Happy New Year 2021

 

 

 

 

AAk plant

 

 

 

On Shiv ratri while I was taking  morning walk then some ladies were offering water to aak  plant. the ladies were in que waiting for their number because ther was only one aak plant in the park.  My curiosity about the plant increased and I came home and searched on the computer about it.

And found ……….

In Hindu culture, Calotropis (also known as Bowstring Hemp) flowers are offered to Shiva and Ganesha. In Ayurveda it has been used for its medicinal properties. In farming it has been used as effective bio-compost and insecticide. In clothing, Calotropis has been used since ancient times to make clothes for children and the nobility.

Aak fibre is a natural cellulosic bast fibre obtained from the stem of calotropis procera plant. Milk and flower of Aak plant are used as medicine for treatment of various diseases. Physio-chemical study of the fibre revealed that it is quite comparable with other bast fibres viz. Bhindi and Bhang is terms of length and fineness. The tenacity of Aak fibre is moderate end higher than the wool.

When I was thirteen and came to my grandparents house in Haryana then I saw that girls of my age wre making foot mats out of yarn aak fibers.then I

Then I stubbornly insisted on my grandmother that she would spin a yarn of aaak on charkha for me. My grandmother barely obeyed. Then then with girls  I collected  aak pods from aak plants grownup side by fencing of the fields,  and my grandmother spun yarn out of aak fibers and I weaved door mats usin cottan yarn for weft and warp with aak yarn .

I am missing one more thing about Aak.. Once my maternal uncle was going from farm to house on his tractor. There was a snake on the road and he got distracted by coming under the tractor's tire and he bothered my maternal uncle. Mama had heard that snake venom is erased by drinking milk of aak. He immediately started drinking milk from the roadside aak plantsand he survived.

xoxo