Datura in Saiva iconography
Gerard Huet
Gerard.Huet at inria.fr
Sun Oct 1 11:20:44 UTC 1995
The genus Datura contains several species, more or less toxic.
For instance, Datura Inoxia, an Indian plant with pink flowers,
contains an hallicinogetic (sp?) substance. So does to a lesser extent
Datura Stramonium, a plant with big white flowers which is not uncommon in
Western Europe, and was used by witchcraft in the old days.
In sanskrit, one name for Datura is "mohana", i.e. what provokes confusion
or madness. Does any one know whether dhattuura and mohana designate
the same species, presumably Datura Inoxia?
Gerard Huet
PS So far I got no information about my previous query about the "kitoka"
flower, which is supposed to appear in 'Siva's hair.
More information about the INDOLOGY
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