The 100+ main Medicines of Ayurveda

The following are the names and some important details of the 100+ main herbs of ayurveda.

1. Ajamoda

Names:-

Latin Carum copticum

Tamil Omam

Telugu Omam

Canarese Oma

Malayal Ayamodakam

Urdu Ajwain

Ajamodaacha Soolaghnee

Tiktoshnaa Kaphavaata Jit

Hikkadhmaanaaruchim

Krimijit Vahni Deepanee

Dhanvantari Nighantu

Ajamoda (Omum) checks colic. It is bitter, heating and conquers Kapha and Vaata. It checks hiccouhs distention of abdomen and bad taste. It conquers worms. It improves appetite.

Doses:- Seeds – 5 to 60 grains. 30 to 60 grains for adults in single dose ground together with half its weight of common salt and taken with water. For repeated administration 10 to 15 grains 3 times a day before food.
Action:- Digestive, antispasmodic, intestinal antiseptic, carminative, and anthelmintic.

Uses:- The seeds contain Thymol. It is a favourite remedy for accumulation of wind in the bowels due to fermentation. It is very useful in dyspepsia and colic of certain types and is used in combination with common salt or soda bi carb. The arka distilled with omam 1 part and 1/16 part by weight of camphor and 100 parts by weight of water is a very good drink in Cholera and other intestinal disorders. According to the strength of the distillate, it may be given diluted with 1 to 4 times the quantity of water. For Hook-worm and other intestinal worms, small doses either of the crude omam or of the arka may be given continuously for some weeks. For children a small quantity of omam is fried in ghee, mixed with a little common salt and given along with rice.

For infants below 1 year, a pinch of omam is ground with water or mother’s milk 16 times and given early in the morning or when the abdomen is distended. As an antispasmodic it is given it flatulence, colicky pains, hysteria, stoppage of urine and tympanities. In bronchitis with profuse expectoration, it lessens the sputum. A poultice of crushed fruits is applied to painful rheumatic joints and fomentation of hot seeds to the chest in bronchitis and asthma and to the cold hands and feet in cholera and fainting.

2. Aakaarakarambha

Names:-

Latin Pyrethrum radix

Tamil Akarakaram

Telugu Akkalakara

Canarese Akalakara

Malayal Akikaruva

Urdu Akharkora

Akallakoshno Veeryena

Balakrith Katuko matah

Pratisyaayamcha Sodhamcha

Vaatamchaiva Vinaasayet.

Aakaarakarabha is pungent and heating and strength giving. It overcomes cold, swelling and Vaata.

Dose:- 5 to 20 grains.

Action:- Sialogogue (increases the flow of saliva), astringent and tonic.

Uses:- This is a sweet stuff; increases the flow of saliva and is used in fevers, specially in summer. It forms a vehicle of many compound powders and may be given in doses of 5 grains as a tonic. An infusion of the root in 16 parts of water may be used as a mouth wash in sore throat with honey and in fevers. It enters into the composition of aphrodisiac pills and lehyams.

It is said to be a powerful agent in killing mosquitos in great dilution in volatile liquids and was used as a destroyer of mosquitos during the last War.

3. Aamalaki

Names:-

Latin Emblic myrobalan

Tamil Nellikaai

Telugu Usirikaaya

Canarese Nellikayi

Malayal Nellikai

Urdu Amia

Kashaayam Katu Tiktoshnam

Swaadu Chaamalakam Himam

Param Tridosha hrut Vrishyam.

Jwaraghnam cha Rasaayanam

Dhanvanthari Nighantu.

Amalaki is slightly astringent, pungent, stimulant, heating and sweet. It is cooling in action as compared with Hareetaki. Further, it is Tridosha hara and aphrodisac. It checks fever and is a tonic.

Dose:- 10 grains with honey for repeated administration. ¼ to 1 tola made into a decoction with 8 times the quantity of water reduced to one fourth, filtered and taken with honey according to taste for single administration.

Action:- Cooling, digestive, astringent and tonic.

Uses:- In Pitta diseases, it is a favourite vehicle for administration of other medicines. In the combination of Thriphala it is used as thridoshaharam. In Lehyams such as Chyavanapraasa it is a tonic. Basavaraj, a famous physician of the Andhra Country prescribes Amalaka swarasa alone in the treatment of Diabetes. Susruta recommends the fresh juice of Amalaki mixed with turmeric and honey in Prameha. In the diet of patients, when other acids are contra-indicated, Aamalaki and pomegranate are recommended. It is also used in jaundice. It is now discovered that Amalaki is rich in Vitamin C even in the dry state.

4. Aphenam (Ahiphenam)

Names:-

Latin Opium

Tamil Apin

Telugu Nallamandu

Canarese Aphinu

Malayal Aphin, caruppu

Urdu Afim

Aphookam Soshanam graahi

Sleshmaghnam Vaatapittalam

Bhaavaprakash.

Ahiphena (Aphookam – Opium) dries up secretions (except sweat) and is astringent. It checks Kapha and increases Pitta and Vaata. (Here increasing Vaata possibly means that abdominal distention and constipation are increased. It no doubt alleviates pain temporarily.)

Dose:- Internally ½ to 2 grains as pill or in compound pill or powder or as an aasavam.
Externally as a liniment or plaster.

Action:- Sedative, hypnotic, antispasmodic, diaphoretic, anodyne, narcotic and cerebral depressant.
“Aphenam sannipataghnam vrishyam balyamcha mohadam” Raja nighantu, “Aphukam shoshanam graahi sleshmaghnam vaatapittalam, Madakrut daahakrucchukrasthambanayacha mohakrith, Athisaara grahanyaancha hitam deepana paachanam.”

Uses:- It is one of the most valuable drugs if properly used and the most dangerous if misused. It is the best drug to relieve pain but should never be given when the cause of pain is not known and when the pain could be relieved by fomentation, counter irritation, expurgation, and other processions. Also, it should never be given when the patient is sleeping.

If there is indigestion, it is better to allow proper digestion to take place rather than to check the active natural processes. Therefore in the early stages of indigestion or diarrhoea it is contra-indicated. But in late stages when motion is yellow and the mala shows no signs of indigestion, opion is a very valuable drug to give rest to the intestines and to effect a cure in certain stages of diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera. Improper use or large doses help to poison the system not only by its own poisonous effect but also to retained, undigested faecal matter in the intestines and to suppression or retention of urine. Another great danger in its use is that it lessens all tissue activity and that all the secretions except sweat are reduced. When stools and urine are stopped, the patient may be apparently feeling better but he may be actually growing worse owing to the accumulation of poisons in the system. It is therefore most dangerous to give opium when the kidneys or urinary system or the liver are affected.

In pain due to nervous disease, its action is marvelous and sometimes permanent. I know of diseases in which all other drugs failed for months or years together and a small dose of opium effected a radial cure; for example, one case of pain in the gastric region with irritation which lasted for years and another case with gnawing pain in the left shoulder-joint due to chronic rheumatism or gouty tendency which did not yield to any other treatment responded to a very small dose of opium and were permanently cured even when the opium was withdrawn. In distressing cough or spasm in lung diseases its use may be advantageous.
In children, opium is given in the Northern Circars for almost all diseases. The success mostly depends upon the experience of the mother and on the hereditary habit. But, it should be strongly discouraged.

As an aphrodisiac, it is successfully used by some but it is difficult to estimate its value. In diabetes, I have found its use invariably harmful in the long run and the cases in which opium is found useful are more easily amenable to cure by having recourse to a natural diet rich in vegetables, to regulated physical exercises and mental rest. In case of pain due to incurable diseases such as cancer, last stages of consumption etc., it is most valuable as alleviating the sufferings temporarily but should be used cautiously.
As an external application, it is most useful in relieving pain and in inflammation in certain cases and is used as a liniment with oil and camphor or as a plaster with Gandhapheroja (a gum resin) – 10 to 30 grains to an ounce either of liniment or of plaster.