12. Bharngi

Names:-        Latin             Clerodendron siphonanthus
                    Tamil             Gantu Bharangi
                    Telugu           Gantu Bharangi
                    Canarese       Ghantu Bharangi
                    Malayal          Sirutekku
                    Urdu              Bharangi, Brahmaneti

Bharngisyat Swarasetiktaa
Choshna swaasa Kaphaa pahaa
Gulma Jwaraa srik Vaataghni
Yakshmaanaam hanti peenasam
Dhanvanthari Nighantu

Bharangi is bitter, and heating. It checks hard breathing, Cough and Kapha. It is useful in the treatment of Gulma, Jwara, diseases of blood, Vaata, Consumption and chronic nasal inflammation.

Dose:- It is used as swarasam ground with water 8 parts, filtered and taken with honey or may be taken with equal parts of ginger and prepared in the same manner or the powder may be taken with ghee and honey. Dose 10 grains to 1/4 tola.

Action:- Stimulant, antispasmodic and tonic.

Uses:- It is given in a variety of diseases in combination with digestives, expectorants and drugs intended to allay Vaata symptoms. Sushruta recommends its use as a paste in scrofulous diseases for external application and as an arishta or wine in Apasmaaram or epilepsy. Its greatest reputation is for relieving suffering due to hard breathing (Swaasetu Bhaarngi thu oushadham – Yogaratnaakara).

13. Brahmi

Names:-        Latin             Hydrocotyle asiatica
                    Tamil             Vallarai
                    Telugu           Saraswataaku
                    Canarese       Timare
                    Malayal          Brahmi
                    Urdu              Bereli, Brahmamanduki

Braahmyaa Yushaa himaa medhyaa
Kashaayaa tiktakaa laghuh
Swaryaa Smrit pradaa Kushta
Paandu Mehasraa Kaasajit.

Brahmi is astringent, bitter and light. It is cooling and improves intellect. It also improves Voice and Memory. It is useful in the treatment of Kushta, Paandu, Meha, blood diseases and Cough.

Dose:- The green leaf, ¼ to 1 tola, with tamarind or lemon juice, salt and other condiments as a chutney.
A teaspoonful to 1.2 ounce of swarasam with honey or ½ to 2 ounces of the infusion of the dried leaf made in proportion of 1 to 8 parts of hot water.
A teaspoonful of the dried leaf made into an infusion like tea with a cup of boiling water and taken with milk and sugar.
Ghritam or syrup prepared in the usual manner – dose 1/4 tola.

Action:- Milk diuretic and brain tonic.

Uses:- It is a reputed tonic for tiresomeness after mental work and is specially used for loss of memory. It has also a reputation for developing the power of speech in those who have defective speech and to improve the power of poetic imagination (Appakaveeyam). It is also used in epilepsy and mental disorders.

14. Bringaraaja

Names:-        Latin             Eclipta erecta
                    Tamil             Karisilaanganni
                    Telugu           Guntakalagara
                    Canarese       Garga
                    Malayal          Kayyunni
                    Urdu              Bringrah, Bringaraj

Bhringaraaja Samaakhyaatah
         Kaphasophaama Paandu twak
         Hridroga Visha naasanah. 

Bhringaraaja is tikta and heating. It is rooksha (non-oily). It checks Kapha, Sopha, and Aamadosha. It is useful in the treatment of skin diseases, Paandu, Hridroga and Visha.

Dose:- Five to ten terminal leaves of Bringaraaja plant mixed with 5 to 7 seeds of pepper, ground together nicely with buttermilk into a pill and given every morning or made into a pill with jaggery and given every morning.
Or a teaspoonful to half ounce of swarasa of the leaves mixed with 2 to 4 ounces of milk and a little sugar or with 4 ounces of buttermilk and a little salt to be given every morning.
Or ¼ to 1 tola of the leaf to be given along with fresh ginger, pepper, salt and other condiments as a chutney.

Action:- Cholagogue (removing bile), antimalarial, febrifuge and tonic.

Uses:- It is one of the most favourite green drugs that are used in Southern India for jaundice. In certain varieties of jaundice. It has a remarkable effect. In low fevers attended with anaemia or Pandu, the pill with pepper has produced very good results. In those cases where digestion is very poor, the preparation with butter milk is to be preferred. As a hair-dye and as cooling to the brain after bath, the oil is used throughout the country and it enjoys a great reputation.

15. Chandanam

Names:-        Latin             Santalum album
                    Tamil             Chandanam
                    Telugu           Chandanam
                    Canarese        Srigandha
                    Malayal          Chandanam
                    Urdu              Sandal

                   Chandanam seetalam rooksham
                   Tiktamaa hlaadanam Laghu
                   Srama Sodsha Visha Sleshma
                   Trishnaa Pittaasra Daahanuth. 

Chandanam is cooling, drying, bitter, pleasing and light. It relieves tiresomeness, checks wasting, poisons, Kapha, Thirst, Rakta pitta, (haemorrhage) and burning sensation.

Dose:- 10 to 30 grains with sugar and ghee or with ghee, sugar and honey.

Action:- Cooling, antiseptic.

Uses:- Chandanam is very much used in India for its cooling effect and its sedative effect on the urinary tract. It also enters into the composition of many compound powders and oils. Made into a paste with water and combined with one hundredth part of Pacchakarpooram, it makes a very nice cooling paste for reducing high fevers, especially of the Pitta type. Mixed with curd or butter-milk or cream, it makes a nice antiseptic and antiphlogistic paste for boils and carbuncles.

          It is specially used in gonorrhoea and leucorrhoea and is very popular. It is a constituent of bathing powders and scent sticks. The oil made from it by distillation with water is a specific for chronic ulcers, gonorrhoea and gleet. But, it acts better in dilution than in concentration. In prickly heat, 1 part of sandal-wood oil with 8 parts of coconut oil or the paste with Pacchakarpuram and rose water applied at midday or evening is very refreshning and effective. The oil is used in gonorrhoea in 5 minim doses either with milk and sugar or as an emulsion or diluted with ghee.

          A compound powder of Chandana, Useera, Daaruharidra and sugar given with Thandulodaka (water obtained by washing raw rice) is recommended for prompt action in haemorrhage. In hiccough – chandanam with milk. In Raktatisara or diarrhoea with blood – Chandanam with sugar, honey and water obtained by washing raw rice – Charaka.

16. Chitramulam

Names:-        Latin            Plumbago Zeylanica
                    Tamil            Chitramoolam
                    Telugu          Chitramoolam
                    Canarese       Chitramoola
                    Malayal         Kodiveli kilangu
                    Urdu             Chitrak

                    Chitrako Agni Samah Paake
                    Katukah Kapha Sopha Jith
                    Vaatodaraarso Grahanee
                    Kshaya Paandu Vinaasanaah.

Dhanvanthari Nighantu.
Chitraka is equal to fire in promoting digestion. It is pungent. It checks Kapha and swellings. It is useful in checking Vaata, Udata (abdominal distention), Arsas (Piles), Grahani (Dysentery), Kshaya (Consumption), and Paandu (Anaemia).
I often use Chitramoolam as Panchakola Quatham in 60 grain doses (Chitraka being 12 gr.) along with 1 oz. of jaggery as a decotion with water.
It is reputed to be of great benefit in puerperal fevers and other acute infections.
It is recommended for external use in Leucoderma and Elephantiasis.

Dose:- Internally, it is not generally used alone but only as a compound powder or pill in the form of Chitrakadi Vati (Charaka) or panchakola quatha choornam. The leaf is recommended as a vegetable preparation along with that of Punarnava in the treatment of dropsy.
Externally, the root is a vesicant and counter-irritant, the red-flowered variety being more effective than the other.

Action:- In small doses, a digestive and carminative. In large doses irritant.

Uses:- In the Allopathic Pharmacopoeia this drug is known only as a poison, whereas in the Ayurvedic, it is used with great benefit in a number of acute and chronic ailments. In some dyspeptics, it acts as a specific when every other drug fails. It is one of the Panchakolas, a popular appetizer or gastric stimulant. It is used in making certain pills such as Sannipata bhairava where its action is believed to be specific against poison (of microbes) causing fever. It is believed to have a specific action in piles and is given in a special preparation with buttermilk and in various other ways. Butter prepared from curd made out of milk boiled with this root, is used in the treatment of chronic ulcers and sinuses as an external application or as an injection into the sinus. It is an abortifacient both by external and internal use. But, its use is probably attended with danger.

17. Daadima

Names:-         Latin               Punica granatum
                    Tamil             Mathulai
                    Telugu           Daanimma
                    Canarese        Daalimbe
                    Malayal          Thalimathalam
                    Urdu              Anar

                    That Swaadu Tridoshaghnam
                    Trit Daaha Jwara Naasanah
                    Kashaayaanurasam Graahi
                    Snigdham Medhaa Balaavaham
                    Swaadwamlam Deepanam Ruchyam
                    Kinchit Pittakaram Laghu
                    Amlamtu Pitta Janakam
                    Aamavaata Kaphaapaham.

Sweet Pomogranate is Tridoshaghnam. It checks thirst, burning sensation, and fevers. It is also useful in the treatment of diseases of the heart, throat and mouth. It is light, nutritious and an aphrodisiac. It has an auxiliary taste of astringency and is a constrictor. It is oily (Snigdham). It improves intellect and strength.
         Pomogranate which is acid and sour improves appetite, and taste. It is light and slightly increases Pitta. Pomogranate which is purely acid creates pitta and checks Aamavaata and Kapha.

Dose:- 10 to 30 grains of the powder of the dried rind of the fruit or of the dried tender fruit.
Of the fruit juice (sweet or sour) diluted with equal parts of water, 8 or 10 oz. for a dose.
Of the flowers mixed with aromatics and astringents such as cinnamon etc in doses of 20 grains.
The juice of the flower as a nasyam.

For tape-worm:-
Of the root-bark ½ to 5 tolas as a decoction or swarasam with 4 times the quantity of water, strained and taken with sugar, honey or castor oil, 2 oz. of the same to be taken every half-hour and then followed by castor oil, if necessary. Repeat the medicine every day till the head of the worm comes out.

Action:- Astringet, anthelmintic specially for tape-worm, nutritive and cooling.

Uses:- The Daadima flower, the rind of the fruit, the tender fruit and the tender leaves are very much used both fresh and dry. The tender fruit or the tender leaves are made into a Putapaakam along with opium and is given in proper doses for diarrhoea and dysentery. Their decoction or swarasam is also given with honey in the same dose. On account of its astringent property this drug is used internally in a variety of diseases, namely, epistaxis, piles, haemorrhage from the mouth, bad taste and indigestion. The fruit juice is a cooling drink and the ripe seeds or the juice of the sour fruit diluted with water according to the taste of the patient is very much appreciated and it relieves thirst and reduces fever. It is also nutritive. Even when all acids are contra-indicated, the acid of Daadima fruit and that of Aamalaki are allowed. It is the least heating of acids according to Ayurveda.

Previous  Next