Modern science has established that this modest aromatic shrub perceptibly purifies the air within a wide radius of its vicinity, proving most effective just before sunrise, the time when it is ritually circled by the devout. Perhaps this is why Hindu myths say the king of death himself gives way before this holy shrub, and why each year, at the waxing of the autumn moon, the plant is married in a religious ritual to one of the three gods of the Hindu trinity, Vishnu the preserver. Any domestic courtyard which is centered around the holy basil is considered in India a place of peace, piety, and virtue. The plant’s roots symbolize religious pilgrimage, its branches divinity, its crown an understanding of the scriptures. Traditionally, once the shrub has been planted in an Indian courtyard it is nurtured for three months before it is worshipped with offerings of rice, flowers, and lighted lamps. After that, virgins pray to the holy basil for husbands, married women for domestic peace and prosperity. Medically, the plant provides a pharmacopoeia for the entire household. Its leaves are crushed in honey and used to cure coughs, colds, and bronchitis, and to reduce fevers. An infusion of basil leaves and ginger is India’s most popular remedy for stomachaches in children. Its essential oil is an antiseptic and insect repellent, while its root, reduced to paste, soothes bites and stings, acting even as a antidote to snake venom and scorpion Bites.