Friday, October 31, 2008

Tiny, red and toxic

I used to think that the tiny red and black seeds of the Abrus precatorius could be found only in Guruvayoor, the temple town in Kerala. I used to think these seeds existed on earth only for toddlers to play with them in front of Lord Krishna, where he could watch them and revel in their delight. Of course, the kunnikuru is more widespread than that, even though it is not native to India. It was only much later that I learnt that A. precatorius is considered a weed; in days past, they were supposedly used by goldsmiths to add lustre to the ornaments, though I don't know in what way. There is also a belief that each of these seeds weigh absolutely the same (about a tenth of a gram) - that was useful for jewellers to weigh their ornaments against these seeds. These shiny seeds were also themselves used as jewellery beads, too.

Nature, however, has a different take on the significance of colours; bright, shiny red indicates danger, more often than not. In the case of these seeds, it holds true. Harmless when whole, the broken seed releases a poison. So, even if you wander into this thicket to pluck these tiny seeds, make sure you do not chew on them, for the poison released can be fatal to humans.

No such worries about the young children playing with these seeds at the temple - they know better than to pop red seeds into their mouth, because that is the way nature made them!


7 comments:

sreesnake said...

Abrus precatorius paste has been used to maim animals from time immemorial. The paste is smeared on to a sharp object and the poisoned point (steck) is forced into the skin...causes extensive necrosis and gangrene resembling a bacterial disease called as black quarter.

Shantaram said...

>> Sree>> Sounds rather Sherlock Holmes-ish!

chorinchath said...

I was told by elderly people that taking kunnikkuru in hand & putting it back a few times would make a lazy child to become very active & for elders to keep alive,healthy & kicking

chorinchath said...

continuation... kunnikkuru at Guruvayoor Temple

Shantaram said...

>> Chorinchath>> Putting it back... that's the key to staying healthy!

சாமக்கோடங்கி said...

Actually the paste taken from this kunnikuru is naturally a gum used to stick the gold ornament pieces, before they get melted and taken its shape.. while they blow fire on the ornaments, the parts attached by this gum melted faster than the other sides, so the bond happens there. and once the melting is completed, the gum wil go off completely in the fire.

Shantaram said...

@ Samakotanki (Did I get that right?): That's nice info. Very interesting!