This fruit is sacred to the Zoroastrians and is used in their rituals. It is said that Muhammad advised his followers to eat pomegranates to help them purge every from themselves. The fruit rind and root bark are astringent and bitter, while the fruit is sweet, sour, astringent, cooling, and sweet, after digestion. The sweet variety of pomegranate is digestive, stimulant, unctuous and cordial. It controls all three doshas and cures vata and pitta, while the sour variety aggravates pitta and vata. The juice of the sweet variety is rejuvenative, and is prescribed by the sagacious juice sellers of Bombay for diarrhoea and cases of 'bad stomach'. The seeds are made into a digestive power, the root bark is given for worms, and the flower or fruit rind is given to treat diarrhoea and dysentery, used as a douche for leucorrhoea, and applied as a paste for ulcers and piles.
References:
Ayurveda Life Health and Longevity by Robert E. Svoboda - Penguin Books.
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