Mountains of Sanjeevani

The Uttarakhand government's initiative to spend R25 crore on an elusive mythical herb should trigger a wider quest to identify,document and analyse life-saving Himalayan herbs.

- Chandra Prakash Kala

THE MYTHICAL herb, sanjeevani, which saved the life of Laxman, brother of Lord Ram, as described in the epic Ramayana authored by Maharshi Valmiki, received widespread media attention recently when the Uttarakhand government proposed to spend R25 crore in finding this miraculous herb. As the legend goes, Lord Hanuman arrived in the Himalayas to gather this life-saving herb, but since he could not identify sanjeevani, he uprooted a part of the mountain and carried it to Lanka. Because of the complexities in identifying this mythical herb, there is skepticism about the proposed project.

The concept of sanjeevani is deeply rooted in the Indian traditional medicinal system. It is also an integral part of the cultural heritage of the country. Sanjeevani literally means something that offers life. People generally believe that sanjeevani can bring a dead person to life. But in the epic Ramayana and Ramcharit Manas, Laxman became unconscious while fighting Meghnath, the eldest son of demon king Ravana. So it is obvious that sanjeevani can bring back a person from a comatose to a conscious state.

Exploratory journeys

About two decades ago, I climbed to Dronagiri village—named after the mountain Dronagiri, the mythical habitat of sanjeevani— in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand. The village is located more than 3,500 m above sea level in the world-famous Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (ndbr). The village is in the upper-most limit of any human habitation in the ndbr. In the evening, I almost fainted due to a severe headache. A woman, who gave us refuge at her house in Dronagiri, offered a small herb root to me. It tasted extremely bitter, but within 45 minutes my headache disappeared.