Ancient texts say the Sanjeevani Booti plant has life-restoring properties.
Highlights
- Uttarakhand will spend Rs 25 crore to hunt for Sanjeevani Booti
- There is scant evidence that the plant ever existed
- Ancient texts say the plant has life-restoring properties
Uttarakhand will soon begin a multi-million dollar search in the Himalayas for the mythical Sanjeevani Booti plant believed to hold life-saving properties, a minister told news agency AFP today.
Uttarakhand will spend Rs 25 crore of tax-payers money to hunt for the herb, referred to in the Ramayana.
While many wild plants with medicinal properties grow in the Himalayas, there is scant evidence that the plant ever existed, with sages and modern researchers failing for centuries to find it.
"We have to try and it will never go to waste. If we are determined we will certainly find it," Surendra Singh Negi, the state's minister for alternative medicine, told AFP. The Congress governs the hill state. The minister said the search will focus on the Dronagiri range of Himalayas near the Chinese border, one mountain of which is mentioned in the epic Ramayana as being the site where the magical herb grows.
Scientists will start work in August, the minister said, adding that the central government has refused to fund the project.
Ancient texts say the plant has life-restoring properties, grows in the high mountains of the Himalayas and glows in the dark.
According to the Ramayana, the monkey god Hanuman was asked by Lord Rama to fetch the herb after a healer said it would cure Laxman, who was severely injured.
But Hanuman failed to identity the plant, instead uprooting the entire mountain and carrying it thousands of miles to treat the mortally injured prince during a war with demons in what is now Sri Lanka.