The Garden of Life

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385424698 ISBN 13: 9780385424691

Publisher: Doubleday, 1993

A reexamination of the discoveries made by India's greatest sages thousands of years ago is divided into five sections--Sacred, Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic, and Aromatic--and features discussion of the applications of seventy plants. 30,000 first printing. $30,000 ad/promo.

About the Author:

Naveen Patnaik is a founding member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. He has written articles for cultural and environmental publications, and lives in New Delhi, India.

From Publishers Weekly:

Patnaik ( A Desert Kingdom: The Rajputs of Bakur ), who is the brother of the novelist Gita Mehta, gives us a unusual and pictorially lovely survey of which natural plants, herbs, fruits and essences are known in India to offer balm to the ill. Ginger, says the author, will help one to recover from motion sickness, and it wards off the build-up of cholesterol; plantain leaves can be applied to wounds; hemp fights migraines. Then, of course, there is the lotus, both real and mythical in power, and a central symbol in kundalini yoga: while various potions can be wrung from it, its beauty alone is "considered a medicine." The mango, too, has many purposes: the twigs can serve as "antiseptic" toothbrushes, while the seeds successfully thwart dysentery. Sandalwood paste can "tranquilize a believer"; drunken, it will soothe ulcers. This lore is copious and well told, and the pictures, commissioned by Patnaik from eight Indian artists "to reflect a cross section of Indian art," are outstanding: delicate yet lush, they seem to ease pain, too.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.