Did you know that the creamy white flower of Dhatura plant, a most toxic shrub, commonly growing in the wild all over India, of the solanaceae family, is offered to Lord Shiva with the prayer to remove its toxicity like jealousy and envy from our body and soul?
Dhatura, with botanical name Dhatura Solanaceae, commonly growing in the wild in waste lands all over India, belongs to solanaceae family. It is known in India by the three species (though over all there are nine species identified world over) members. These are: Dhatura alba, safed datura, a white flowered plant; Dhatura niger, Kala datura or Krishna datura;, a purple flower plantl; and Dhatura stramonium.
The generic name Datura is taken from Sanskrit धतूरा dhatūra and in the Ayurvedic text ';Sushruta Samhita', different species of Datura are also referred to as kanaka and unmatta. In English usage, it is known as Jimson weed, thorn/mad apple, Devil's trumpet, moonflower, devil's weed, and hell's bell. In Indian vernacular langauges, it is called as: Biliyummatta, Dathuri, Datthoora, Unmatta in Kannada; Unmattam, Vellaiyumattai in Tamil; Tella-ummetha, Duthooramu, Ummettha in Telugu; Mudela-nila-hummatu, Ummattu in Malayalam; Dhutro in Bengali, Sagol Hidak in Manipuri, Dhature in Hindi and Rogan datur in Urdu.
In India's religous tradition of many Hindus, it is the favorite flower of Lord Shiva, particuarly offered to the Lord in veneration during the entrire month of Savan. The legend related to this practice says that Lord Shiva was offered Dhatura, during the episodic Samudra Manthan (the Churning of the Ocean) event when Halahal poison emerged from the Ocean of Milk (Kshira Sagara). This caused a frigtening moment to the devas and the asuras who were churning the ocean to get Amrita, the necar of Life . They werea frightened as the poison that emerged first was so poisonous that even if a drop of it fell anywhere, the thing or place could get completely destroyed. It had the power to even destroy the world. On specfic request of Brahma and Vishnu, His triad friends, Shiva always obliging, drank the Halahala poison but it got stuck in his throat due to his consort Parvathi's intervention. However, due to Halahala's impact, dhatura flower is said to have emerged out of Shiva's chest. Hence, it was consdiered an antidote to arrest the ill effects of Datura, though by itself Dhatura possessed some poisonous qualities. Thus it has become an accepted religiuos practice to offera the Datura flower (preferably white coloured) to Lord Shiva, in veneration with a frevent prayer to remove the toxins like jealousy and envy from our body and soul. It is also said that Sati, loving first wife of Shiva, would gather the white dhatura flowers in their garden every day and weave them into a garland to crown her Lord Shiva. And in keeping with this practice, even to this day dhatura is the special flower that is offered to Shiva or Mahadeva during the mysticism of Sāwaṇ month (July and August). Hence, it is also known as Chandrashekhara in the ancient religious texts of India.
Dhatura is often grown as an ornamental plant in tropical to temperate areas of the world, particularly types with double flowers, white and and purple flowers. All parts of Dhatura are poisonous but seeds and fruits are the most noxious. Its विश Vish or poison is intrinsic to the plant , despite its most intoxicating aroma and its luminosity. The active principle is known as Dhaturine and contains alkaloids. In India, it is mainly used as a stupefying poison mostly for criminal purposes such as robbery, and rarely for kidnapping and rape. In children accidental poisoning may occur due to ingestion of dhatura fruits mistaking them for edible fruits or capscium seeds. Accidental cases are also seen from use of Dhatura seeds by quacks for treatment of various ailments or to harm enemies. The incidence of Dhatura poisoning in India varies from 3 to 5 percent. In western society it is associated with witchcraft and sorcery.
Dhatura plant is more a shrub with its leaves egg shaped, toothed, pubescent, oblique at the base of lamina. Its bisexual flowers, 15 cm long, funnel-shaped are creamy white or pink in colour. Its fruits, capsule type, spherical, with short spines, dehiscence irregular.are covered with prickles. Inspite of its inherent poisonus quality, the plants root, dried leaves, top portions of flowers, and seeds are widely used in Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine and also in the Unani Medicne. In Ayurveda it is used for treating lunatic disorder, body ache, swollen legs, ear ache, baldness, soreness of the eyes, cure boils, stop lactation, cure snake bite. In Unani medicine, it is used as Rohan Dhatura massage oil for paralysed portion of the body, and its seeds are used as Haba Shafa as a cure for asthma. Since aniamls, and insects keep away from this plant it is planted as an ornamental hedge plant. Dhatura
Did you know that the white flower of Dhatura plant, a most toxic shrub, commonly growing in the wild all over India, of the solanaceae family, is offered to Lord Shiva with the prayer to remove its toxicity like jealousy and envy from our body and soul?
Dhatura, with botanical name Dhatura Solanaceae, commonly growing in the wild in waste lands all over India belongs to solanaceae family is known in India by the three species (though over all there are nine species identified worldover) members. These are: Dhatura alba, safed datura, a white flowered plant; Dhatura niger, Kala datura or Krishna datura;, a purple flower plantl; and Dhatura stramonium. The generic name Datura is taken from Sanskrit धतूरा dhatūra and in the Ayurvedic text ';Sushruta Samhita', different species of Datura are also referred to as kanaka and unmatta. In English usage it is known as Jimson weed, thorn/mad apple, Devil's trumpet, moonflower, devil's weed, and hell's bell. In Indian vernacular langauges, it is called as: Biliyummatta, Dathuri, Datthoora, Unmatta in Kannada; Unmattam, Vellaiyumattai in Tamil; Tella-ummetha, Duthooramu, Ummettha in Telugu; Mudela-nila-hummatu, Ummattu in Malayalam; Dhutro in Bengali, Sagol Hidak in Manipuri, Dhature in Hindi and Rogan atur in Urdu.
In India's religous tradition of Hindus it is the favorite flower of Lord Shiva , particuarly offered to the Lord in veneration during entrire month of Savan. The legend related to this practice says that Lord Shiva was offered Dhatura, during the episodic Samudra Manthan (the churning of the ocean) event when Halahal poison emerged from the Ocean. of Milk (Kshira sagara). This caused a frigtening moment to the deas and the asura who were churning the ocean to get the necar of Life . They werw frightened as the poison that emerged first was so poisonous that even if a drop of it fell anywhere, the thing or place could get completely destroyed. It had the power to even destroy the world. On specfic request of Brahma and Vishnu, His triad friends, Shiva drank the Halahala poison but got stuck in his throat due to his consort Parvathi's intervention.. However, due to its impact, dhatura flower is said to have emerged out of Shiva's chest. Hence it was consdiered an antidote to arrest the ill effects of Datura, though by itself Dhatura possessed some poisonous qualities. Thus it has become an accepted reliuos practice the Datura flower (preferably white coloured) to Lord Shiva, with a frevent prayer to remove the toxins like jealousy and envy from our body and soul. It is also said that Sati, loving first wife of Shiva would gather the white dhatura flowers in their garden every day and weave them into a garland to crown her Lord Shiva. And in keeping with this practice, even to this day dhatura is the special flower that is offered to Shiva or Mahadeva during the mysticism of Sāwaṇ month (July and August). Hence it is also known as Chandrashekhara in the ancient religious texts of India.
Dhatura is often grown as an ornamental in tropical to temperate areas of the world, particularly types with double flowers, white and and purple flowers. All parts of Dhatura are posinous but seeds and fruits are the most noxious. Its विश Vish or poison is intrinsic to the plant , despite its most intoxicating aroma and its luminosity.The active principle is known as Dhaturine and contains alkaloids. In India, it is mainly used as a stupefying poison mostly for criminal purposes such as robbery, and rarely for kidnapping and rape. In children accidental poisoning may occur due to ingestion of dhatura fruits mistaking them for edible fruits or capscium seeds. Accidental cases are also seen from use of Dhatura seeds by quacks for treatment of various ailments or to harm enemies. The incidence of Dhatura poisoning in India varies from 3 to 5 percent. In western society it is associated with witchcraft and sorcery.
Dhatura plant is more a shrub with its leaves egg shaped, toothed, pubescent , oblique at the base of lamina. Its bisexual flowers, 15 cm long, funnel-shaped are creamy white or pink in colour. I ts fruits capsule type, spherical, with short spines, dehiscence irregular.are covered with prickles. Inspite of its inhrent poisonus quality the plants root, dried leaves, top portions of flowers, and seeds are widely used in Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine and also in the Unani Medicne. In Ayurveda it is used for treating lunatic disorder, body ache, swollen legs, earachhe, baldness, soreness of the eyes, cure biols, stop lactation, and snake bite. In Unai medicine it is used as Rohan Dhatura massage oil for paralysed portion of the body, and its seeds are used as Haba Shafa as a cure for asthma. Its leaves are excellent antifungal agents and effective against brown rust in respect of paddy and wheat and for storage of these grains. Leaf dust as well as leaf extract can be used for this purpose.
Datura plant when consumed even in less quantity can cause hallucination or even madness, if overdosed it can even lead to death. An interesting statement related to the clinical manifestations of Dhatura poisoning is summed up as: “Hot as a hare, blind as a bat, dry as a bone, red as beet and mad as a hen.”
- Narasipur Char
