By Dhananjaya Bhat There is no devotee of Lord Rama greater than the monkey-god Hanuman and the greatest service he did to Lord Rama, was in bringing the Sanjivani herb from the Himalayas to save the life of Lakshmana, Lord Rama's brother.
One researcher on Hinduism found that out of pictures/statues of Hanuman in our homes/temples, ninety percent would be that of him bringing back on his hands, the Dronagiri mountain of Himalayas, where the herb was growing .
Sanjivani or Sanjeevani is a (mythical?) magical herb which has the power to cure any malady.
It is believed that medicines prepared from this herb can even revive a dead person.
During the battle with Ravana, Lakshmana was wounded and was rendered unconscious by Ravana's son Indrajit who used, what could be surmised as 'astras' a sort of radio active weapons.
Vibhishna asked Hanuman to kidnap Ravana's chief physician Sushena and under duress, Sushena told the monkey god, that the only cure for the trauma was an herb called Sanjivani found in the Himalayas and also warned that the medicine much be given to Lakhsmana before sunrise the next day.
According to Berkeley professor R P Goldman, a scholar, who made an intense study of Hindu mythological texts like the Ramayana, Hanuman must have flown at 660 km per hour to reach the Himalayas 2000 kilometres away.
Upon reaching his target, Hanuman was unable to identify the herb as there were many herbs like "Sanjivani".
The confused Hanuman, immediately lifted hill known as Dronagiri, with all the herbs in his right hand and flew back to Lanka battlefield.
According to legends, that even as Hanuman arrived, Lakshmana revived on merely breathing the air now miraculously fragrant with the herb! Strangely enough the Dronagiri mountain seems to have shed some of its bulk over South India (as Hanuman flew carrying it) creating hillocks full of medicinal herbs.
One is the Sanjeevani hill at Nilakottai about one hundred kilometers of modern Trichinopoly and another a small hill called Maruthvazhmalai which lies along the National Highway, 6 km short of Kanyakumari.
Ayurvedic experts find these two hillocks full of medicinal herbs, not available in other nearby peaks of the western ghats.
Ramayana must have taken place nearly 7000 years ago, as Rama's date of birth has been fixed at January 10, 5114 BC, according to the famous Indian astrologer Shri Saroj Bala.
During these 7000 years, Indian Ayurvedic specialists and of lately western scientific investigators have tried to find out as to the exact nature of the herb Sanjivani.
They have got some success, but still the real Sanjeevani has eluded them.
One problem is that Ramayana only mentions that Lakhsmana was unconscious due to the magical weapon used by Ravana's son Indrajit and that he was revived on smelling the Sanjeevani laden air.
Did Lakshmana suffer from any radiation hazard or any loss of blood is not known.
Secondly the portion of Himalayas from where the mountain growing the herb was plucked has been disputed, some scholars claiming it to be Kashmir and others that it was at Sikkim.
Sixty years ago on ayurvedic expert, writing in Calcutta's Amrita Bazar Patrika claimed that he found a herb in Sikkim, which when used, cured fractures of the bone within a very short time.
He opined that it was Sanjeevani.
Western scientists have identified 'Sanjivani' (scientific name Selaginella Bryopteris) as belonging to the Pteridophyta group of ferns, a lythophytic plant with medicinal properties.
While some references in scientific literature list Selaginella bryopteris as the Sanjeevani mentioned in Hindu mythology, a search of ancient texts currently underway in Government of India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories.
But these researches have so far not revealed any plant that can be totally certified as Sanjeevani.
A group of Indian scientists researching on the subject found in 2005, that Indian herb 'Sanjeevani' (Selaginella bryopteris) can promote growth and protect against heat shock and apoptotic activities of ultra violet and oxidative stress.
(Journal of Bioscience, 30,499-505).
Again there is another claimant to the magical properties of the Sanjivani! These days, the Indian Army endorses the healing and energising qualities of seabuckthorn, a fruit found in the Himalayan peaks of the Ladakh region.which is also mythically believed to be the Sanjivani Buti (Sanjivani herb), that finds reference in The Ramayana.
The DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) of the Government of India, has recommended a ration of 300ml of seabuckthorn fruit juice for each soldier a day, which helps check respiratory problems and fatigue due to a high level of vitamin K found in the fruit.
The fact that this is the only fruit juice that does not freeze at even minus 40 degrees centigrade also works in its favour.
DRDO, under its Charak research programme, is evaluating the efficacy of seabuckthorn for radioprotection against lethal ionising radiation during a nuclear attack.
''The berry has shown potential of protection against the lethal 60 Co (Cobalt) gamma radiation.
Since the plant has a safety record in Tibetan, European, Chinese and Russian systems of medicine, the radioactive formulations developed from this plant are likely to find widespread applications in radioprotection as well,'' said a paper submitted by the Division of Radiopharmaceuticals and Radiation Biology.
Many scientists opine that what Ramayana states to be the predicament of Lakhshmana has all the signs of heat shock and apoptotic activities of ultra violet and oxidative stress and the findings of DRDO and the Journal of Bioscience might lead us to the fabulous Sanjeevani herb.
-(Maharaja Features)
