gaNEs'a eats kapittha (कपित्थ) phala. What is it? (Nutrition, Medicine)

by J.M.Garg

I was actually searching for the etymyology of manmatha, and I found that this is one of the interesting meanings of the word.

मन्मथ

manmatha

m.

Feronia Elephantum

Then I followed Feronia elephantum to wikipedia, where I not only found the picture above but also learned that This was the kapittha (कपित्थ) that gaNEs’a loves to eat!

Naturally! And so do I. It is delicious. You can eat it with sugar too, if you are so inclined.

It is native in the Indomalaya ecozone toBangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Wikipedia gives these other names for it :

The common names of Limonia acidissima include:

• English: Wood Apple, Elephant Apple, Monkey Fruit or Curd Fruit.
• Oriya: Kaitha
• Kannada: Belada Hannu / Byalada Hannu(ಬೇಲದ ಹಣ್ಣು)
• Telugu: Vellaga Pandu(వెలగ పండు)
• Tamil: Vilam Palam (விளாம் பழம்)
• Malayalam: Vilam Kai (വിളാങ്കായ്)
• Bengali: Koth Bel (কৎ বেল)
• Khmer: Kvet (ខ្វិត)
• Hindi: Kaitha (कैथा) or Kath Bel.
• Oriya: Kaintha.
• Gujarati: Kothu.
• Sinhalese: Divul. (දිවුල්)
• Marathi: KavaTH (कवठ).
• Javanese: Kawis or Kawista
• Malaysia : Belingai
• Sanskrit: Kapittha (कपित्थ),^[2] Dadhistha, Surabhicchada, Kapipriya, Dadhi, Puṣpapahala , Dantasātha, Phalasugandhika, Cirapākī, Karabhithū, Kanṭī, Gandhapatra, Grāhiphala, Kaṣāyāmlaphala.^[3]

Treknature says :

As a Food :

“The rind must be cracked with a hammer. The scooped-out pulp, though sticky, is eaten raw with or without sugar, or is blended with coconut milk and palm-sugar syrup and drunk as a beverage, or frozen as an ice cream. It is also used in chutneys and for making jelly and jam. The jelly is purple and much like that made from black currants.”

Use of Shell :

“The fruit shell is fashioned into snuffboxes and other small containers.”

Medicinal Uses :

“The fruit is much used in India as a liver and cardiac tonic, and, when unripe, as an astringent means of halting diarrhea and dysentery and effective treatment for hiccough, sore throat and diseases of the gums. The pulp is poulticed onto bites and stings of venomous insects, as is the powdered rind.

Juice of young leaves is mixed with milk and sugar candy and given as a remedy for biliousness and intestinal troubles of children. The powdered gum, mixed with honey, is given to overcome dysentery and diarrhea in children.
Oil derived from the crushed leaves is applied on itch and the leaf decoction is given to children as an aid to digestion. Leaves, bark, roots and fruit pulp are all used against snakebite. The spines are crushed with those of other trees and an infusion taken as a remedy for menorrhagia. The bark is chewed with that of Barringtonia and applied on venomous wounds.”

According to : http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/wood-apple.html

Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Pulp*
	Pulp (ripe)	Seeds
Moisture	74.0%	4.0%
Protein	8.00%	26.18%
Fat	1.45%	27%
Carbohydrates	7.45%	35.49%
Ash	5.0%	5.03%
Calcium	0.17%	1.58%
Phosphorus	0.08%	1.43%
Iron	0.07%	0.03%
Tannins	1.03%	0.08%

*According to analyses made in India.

The Pandanus Database of plants says :

Name :

“The Wood apple, or Elephant apple, so called because the fruit is like an elephant’s skin, in Sanskrit Kapittha (on which monkeys dwell) and Kapipriya (dear to monkeys), is met with throughout India, and is cultivated for the sake of the fruit, which is edible. It is called Dadhiphala in Sanskrit, as its taste is compared with that of Dadhi or coagulated milk.”

Medicine :

“The Hindus consider the unripe fruit to be a useful astringent in diarrhoea and dysentery, and prescribe the ripe fruit in affection of the gums and throat. . The leaves are aromatic and carminative. The author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya says that the leaves are very astringent, and have the taste and odour of Tarragon. He describes the fruit as cold and dry in the second degree, refreshing, astringent, cardiacal and tonic, a useful remedy in salivation and sore throat, strengthening the gums and acting as an astringent; sherbet made from the fruit increases the appetite, and has alexipharmic properties. The pulp applied externally is a remedy for the bites of venomous insects; if not obtainable, the powdered rind may be used.”

“Ainslie mentions the use of the fruit, leaves and gum. He says that the latter supplies the place of gum Arabic in Lower India and is prescribed by Tamool practitioners to relieve tenesmus in bowel affection. The Feronia elephantum is the Balong of the Portuguese. It is mentioned in the Bengal Dispensatory and Pharmacopoeia of India, but no further information as to its properties is to be gathered from these works. The fruit when cultivated, attains a diameter of four inches. The gum forms part of the country gum which is sold in the bazaars.”

“It is the Dadhittha-rassa of Sanskrit writers. Under the name of Pancha-kāpittha, or five products of the Feronia, the Hindus prepare a medicine, which contains the flowers, bark, root, leaves and fruit of the tree. The country people pound the leaves with curds and apply the mixture to the whole body as a remedy for heat of blood supposed to be caused by bile.”

It is a dance mudra! According to http://mudrasofindia.blogspot.in/2011/08/kapittha-wood-apple.html :

http://mudrasofindia.blogspot.in/2011/08/kapittha-wood-apple.html

“Kapittha Mudra is the eleventh hand gesture of the 28 single-hand mudras (Asamyutta Hastas) as described in the Abhinaya Darpana. The mudra is also noted in the Natya Sastra, and in Abhinaya Chandrika (as Ankusha). This mudra originates from the time the churning of the ocean was done and Vishnu used this hand gesture to pull upon Mt.Mandara. Its sage is Narada, its race Rushi, its color smokey-white, its patron deity Padmagarbha (Vishnu).

Technique: Curl the little, ring, and middle fingers into your palm. Stretch your thumb by the side of your palm, and cap it with the pad of your index finger directly above the tip of the thumb.

Application: Primarily used in dance and theater to create context and express emotional states or specific actions. Viniyoga (the traditional dance and theatre usages described in Abhinaya Darpana and Natya Shastra): Lakshmyam (“Goddess Lakshmi”);Saraswatyam (“Goddess Saraswati”); Veshtane (“winding”); Taladharana (“holding cymbals”); Godohanam(“milking cowas”); Anjanam (applying collytium”); Lilakusuma-dharana (“holding flower(s) gracefully”);Chelanchala-adi-grahana (“grasping the end of a saree or a robe”); Patasya-iva-avaguntana (“covering the head with a veil”); Dhupa-dipa-archanam (“offering incense”).

Jijith tells us that this was one of the trees that appeared when Bharadwaja hosted Bharata at his ashram enroute Bharata trying to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya.

vrm.2.91

At that place, Bilva, Kapittha, Panasa, Citron Amalaki and Mango Trees laden with fruit appeared.

http://www.sanskrita.org/wiki/index.php/kapittha interprets kapittha as follows.

“kapittha (ttha = stha ) ‘ on which monkeys dwell ‘, Feronia Elephantum, MBh.; Suśr. etc.”

Limonia acidissima from : http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/kapittha)

kapitthe vānarāvaso gandhapattraḥ kapipriyaḥ ||60||

puṣpaphalo dadhiphalo dadhittha-grāhī-manmathāḥ |

akṣispando dantaśaṭho rājāmraś cirapāky api ||61||

…

There, I am very happy to know that the velaga panDu that I offer to vinAyakuDu on vinAyaka caviti and then polish off in His name, is kapittha phala that comes in the s’lOka – kapittha jambUphala sAra bhakSitam!

satyA

 

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