The banyan tree is quite a common sight in the plains of our country, providing much-needed relief from the hot sun. The British people who found Hindu baniyas (traders) transacting their business briskly under the shade of this tree began to refer to it as the ‘banyan’. In Ayurveda, it is one of the five great kshiravrikshas, i.e., milk-exuding trees, the other four being Udumbara (Ficus glomerata), Aswattha (Ficus religiosa), Paareesha (Thespesia populnea) and Plaksha (Ficus lacor).
Almost all the parts—stem bark, root bark, aerial roots, leaves, vegetative buds, sap (milky exudates), flowers, and fruits are therapeutic. Usual dose will be 50 to 100 ml in case of decoction and 3 to 5 gm in case of powder. Latex can be given in 5 to 10 drops dose.
MEDICINAL USES
• Bleeding piles: Take a few drops of the sap with milk regularly.
• Boils and abscess: Warm banyan leaves after coating them with til oil and make a hot poultice to promote suppuration and hasten breaking.
• Burning sensation in fevers: Decoction of hanging roots of banyan tree mixed with ghee alleviates burning sensation in fevers.
• Corneal opacity: Finely powdered camphor mixed with latex of banyan is applied as collyrium (eye ointment).
• Cracks in the heels: Fill the cracks with the milk of banyan tree.
• Diabetes: Soak 2 inches bark overnight in a glass of water. Next morning squeeze the bark and drink the infusion. This is a proven remedy in most of the recent scientific studies.
• Diarrhoea: Pound the hanging roots of banyan tree and take along with cow’s buttermilk to check acute diarrhoea.
• Conception promotion: Leaf-bud of banyan tree helps conception. It should be collected in bright fortnight and pushya constellation and should be taken with water by the women having menses.
• Freckles: Apply the paste of tender leaves of banyan tree and coconut pulp. Similarly leaf-bud of banyan tree and masur-dal removes freckles and enhances the luster of the face.
• Hair problems: Make powder of equal quantities of the aerial roots of banyan tree and the lemon peel. Boil the powder in coconut oil and apply. In case of baldness, powder the aerial roots of banyan tree and lotus roots and use the same way.
• Intrinsic hemorrhage: Tender leaves of doorva grass and banyan tree mixed with honey should be taken.
• Joint pains: The milky juice obtained from banyan tree when massaged on the joints, relieves swelling and pain.
• Sex selection (Pumsavana): Leaf-bud of banyan tree dissolved in milk should be instilled three to four drops in the right nostril of the pregnant woman for attaining male progeny. (Left nostril should be selected for female progeny).
• Soft chancre: Burning leaf of banyan tree should be put in water and the ash be collected. It is taken in the dose of 1.5 grams twice a day.
• Tooth care: Tender aerial roots are chewed and used as toothbrushes. They are known to strengthen the gums and teeth.
• White discharge: The paste of lodhra should be taken along with decoction of banyan tree bark or a cloth-piece impregnated with the above decoction should be kept in the vagina.
• Wounds and ulcers: The latex of banyan tree should be applied. It destroys maggots in wound.