Ayurveda lessons for kids at Bal Bhavan

The Jawahar Bal Bhavan, the country’s oldest Bal Bhavan at Charni Road, will within three months have a mini botanical garden to teach children about Ayurveda. It will house some of the rarest species of herbal plants.

The Bhavan hopes to train students in documenting and salvaging India’s traditional herbal remedies.

“We had planned this project last year. The government has given an encouraging response,” said Suman Shinde, director of the Bal Bhavan.

School students will get a taste of gardening, as schools will form eco clubs and take students on frequent visits to the botanical garden.

“Students will be taught to raise herbal plants. We will not only teach them to identify the plants but also train them in their upkeep,” she added.

The garden will contain nearly 500 species of plants including a variety of Ayurvedic and flowering plants — from common herbs like lemon grass (cymbopogon citratus), which helps lower cholesterol levels, to gymnema sylvestre, a diabetes-treating herb that grew abundantly in the 1990s but has now become a rarity. So far, around 100 plants have been acquired and the rest will be obtained from other states.

“Experts in Ayurvedic medicine have helped us prepare a list of plants. While most of the plants are suited to Mumbai’s humid climate, a few might have some difficulty adapting. We have started to test plantations of some of these plants,” Shinde said.

These plants have a high medicinal value. For instance, the roots of ashvagandha (withania somnifera) are used in tonics to treat nervous disorders, bronchitis, asthma and heart diseases. Shiitake mushrooms (lentinus edodes) are edible mushrooms that are reported to have health benefits, including cancer-preventing properties.