AMLA

The chebulic myrobalan for resistance to disease, the embelic myrobalan for its tonic value.

~ Treatise of Charaka (1st century A.D.)

The Sanskrit name for this small tree, with its leathery leaves and fleshy fruit, translates as “The Sustainer” or “Thefruit where the Goddess or Prosperity Resides,” and in Hindu religious mythology the tree is worshipped as the Earth

Mother, its fruit considered so nourishing the tree is believed to be nursing mankind.

The fruit of the emblic myrobalan is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C available in India, and is commonly described as containing twenty times the amount of vitamin C to be found in a glass of fresh orange juice.

Ayurveda recommends taking a tonic made from the fruit throughout the winter months. The fresh fruit’s high concentrate of vitamin C has been shown by recent clinical tests on patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis to be more quickly assimilated than the synthetic vitamin. Because it is also cooling, an excellent liver tonic, and assists the body in excreting urinary waste, Ayurvedic physicians recommend drinking the juice during the summer months when the body’s functions become sluggish with the heat.

One of the virtues of the fruit to Ayurvedic medicine is that it can he used both fresh and dried. Together with the chebulic and belleric myrobalans, the emblic myrobalan forms the classic three fruits which are used as the basis of

almost every Ayurvedic tonic, and Ayurveda’s claims for the tonic properties of the myrobalans have attracted much scientific attention in India.

A series of clinical tests on the emblic myrobalan have found the fruit contains elements which are antiviral, raise the total protein level in the body, activate the adrenaline response, and which protect against tremors and convulsions.

Excerpted from The Garden of Life by Naveen Patnaik.

Illustration: Postage stamp issued by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, India, depicting the Amla fruit.