I always thought Chuna consumed in the form of pan or directly is injurious to health but this talk by the local Vaidya got us thinking about all such notions we carry.
Chuna
By Traroth (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
He said that a pinch of Chuna taken with 4 spoons of water can help –
1. Combat acidity : When you have acidity all you need is some alkali material to soothe your digestive tract. Chuna is an excellent remedy taken in the diluted form as suggested above. It is calcium carbonate and tackles the acid giving instant relief better than the ENO and such that we fetch. Cheap home remedy.
2. Fight Dental Caries
3. Takes care of the worms
4. Deal with Calcium Deficiency – is an excellent calcium supplement unlike Sandoz it is a natural form and doesn’t hurt the system. If you take higher amounts in other forms it might cause troubles associated with excess calcim – blockage of arteries that leads to heart attack <>. Chuna on the other hand is used only in the necessary quanties and excreted otherwise.
5. Reduce hair loss and improves the texture of the hair. At this point all the ladies in the audience were like – I beg your pardon, what was that, etc! 😀 So he goes on telling what is good for the hair and recommends khopra oil (kaccha highly). This he recommends oral consumption as well. It is an excellent remedy for Dry Cough. When applied with lesun (garlic) aids in healing pains. Garlic needs to be heated till it turns black and then use it with the oil. Mustard oil is also good for pains. There is a mention of maala good for throat – garlic kaadha.
Taking Chuna as indicated above early in the morning on an empty stomach is recommended highly.
Jaggrey mixed Chuna makes an excellent plaster that can be used to form a cast for fractures and sprains. If Chuna is applied directly to the sprain it helps heal faster.
Q. Isn’t pan bad for health? All that we keep hearing about Supari?
Pan can be very good when it has Chuna, Supari and Katha without the scented ingredients. Supari (without saccrine, scent, unprocessed and sundried) is actually quite good. Katha helps fight blood diseases. In fact it is a good remedy Naksir (Nose Bleeding) – just two drops brought close to the nose (Even Hariyal Ras helps – 4 drops). A good pan consists of Chuna, Katha, Saunf, Long (Clove), Gulkand & Dried scent free supari. Next time you eat one you can ask them to make it without all the jazz!:))
Rai and Ajwain are very helpful in dealing with aches when taken with warm water. Turmeric and ajwain (or rai) when taken with Dhup ka Dhuan is very good for cold and cough. It also helps with Stomach ailments. The Dhuan can also help with non-healing wounds when exposed to the smoke.
Burnt Cowdung Toothpowder Ingredients –
By Waugsberg (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
