The Ber Tree

V. RAMAKANTHA, Ph.D., is a former Indian Forest Service officer and member of the Green Initiative at the international Heartfulness Center, Kanha Shanti Vanam, India. Having spent most of his working life living in forests and jungles, in tune with the natural world, he shares his knowledge about some of the amazing medicinal plants of India, in this case the Ber Tree.

- V. RAMAKANTHA, Ph.D

Botanical Name: Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.

Common Names: Indian Jujube, Indian Plum, Chinese Date, Ber, Gangaregu, Badari.

The Ber tree is a much branched, thorny deciduous tree with a spreading crown, growing to a height of about 45 feet. It is a hardy species with its origin in India. Its presence is unmistakable in the sandy soils of arid and semiarid zones of India, and it is widely cultivated for its fruits. The dried fruits purify the blood and are used in the treatment of chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, diarrhea, pharyngitis, bronchitis, anemia, irritability and hysteria. The seeds are used in the treatment of insomnia and nervous exhaustion.

Mythology & History

Ber fruits have an association with Shabari, one of the extraordinary characters in the epic Ramayana. Shabari exemplifies the fact that the spiritual quest is not a prerogative of any sex, creed, class or community, but the birth right of all human beings.

Shabari was born into a hunter-gatherer community, and lived much of her life in Dandakaranya, the jungles of the Deccan Peninsula. At one moment in her life, she started observing in herself the loss of interest in anything other than the deep void engulfing her. To begin with, she developed an aversion to meat eating, and dropped the habit. There was a growing restlessness in her heart, and she did not know what would quench her thirst for the unknown. One fine day, with an overwhelming sense of dejection, she left her abode, and started wandering in the jungles, with no particular aim in life.