Curcuma Longa (turmeric): A Condiment of Great Therapeutic Value Tested with the Ayurveda Up to the Modern Medicine

Turmeric is associated and is a part of Indian's culture: it is an important ingredient in curry dishes; it is also used in many religious observances, as a cosmetic, a dye, and it enters in the composition of many traditional remedies. This paper deals with its botany, its earliest reference in 'Atharva Veda', its uses in folk medicine, folk cosmetics, as a folk condiment, folk dye, its folk-chemistry, used in folk culture, and etymology and philology of 36 Sanskrit names, its important chemical constituents and its pharmacodynamics, its biopiracy and finally, the conclusion and discussions with a suggestion that when drug or its therapeutic compounds have been pharmacologically and therapeutically tested then why it is not being used in the modern medicine as a post-operative drug.