COME MID-July, The skies in Kerala Turn Gray, The Temperature Drops and The Rain Falls without Respite. It is the start of karkkadakam, the last month of the malayalam calendar. With farming coming to a halt and people forced indoors, the time is traded to rejuvenate the body and mind.

Many traditional customs are associated with this period, like reading the Ramayana Daily and Folling a Strict Diet. But the one ritual that asha devi varma, a former Agriculture Officer and a Member of the Poonjar Royal Family Recalls with MUCH Nostalgia is the Karkkadaka kuli Or the ceremonial bath. “It was a big affair in the olden days,” Says Asha, Discussing How Women Soaked Themselves in herbal oils and scrubbed it off with a homemade paste of will turn of wild Turmeric at the pond at her Home in Tiruvalla.

Asha has been making and retailing these traditional oils and scrubs for the past six years from her home in tripunithura, Lest the recipes and customs be the lost from. “Our Grandmothers Bore Many Children and Aged Healthy, Because of the Pampering these Gave their Bodies during this month. It rejuvenates the bones, skin, and hair, “She says, explaining why she has introduced a karkkadakam bathing hamper (₹ 600) in Contemporary Packaging this year, which incordes hairs and bodies, shampoo and Scrub.

The Hamper is a Natural Progression of What asha has been doing small scale at home and for her friends and family. She has Loyal Clients, She Says and Retails Them in Ladies Groups on Social Media. “As it is a karkkdakam kit it is bough by women of all age groups,” She say Asha Home Delivers The Hampers with Plans to Market Them Professionally in the future.

For women, by women

In Wayanad’s Mullankolly Panchayat, Bindu Sathyajith Set Up a Women Empowerment Unit, FEMLOGIX Enterprises, and launched the karkidakka ayur arogya soundaraya soundaraya soundaraya this year ” Wellness knowledge to the next generation. ”

The Kit, ‘Karkidakka Ayur Arogya Soundaraya’ costs ₹ 1399 and include, and include, scrub, herbal soap, herbal tea and coffee and coffee and medicine Gruel to be Had an hour after the bath.

Bindu, Whose Gret-Grandfather was a Well-Known Ayurveda Expert, Says She is the fifth generation to carry on the tradition. She Cultivates about 14 plants and herbs required as ingredients for the oils and set up the unit during the pandemic when the farmers in the area were strungging to eke ake a livelihood. Some of the plants she grows are cheroola (mountain knotgrass), uzhinja (Ballon plant), Aruka (Bermucla Grass), nilampana (Goldeneye grass), vishnu granthi (evolvulus), thiruthali (Morning Glory) and purvankurunthal (Little Iron Weed)

Asha uses gingelly oil for the body and coconut oil for the hair. The scrub is made of vetiver. Other products in her haemper are Organic Turmeric Powder, Virgin Coconut Oil With dandapaala (ivory wood), coconut milk shampoo and soap and the vector roots body scrubber.

Traditional scrub and oil vessel

Traditional Knowledge

Dhanya Jathavedan Started A Woman’s-Only Nagarjuna Stree Ayurveda Center in Tripunithura, In 2017, to “Pass on” the beauty and wellness regimeen of her 95-oe-age Grandmother Hymavathy Thampuran to Oshery.

“The bath is soen as a cleansing ritual. In the olden days, women had regular oil baths on tuesdays and fridays, as they were said to be auspicious. A scrub made of tree bark, InchaAnd soap of areca nut powder, Vaga Podi, was used instead of soap. ,Vaga Podi was also prescription for women who had body odor, ”Says dhanya adding that the shampoo of that thats times was Thali Podi (Hibiscus leaf power) that lathers and vitalizes the scalp. Lentiil powder too was used as a body scrub. There was a special vessel to carry the oil and the body scrub power. “It had two compartments,” Recalls Dhanya.

According to her, there was different types of body oils, “Depending upon the body structures”, but kaiuniyam (False daisy, bhringraj oil) wasmon. Once the bath was complete, Rasnadi Choornam – A power made using several herbs like turmeric, pepper, sandalwood and leaves – would be applied on top of the head to prevent a cold.

A 150-Year-old recipe

Bindu’s Kit Comes with a Body Scrub Made of Wild Turmeric and payar podi Or coarse lentil power, a shoe flower Organic Soap, A Tree Bark Loofah and mukkuti Powder (biophytum) made from leaves and roots, which is applied on the forehead to prevent headache. The body oil is a 150-year-old recipe that uses ghee, turmeric, virgin coconut oil and gingelly oil. She also provides herbal tea, coffee and kanni And a moisturising cream made with wild turmeric and coconut oil. She says women should perform the ritual bath for seven, 14 or 21 days during the month.

Dr Radha Unnikrishnan, A Diabetologist, Who has been using asha’s bathing haemper finds it “very handy” and is assured about the vality of the status. .She recalls her mother making the oils at home but she has no time for the teedous process.

“This month is for pampering our body and hair. The Kit Enables That Easily, “She Says.