agarbati, or “lighted aloeswood.’
67. Kadamha (Anthocephalus cadamba) 
68. Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) - The common Western name of this grass comes from its Tamil name, vettiver, literally “hatcheted up,” an exact description of how the spongy roots, so valued for their aroma, are collected.
69. Hundred Leaf Rose (Rosa centifolia)
70. Sandalwood (Santalam album)

The fundamental philosophy of Ayurveda says that suffering is disease, contentment is good health. No man is truly healthy who does not possess a sound body, a sound mind, and a sound soul...as the highest form or life, man also becomes its guardian, recognizing his very survival depends on seeing that the fragile balance or nature, and living organisms, is not disturbed. 

In Ayurvedic terms, this means that a man must prevent wanton destruction. Ayurveda, some four thousand years ago, was already propagating the arguments which inform the ecological debate of our own time.

Also see - Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal