Chilli- Traditional Family Medicine: Health Series (An Old and Rare Book)

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India is the land of spices. For centuries, spices have been used as preservatives, food additives and as traditional medicines particularly in Homoeopathic and Ayurvedic treatments. Till now, this hidden natural treasure of India remains largely unexplored and unearthed. Time has come to reveal the real importance of these gems in the light of modern scientific experiments.

Among the different important spices that have tremendous therapeutic importance and high export values, chilli is no doubt very highly rated. Lakhs of rupees are being regularly spent for the cultivation and production of new varieties of chillies. Chilli is also the most common ingredient in Indian food. Particularly in the Southern and Eastern parts of India, the use of chilli is highly prevalent. Hence, it is high time, when the common people should be really aware about the therapeutic pros- pects of chilli, its cultivation and production values as it has become a part of their daily life.

Very little information is available uptill now on spices and their uses as traditional medicines. Literature mostly available on chilli along with different spices in India are highly superficial and do not give the scientific facts about chilli. This book by Dr. Amit Krishna De, deals extensively not only with the cultivation and productional areas but also with the different and divergent uses of chilli. Written in a simple language, this book will be of invaluable guide not only to the common people but also to the researchers and exporters dealing with chilli.

The history of Chilli is very different from the history of the other spices. Chilli was not originally cultivated in India. The Puranas, Vedas and Upanishads do not speak of chilli or any other relevant pungent fruit though other spices have been mentioned. The only pungent spice mentioned in those books are black pepper which is still now cultivated in India in large quantities and have high export value. There is, however, some reference in the ancient 'Kuljinama Pathi', an Ayurvedic literature, that relates about a fruit which is pungent and can be considered to be as chilli. Again in Susrata, it has been mentioned in the sloka 40 that chilli has a lot of medicinal uses and can be used for the treatment of various diseases. This is explained in detail later in the chapter 'Uses of Chilli in Ayurvedic Medicine' in this book. Surprisingly, regarding the medicinal properties of chilli, what was discovered hundred of years ago is now proved to be true by modern scientific experiments.