Pomegranate
Niranjana Muraleedharan, second year M.A Mass Communication of Amrita’s Coimbatore Campus, writes about the qualities and usefulness associated with the fruit – Pomegranate.
Pomegranate, the fruit rich in every sense, has stood with us since ages, still creating an enduring bond with our mind and body. For the aesthetic, the tree, its flowers and fruits flavor the mind with bountiful imagination. Cultivated from the very earliest ages, the fruit stood for as a symbol of fertility and eternal life in many religions.
Raised all over the world, the shrub requires porous and well drained soil. The small leathery leaves have a brownish tinge. The fleshy flower with its vibrant texture attracts insects to help with pollination. The fruit has a thick skin and inside a membrane covering hundreds of tightly embedded glossy pink seeds.
The protective and curative powers of the sweet tangy fruit seem endless. It acts not only as a good antioxidant but also assists with digestion and circulatory flow. It is a reliable source for vitamins B, C and pantothenic acid. The juice also fights against bacterial and viral threats.
The Katkari, a former hunting and gathering tribe of Maharashtra, found worlds inside the fruit. Each world is wrapped around a glowing seed. The exceptional, earthly nourished fruit keeps a silent promise of longevity, vigor and vitality. The healing, nourishing, symbolically earthy and yet divine fruit persists in parts of civilizations of the world and of the people and cultures that made them-and yet so essentially Indian, bringing the universal to the particular, the past to the present.