Abstract

In more ways than one, the Betel vine is a peculiar and unique crop. Neither a food stuff nor a textile, it is yet, in our country as important as the cereals, the pulses, the millets, the sugarcane and the cotton. In a sense it is even more valuable than any of the aforementioned since it is an essential factor in the social and religious life of Indians. It is to Indians what the wine is to the Italians and the French. It is the token of hospitable welcome to the guest and emblem of good will at parting. No religious ceremony of the Hindu, whether it be a worship at an altar or festivity at home, is considered complete without the betel leaf func tioning. It is the alpha and the omega of every ritual, performed by the pious Hindu.

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