Using Turmeric Leaves

Turmeric leaves’ total production is 30–40 tons per 10 ton of the root because of the plant’s massive volume and surface area, which makes turmeric leaves a plentiful resource.

Several studies have reported that turmeric roots possess multiple pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, antibacterial and anticoagulant, and anti-diabetic based on its free-radical-scavenging activity. 

The activities of turmeric also include antiseptic, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, radioprotective, and digestive activities.  

The rhizome extracts showed high inhibition over bacterial activity of E.coli, S.pyrogens, B.subtilis and C.albicans. 

Turmeric leaf extract has functional effects such as skin immunity, anti-inflammation, and antioxidant activities.

Run out of turmeric? No problem. The extract of dried turmeric leaves soaked in water can serve the same purpose. It will impart the same golden yellow hue you expect from the powder.

Due to the strong anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin, turmeric leaves could prove to be a boon for those suffering osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

A clinical trial, in which 600-mg turmeric root was administered five times daily to patients with peptic ulcer disease, reported ulcer resolution at 4 weeks and 12 weeks in 48% and 76% of patients, respectively. The same study also demonstrated that turmeric markedly improves symptoms of dyspepsia in 1 to 2 weeks.

Turmeric volatile oil is effective against disorders of the respiratory tract. The volatile oil is active in removing sputum, relieving cough, and preventing asthma. Thus, turmeric volatile oil may be an efficacious drug in the treatment of respiratory diseases. 

This oil acts as a repellent against both day- and night-biting mosquitoes.

In a phase I clinical study on the safety and tolerance of turmeric oil use, the oil was administered orally to healthy volunteers for 3 months. No side effects of turmeric oil intake were observed in 3 months on body weight, blood pressure, and hematological, renal, or hepatic toxicity 

How to Make Turmeric Oil from Fresh Turmeric is at this link.

Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization

Nearly two-thirds of the 1,500 archaeological sites related to the Indus Valley Civilization, occur on the dried up banks of the present-day Ghaggar river.

Around 1900 B.C.E., one of the major rivers of the Indus Valley, the Ghaggar-Hakra (also called the Saraswati), began to shift its course and eventually dried up, leaving many sites without a viable subsistence base. These communities would have migrated to other farming regions or to cities such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, resulting in overcrowding and civic disorder.

1500-2000 years before Christ, the Indus Valley civilization witnessed large scale deurbanization, population decrease, abandonment of many established settlements, lack of basic amenities, interpersonal violence and disappearance of the Indus Valley script.

Previously scholars argued that the Indus cities were suddenly abandoned around 1750 B.C.E., but recent work at Harappa has clearly demonstrated that during its late phase, from 1900 to 1300 B.C.E., Harappa was indeed inhabited. 

In fact, signs that drains and city walls were not maintained provide proof of crowding and a breakdown of civic order. The remains suggest that the ruling elites were no longer able to control the day-to-day functioning of the urban center. This loss of authority must have eventually led to a reorganization of society, not just in Harappa but throughout the entire region that the upper classes had dominated for 700 years. Similar changes were occurring at the other big cities, such as Mohenjo Daro to the south and Dholavira in western India.

The crisis led to a cessation of the hallmarks of Indus elite culture. The distinctive pottery with ritual motifs and Indus script and traditional square seals with unicorn and other animal motifs disappeared. Cubical weights for taxation and trade fell into disuse, and the international trade networks began to deteriorate. Shells from the coastal regions no longer made their way to the northern sites, and lapis lazuli from the north failed to reach the sites in the plains. In Mesopotamia the texts that had recorded ongoing trade with a region called Meluhha, which is probably the Indus Valley, no longer mentioned it.

Reading about Indus Valley Civilization again

 Am reading about Indus Valley Civilization again - a topic i go back to periodically. 

The Grid Pattern of Roads and Lanes

The Indus Valley civilization thrived with well-planned cities and elegant streets laid out in a grid pattern. At its height it had 1500 cities spread over a million kms - the largest civilization, by far, among its contemporaries. 

The longest street in Moen-Jo-Daro was 805 m long and about 10 m wide, which likely indicates that wheeled carts were in existence during this period and streets were used for trade.

The city center was connected by main streets from four directions to reduce congestion and allow free movement of people and goods to the central business district. One outstanding feature is a concentric shaped street in the form of a ring structure which was used to control expansion of the cities. The main streets of Moen-Jo-Daro and Harappa intersected one another at right angles with width varying from 3.50 to 10.00 m and up to 1.5 km long.

The lanes were joined with the streets. Each lane had a public use and was provided with street lamps. The life in the Indus cities implies a democratic urban economy.

The Modern Water Supply Systems in the Indus Valley

The people of Moen-Jo-Daro had expertise in digging water wells. The residents of the city had built about 700 wells, where a single well serviced three houses. The wells were assembled with tightening mud bricks to have a stronger life to last for centuries.

Terracotta pipes used for washing basins and manholes constructed by the Indus Valley people are still in good condition after nearly five thousand years.

Linked to larger mains, which eventually emptied outside the city walls, the sewers at Harappa would have removed wastewater from the habitation areas, depositing fertile sludge on the surrounding agricultural fields. 

Did the Minoan Civilization learn its water & sanitation techniques from the Indus Valley ?

The Minoan civilization in Crete, Greece was the earliest sophisticated society in Europe. About 1250 years after the Indus valley had begun to use modern sanitation and water supply systems, the Minoans developed ones very like them, although no other society around them had anything like it. 

It is even surmised that a wave of migration from the Indus Valley to Crete may have occurred for such developments to have taken place in Crete. 

The landmark technological achievements by both civilizations had no precedent in prior civilizations.

Save for the Indus cities, no other city in the ancient world featured such a sophisticated water and waste management system. Even during the Roman Empire, some 2,000 years later, these kinds of facilities were limited to upper-class neighborhoods.

A Sophisticated Governance System in the Indus Valley

During this period, Indus scribes developed a sophisticated writing system comprising more than 400 symbols.

Excavators have found distinctive pottery with widely used ritual motifs at all settlements throughout the greater Indus Valley.

Similar city organization and trade patterns existed throughout the Indus Valley, showing a sophisticated governance system without the use of warfare.

The Indus script

The Indus script became widespread in all the major urban centers of the Indus Valley. Its most prominent use was on seals that also bore animal motifs and ritual objects. The unicorn image is the most common (found on more than 65 percent of known seals), but other animals appear as well, including elephants, humped zebu bulls, water buffalo, bison, tigers and rhinoceroses.

We also see for the first time small tokens or tablets made of soapstone incised with script and symbols. Because many of these items feature the same set of signs and what appear to be numbers, researchers think that they served as tools for accounting. 

The writing may indicate the owners name, the commodity and its quantity, or the creditor to whom it is being presented. Some of these tablets have been intentionally snapped in two, possibly to indicate a contract between two parties, each of whom retained half until the transaction or work was completed.