Neem Tree - A Living Legend: History of Neem @ neemtree.info

Neem Leaves and Fruits Neem (Azadirachta indica) is a most unusual and fascinating plant. A cousin of the mahogany, it's an evergreen tree that grows well in the tropics and is native to India and Myanmar. The healing properties of Neem are spoken about in the Vedas, the world's oldest books, and for almost 5,000 years, millions of Indian people have used all parts of this sacred tree as medicinals - the seeds, leaves, flowers, fruits, oil, roots and bark.

Harappa and Mohanjodaro The first indication that Neem was being used as a medicinal treatment was about 4,500 years ago. This was the high point of the Indian Harappa culture, one of the great civilizations of the ancient world. Excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in North-Western and Western India that date from that period found several therapeutic compounds, including Neem leaves, gathered in the ruins.

Shortly after Julius Caesar established the Roman Empire, Pliny the Elder issued a public complaint the everpincreasing volume of medicines imported from India was causing a serious drain on the Roman gold treasury. By that time, medical practitioners on the Indian subcontinent had been studying and documenting the effects of hundreds of botanical compounds for more than 2,500 years. As early explorers traveled to India to trade for gold, silks and spices, carefully compiled Indian medicines were also brought back to Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.

With the advent of the British, things changed. European colonisers systematically discouraged traditional practices like using neem leaves to protect crops and stored grains and over time, these came to be regarded as "backward". There was a tendency on the part of the colonial rulers to encourage people to abandon their ecologically sound practices in favour of modern chemical products imported from the West. It's only now that efforts are being made to revive the old practices.

Indian Flag To Indians in foreign lands the Neem tree brought solace and helped them bridge the gap with their homeland. It symbolised a continuity of tradition and fulfilled the need to live in intimate harmony with nature. Thus the Neem Tree found itself a new home in Mauritius, Fiji, Australia, East and Sub-Saharan Africa, south East Asia, many countries in Central and south America and Caribbean. With this journey actoss the oceans, the saga of the Neem spread to the far corners of the globe. During Gandhi's Freedom movement there was a renewed interest in things swadeshi, which led to a move to encourage 'swadeshi science'. Neem research in India was a part of this movement.

Banglore Poineering work on commercial use of Neem Oil and Cake was done by the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore during the 1920s. Until 1933, Neem cakes were used in sugarcane fields as a fertilizer and to keep termites at bay. Then pesticides made of synthetic chemicals started appearing in the market and they quickly overshadowed traditional products and methods.

Gandhi Gandhi, however, kept the tradition of Neem alive. He was known to be a firm believer in the goodness of Neem. One doctor, in reply to some queries about Neem leaves by Gandhi, wrote, "We have made experients upon Neem leaves in our laboratory which revealed that its leaves contain more nutritious elements than any other similar vegetation which had been subjected to chemical analysis earlier." Even leading European forestry experts have now conceded that Neem is one of the most promising trees of the 21st century, with a great potential in the fields of pest management, environment protection and medicine.

Nimbolies (Neem Fruits)
Nimbolies - The Neem fruits

Neem Tree and Gandhi

Gandhi Prayer meetings at the Sabarmati Ashram were conducted under a Neem tree by Gandhi and a Neem leaf chutney was a part of his everyday diet.

Neem in Animal Health

Horse The use of Neem in veterinary medicine in India dates back to the times of the epic Mahabharata (300 B.C.). according to scholars, two of the five Pandava brothers Nakul and Sahadev, who practiced veterinary medicine, used Neem to treat ailing and wounded horses and elephants by applying poultices prepared from Neem leaves and Neem Oil for healing the wounds etc., during the bettle of Mahabharata.

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The History of Neem