JASMINE

JASMINUM

LATIN NAME: JASMINUM

HOMELAND: HIMALAYAS

Kamadeva's Arrow of Love

Jasmine, which has a very important place in both mythological and folkloric terms thanks to its unique scent in the geography from its homeland, the Himalayas, to Iran, is associated with Aphrodite in ancient Greek culture, although it is thought to have spread from Iran to Egypt and from there to Europe during the Roman period.

The fact that the name of the jasmine flower is not mentioned in the book Historia Plantarum by the naturalist Theophrastus, who participated in Alexander the Great's Asian Expedition, which reached the Fergana Valley at the western end of the Himalayas via Iran in the fourth century BC, makes it seem that jasmine may not have left India yet at that time.

In ancient Egypt, B.C. Although it is thought that jasmine flower is mentioned in one of the stamps found in a royal tomb from the 21st Dynasty, which coincides with the 10th and 11th centuries, no clear evidence has been found regarding jasmine flower during the pharaoh period. Although the exact date of the arrival of jasmine flower in Egypt is not known, it is thought that it came from Iran during the Roman period and spread to the Mediterranean coast from there.

The fact that jasmine flower is associated with Aphrodite / Venus, the goddess of beauty, without a story in Greek and Roman mythologies, where beautiful stories about plants are told, strengthens the opinion that jasmine flower was not yet grown on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts during the times when Greek Mythology was developing.

Jasmine flower, which was mainly used for oil and perfume production by ancient civilizations in the Mediterranean basin, is also shown as an ingredient in the mixtures of Mesopotamian-themed perfumes of today's perfume brands, no record has been found regarding jasmine flower in Mesopotamian history.

In Hinduism, jasmine, one of the most important votive flowers in religious rituals, also appears as one of the important figures in mythological stories. One of the 5 arrows of Kamadeva, the god of love, who is the counterpart of Eros, the god of love in Greek mythology, is associated with jasmine. According to belief, jasmine, one of the 5 arrows of Kamadeva, the god of love, each of which has a different effect, creates lust and aphrodisiac effects in the person it targets and stabs.