The most important fruit tree of India, the mango is known as the King of Fruit, and its juice as Rasaraja, the King of Juices. The largest mango tree in the world is reported to yield more than fifteen tons of fruit yearly, appropriate for a fruit that symbolises fertility and abundance. Myth has it that the mango flower is Cupid's arrow, and the fruit, which is shaped like a woman's breast, provides a juice that is nectarean and aphrodisiac. The tree is used in marriage, birth and death rituals, and strings of mango leaves festoon auspicious sites.
The ripe fruit is laxative, diuretic and cools the blood. It subdues vata and increases flesh, semen and strength. In the hot season I have often lived happily on mangoes and milk alone. The unripe fruit can be used to prepare a cooling during the hot season, and the kernel inside the seed can cure the diarrhoea caused by overindulgence in the fruit. The bark is used in treating uterine haemorrhage, haemoptysis (the vomiting of blood) and diarrhoea.
References:
Ayurveda Life Health and Longevity by Robert E. Svoboda - Penguin Books.
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