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.
 






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