Saws.

vilva. Vern. Bela, Beng. Hind.

The AEgle Marmelos is held in great veneration by the Hindus. It is sacred to Siva whose worship cannot be accomplished without its leaves. Hence this tree is always met with near temples dedicated to Siva. It is incumbent on all Hindus to cultivate and cherish this tree, and it is sacrilegious to up-root or cut it down. The Hindu who expires under a beta tree, expects to obtain immediate salvation, notwithstanding that he may have committed innumerable sins.

The AEgle Marmelos is used in medicine in a variety of ways. The unripe or half ripe fruit is regarded as astringent, digestive and stomachic and as useful in restraining discharges from the alimentary canal. The ripe fruit is described as sweet, aromatic, cooling and laxative. It is not easily digested and has a tendency to cause flatulence. The dried pulp of the fruit, called Vilva peshikά in Sanskrit, is regarded as astringent and a specific for dysentery. The root-bark is considered useful in diseases supposed to be caused by deranged air. It constitutes an ingredient of dasamul or the ten roots, (see Desmodium gangeticum.) The fresh juice of the leaves is given with honey as a domestic laxative and febrifuge.

The dried pulp of the fruit is given with treacle, in recent dysentery with griping, pain in the loins and costiveness.1 A compound powder2 is prepared with equal parts of dried bela, tubers of Cyperus rotundus (mustaka), flowers of Woodfordia floribunda (dhά-taki), root of Stephania hernandifolia (pάthά) ginger and mocharasa. It is given in doses of twenty-two to forty-four grains with buttermilk and treacle. In the dysentery of children, a decoction and an electuary of the following drugs is used, namely dried bela, fruits of Pothos officinalis (gajapippuli), root of Pavonia odorata (bald), flowers of Woodfordia floribunda (dhάtaki), and bark of Symplocos racemosa (lodhra), in equal parts.3

A decoction of the root of AEgle Marmelos,4 is given with sugar and fried rice, for checking diarrhoea and gastric irritability in infants.

The fresh juice of the leaves is given, with the addition of black pepper, in anasarca with costiveness and jaundice.5 In external inflammations, the juice of the leaves is given internally, to remove the supposed derangement of the humours.

Vilva taila is thus prepared.6 Take of dried bela fruits, twelve ,seers and a half and boil in sixty-four seers of water, till reduced to one-fourth. To the strained decoction, add four Beers of prepared sosamum oil and six tolas each of the following substances, in the form of paste, namely, Vanda Roxburghii (rάsna). Boerhaavia diffusa (punarnavά), Aplotaxis auriculata (kushta), ginger, dried bela, flowers of Woodfordia floribunda (dhάtaki), wood of Pinus deodara ( devadάru ), bark of Symplocos racemosa (lodhra), tubers of Cyperus rotundas (mustaka), Acorus Calamus (vachά), and gum of Bombax Malabaricum (sάlmaliveshta), and prepare an oil in the usual way. This oil is used externally in chronic bowel complaints.