Atharva-Veda

For the Indians, vitiligo was a serious condition. The Atharva Veda, a sacred Hindu text written no less than thirty-four hundred... 

In the Indian scripture of the Atharva Veda, the fourth book of the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of the Brahman religion (ca 2,000—1,400 B.C.), bhang (hemp) was identified as one of five sacred plants of India. 

Sacred Books of the East Volume 42, Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, translated by Maurice Bloomfield, 1897. 

The earliest reference to mind-altering effects from Cannabis appears in the Atharva-Veda of the second millenium B.C., when it was already regarded as one of the five sacred plants of India. Ernest L. Abel in his Marihuana The First Twelve Thousand Years, describes much of the early use of Cannabis in the daily life of China and India. Schultes and Hofmann in Plants of the Gods document its use in Tibet ... 

In China, arrow poisons have been known to the Han and other peoples for at least 2500 years. They were used for both hunting and warfare, and documentary evidence indicates that the principal source of poison was Aconitum, the tubers of which yield aconitine. The same poison was also used in ancient India, where it was called visha and derived from a plant known as Bish. The hymns of the Rg Veda and Atharva Veda (1200-900 bc) show that poisoned arrows were used in war, and that the tubers of Aconitum were the major poison source. Later Buddhist and Sanskrit writings indicate the continued use of poisoned arrows and reveal that a second source of poison was decomposing snakes. 

In the beginning the renowned seed-syllable Ya became the Atharva Veda. 

The fact that some substances sensitize human skin to light has been known at least since the time of the Pharaohs. The Egyptians used plant extracts from Ammi Majus, which contains psoralens, and sunlight to treat skin disorders such as leukoderma (vitiligo). In one of India s sacred books, Atharva Veda (1400 b.c. or earlier), photochemotherapy of leukoderma with extracts of Psoralea corylifolia, which contains furocoumarins, is carefully described. 

Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung prescribes cannabis for senility Snmerlan/Akkadlan, cannabis use fornissati/grlef Atharva Veda,bhang for grief... 

In the Indian Atharva Veda (passage 11,6,15) circa 1600 B.C.E., cannabis, or bhanga, is one of five herbs employed to release ns from anxiety. (Commission, 1894, Appendix 3, p. 286). 

Whitney WD (1905) Atharva Veda Samhita (Translation and Notes). Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. 7. Harvard University Press, Lanman, Mass... 

O Purifier may we not injure thy vitals or thy heart (Atharva Veda) ... 

Furanocoumarins have been used in folk medicine for a long time. The Indian sacred book Atharva Veda describes the treatment of leukoderma (vitiligo) using a poultice from a plant now known as Psoralea corylifolia, and the ancient Egyptians used Ammi majus for the same disorder. The first furano-coumarin, 5-methoxypsoralen, was isolated in 1838 by Kalbrunner from bergamot oil. 

The ancient Hindus, Turks, Egyptians, and other Orientals exploited this property in popular medicine. In fact, the use of Psoralea corylifolia extracts to treat vitihgo is mentioned in the Indian sacred book Atharva Veda and in the old Buddhist Bower manuscript Another plant, Amni Majus that grows in the Nile valley, was used for centuries as a cure for leukoderma. - ... 

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