The Magic of Neem Margosa to Heal

Book excerpt: The Magic of Neem Margosa to Heal Table of Contents Introduction Neem oil Make Your Skin Blemish Free How to Grow a Neem Neem in Ancient Medicine Traditional Kajal How to Apply Kajal Curing Eye Infections Neem Seeds As a Pesticide Neem Seeds As a Pyrolysis/Stroke Massage Oil Curing Piles Sweet Neem? Halitosis Neem Seeds As Poultry and Cattle Feed Preserving Clothes and Books Curing Wounds with Neem Cleaning Infections Making a Neem Poultice My Own Neem Ointment The Slow Sun Method Another Neem Oil Method Neem Burn Remedy Sprains Prickly Heat Pain in Joints Do Your Shoes Bite? How to make Neem Ash Leukoderma Cure Fever Cure Getting Rid of Bedbugs Malarial Fumigation How to Make Neem Soap Appendix How to Make Desi Ghee Conclusion Authors Bio Introduction Most of us may have heard the name of an indigenous plant found in the East, – Neem. This is the local name for a plant called Margosa-the Indian Neem. Its scientific name is Azadirachta indica. This is a long living tree, which has come down in Indian mythology as one of the gifts of the gods, given to the people of Jambudwipa- the prehistoric and historic name of the area which consisted of the Indian subcontinent. That is the reason why this plant is worshipped in many ancient traditional rituals of some religious sects in India. Neem twigs are used as a toothbrush, even today. You break off a twig, chew it to keep your teeth healthy and then brush your teeth with this chewed portion. It is definitely bitter in taste, but you never will ever have to visit a dentist. No Indian garden is considered to be complete without a Neem tree growing. The idea is that the grandfather is going to plant the Neem tree, and the future generations up to the seventh generation are going to derive benefit of this plant. That is why the first thing one does when one buys a new house is plant a Neem tree and then plant some other fruit trees like mangoes and lemons. The Neem tree used to grow wild, but it is now cultivated extensively throughout the land. It is estimated that there are about 138 million Neem trees cultivated by farmers in Neem plantations throughout India. We are not talking about the ones which grow completely wild in the forests and in the woods or in your gardens. There has been a long mythological history of the Neem, coming down the ages. Let me give you one example. The Neem grown on the outskirts of the village, would be worshipped by ancient villagers, who wanted the friendly spirits living on the Neem to grant them their wishes. That is why, they often fed the Neem with milk or buried copper coins underneath the Neem tree. I do not know who took advantage of the buried coins, but I saw this pattern being followed as an adult, when people got to know about the only Neem tree, in the locality, which happened to have been planted by my grandfather four decades earlier.