What is 'harsinghar' in Urdu is the 'Coral Jasmine' in English. 'Harsinghar' is a bushy tree adapted to the tropical and subtropical climatic areas of the world. The three is propagated from the seed and India is accredited to have the honour of its being the original home. The leaves are 5-10 cms long and are arranged by the Nature opposite to each other. The plant is a member of Family 'Oleaceae' and the botanists in their technical jargon, call it Nyctanthes arboristris Linn. The flowers are usually small in size, white and also yellow in colour. The small flowers are also used to make garlands on festive occasions. The yellow color flowers are often used for dying cloth and the bark is used in tanning of leather.
The flowers bloom at night and start shedding after dawn. With the fall of all flowers, the tree loses its brilliance and becomes desolate, distressed and denuded. The tree looks more morose at its plight. The phenomena gives a look of sadness of the tree, and the fall of white flowers looks as if the tree is rolling tears at its plight. Hence the tree is also called "The Sad Tree". It is just a poetic imagination.
Extensive researches have been undertaken to determine the theurapetic value of 'harsinghar' in the eastern system of treatment. The plant-lovers value it for its sweet odour that makes one and the other people around it spell-bound and charmed for a short while.
In the ancient Ayurvedic and Unani sytem of medicine "decoction of the leaves is used to treat sciatica, chronic fever, rheumatism, internal worms". It is laxative, diuretic, diaphoretic, expectorant and anti-amoebic. The juice of the leaves is used to avoid constipation and polyurea. The juice of the leaf acts as an anthelmintic. The paste of the leaves is useful in fever, high blood pressure and diabetes. Powdered seeds are used to treat scurfy affection of the scalp.
According to a reliable source, the indigenous people of district "Chittor" in Madhya Perdesh, India, use the whole plant of "harsinghar" for cancer, root for fever, sciatica and anorexia. The bark is used as an expectorant. Leaf is anti-diabetic, diaphoretic and anthelmintic. Juice of the leaf is used as digestive, antidotal to the venoms of the insects, and is diuretic. Powder of the stem bark is used to treat rheumatic joint pains of the bones and to give relief to patients suffering from piles.
The physicochemical constituents of a harsinghar leaf are: Moisture 50.01%, Ash 13.98%, Lignin 15.67%, Crude fiber 9.41% Fat 2.10%, Protein 15.02% and Carbohydrate 9.48%. The 'harsinghar' is very diverse in its medicinal uses, against a wide range of health problems. Hence let us not turn our back to the herbal treatment, if modern medicines have disappointed us. No doubt, the herbal treatment is slow to give results but it gives no side effects. Most of the research work has indicated that harsinghar still holds the potential to deal with our health problems. Let us, therefore, in all fairness turn to herbal treatment that is not only affordable but is best suited in our climatic condition.
(The views expresses and research cited in this article are not necessarily those of to newspapers).