According to the ancient tradition of Ayurveda, maintenance of health depends on not less than four basic factors.

For good health, three separate must be maintained --between the functional elements (vaatha, pittha and Kapha), between the digestive fires and, lastly, between the anabolic processes forming tissue elements and catabolic processes forming waste by-products. Thus, an over all physiological homoeostsis, in the whole organism, conducive to perfect health is maintained naturally.

Ayurvedic classical definition of good health takes all the above factors into account and further supplements it with an additional factor-- the inner feeling of health ,happiness and calm that must always be a part of a healthy psyche- a factor that is partly spiritual.

Let us see how Cumins, a harmless herbal product , that is both a culinary spice and a restoraive tonic, comes into the picture.

Cumins is a popular spice belonging to the Indian kitchen that is normally employed for garnishing foods at the close of cooking giving the food a characteristic appetising flavour –characteristically Indian. !!

But, It is also used in traditional Indian medicine as a mild stimulating carminative and a motivator of alimentary functions on the one hand and as a tonic and a restorative of organ function on the other (with special reference to liver function ).

Mildly roasted cumins , ground with equal parts of sugar, can be stored in a clean, dry and well stoppered container for quite some time . Administered in a dose of 1 heaped spoonful, followed by an anupaana of half a cup of hot water, it makes a a good carminative. But a water decoction of roughly powdered cumins , when drunk hot in a dose of 25 to50 ml., can be used instead and works faster. Administration of the same also stimulates intestinal motivity. Stimulation of intestinal motility is known ,in Ayurveda, as Vataanulomana. For use as a regular tonic, a thicker decoction can be prepared from the roasted seeds using a cofee percolator. This percolator decotion, with milk and sugar to taste , drunk hot, can replace cofee, tea and many other not so very healthy drinks and night caps in current use.

Of the three basic functional elements , vaatha. Pittha and kapha , that govern human physiology according to Ayurveda, vaatha is the element that governs motility originated by muscular contraction. Both peristalisis and anti-peristalisis as well as intestinal stasis affecting various segments of the intestines belong to the field of Vaatha. The term Vathanulomana signifies regeneration or stimulation of normal peristalitic activity when it has been weakened, lost or reveresed. In the Ayurvedic pharmacopoea, Cumins, is one of the few harmless vegetable drugs exhibiting such a precious property.

Cumins is also a liver tonic. It protects the liver, tones up liver functions and aids functional regeneration of the stupified cells of a tired and sluggish liver. For this purpose the remedy must be taken continuously two or three times a day, after food , for at least 40 days while ,at the same time, maintaining continuous pathya ( ayurvedic dieting and associated activities).

In the Unani system of medicine, prevailing in India since the time of the moghuls, the heart (dil), the liver (jiger) and the brain (dimaak) are considered as the most vital organs of the body which must function perfectly and harmoniously for the body to maintain good health. This underlines the exceptional value that Cumins has in the maintenance of good health by protecting the liver. In the pharmacopoea of alternative medicine, Cumins must be included as a great hepatotropic and restorative tonic.

India’s most ancient system of medicine, the tradition of the Siddhas , which was brought to South India by the great sage Agastya who also formulated the tamiz language and script for its people ,has named cumins as sheer agam meaning “a well nutured house”. This name emphasises that the living human body is a house of the soul and so needs to be nurtured well and one must take the help of cumins to do so. It is interesting, in this context, that for those who do praanaayaama daily, a cup of hot cumins water, just before one sits for praanaayaama will enable one to perform the poorakas and rechakas efortlessly , all the while remaining somfortable and restful in the asana for a longer time. In thiis context, it would also be interesting to mention that the concept of Prana in Indian philosophy and Yoga is closely linked to the concept of vaatha in Ayurveda. But that is a different subject or supposed to be so by those who have no use for a holistic approach towards spiritual concepts on the one hand and mundance concepts on the other.

Cumins is one of the greatest contributionss of the composite medical culture of India to the world.. The world must employ it more as a health food adjuvant and learn from India how to use it. Those who brought home to their shores the spices of India did not strive to carefully learn how its constant use can stimulate a healthy way of life and avoid unnecessry drugs. It is, however, not too late now to do so. Moreover , understanding cumins well is a necessity for modern man . Its understanding and use will abolish the destructive frame of mind which is common among today’s young and old . Angry livers inflamed by wrong habits of eating and drinking for which, vegetable bitters alone are not the antidote., can wreck society and the world.

A remedy freely available at low cost at all provision stores ,easy to prepare as a tasty, naturally flavoured powder or an exhilerating drink, having absolutely no side effects and which can restore health and vitality to a sick, tired and psychically depressed or irritated person must be considered a panacea for the self-made sick young men and women, who, inheriting the new age, are trying to live on “ off the counter” and “ no-prescription required” drugs that are often habit forming and hazardous to long term health .
Sheer agam is the Elixir of the Gods that has down to the earth to save modern man from the calamities waiting to be caused by disastrous stress, catastrophic strain and explosive tension