Hindu Medicine c7.71

c7.71

The plants themselves are blessed, that they may prosper and spread on earth (16), and increase as a blessing to man, by being brought within the human sphere (11, 17). Underlying is the idea that the divine herbs, like most extrahuman powers, display a fundamentally ambivalent attitude towards man; that they are indifferent, at best, to man's weal or woe, unless propitiated and made friendly through an established ritual of magic. The herbalist-magician is aware of the fact that the herbs might be reluctant to succor man in his need, or might prove vengeful, having been uprooted and estranged from their proper soil. Their favor has to be courted, not only by extolling their origin and virtues, but by expressly alluding to the hoped-for beneficent aspect, which they are urged to disclose. In an apotropaic euphemism, they are styled "by-no-means-harming," "non-obstructing," and so forth (6); their beneficent nature is thus bespoken and emphasized to ward off any possible ill-will, which might manifest itself in a harmful, even poisonous effect. Finally they are besought to protect, in general, the health of the inhabitants of the village, men and animals (11).