This tree, in Sanskrit Vibhita and Vibhitaka (fearless), is avoided by the Hindus of Northern India, who will not sit in its shade, as it is supposed to be inhabited by demons. Two varieties of T. belerica are found in India, one with nearly globular fruit. ½ to ¾ inch in diameter, the other with ovate and much larger fruit. The pulp of the fruit (Beleric myrobalan) is considered by Hindu physicians to be astringent and laxative, and is prescribed with salt and long pepper in affections of the throat and chest. As a constituent of the triphala (three fruits), i.e., emblic, beleric and chebulic myrobalans, it is employed in a great number of diseases, and the kernel is sometimes used as an external application to inflamed parts. On account of its medicinal properties the tree bears the Sanskrit synonym of Anila-ghnaka, or “wind-killing.” According to the Nighantás the kernels are narcotic. Mahometan writers describe Balilaj (the beleric myrobalan) as astringent, tonic, digestive, attenuant, and aperient, and useful as an astringent application to the eyes. As long as the doctrines of the Arabian school prevailed, myrobalans were used medicinally in Europe, having been introduced by the Arabs from India. The μυροβαλανος of the classical Greek and Latin writers was a fruit from which the perfumers obtained oil for their unguents. According to Theophrastus, the outer cortical portion was pounded to extract the oil, as that part only was sweet smelling. It is uncertain what this fruit was, but it appears to have been something similar to that of the African oil palm (Elæis guineensis), the outer fleshy coating of which yields an oil of the consistence of butter, having a rather pleasant violet-like odour when fresh. The later Greek physicians apply the terms μυροβαλανος and μυρεψικος to Indian myrobalans.
T. belerica produces a quantity of gum of the Bassora type, which is collected and mixed with soluble gums for sale as country gum.