The 100+ main Medicines of Ayurveda

26. Gandhakam

Names:-

Latin (English) Sulphur

Tamil Gandhakam

Telugu Gandhakam

Canarese Gandhaka

Malayal Gandhaka

Urdu Gandhak

Gandhakah Katu tiktoshnah

Teevragandho Atigandha Krit

Vishaghnam Kushta Kandooti

Kritchra twak dosha nasanah.

Dhanvanthari Nighantu

Pittalam Katukah paake

Jantukandoo Visarpajit

Hantikushta Kshaya pleeha

Kapha Vaataam rasaayanam

Gandhaka (Sulphur) is pungent, bitter and penetrating. It has a strong smell. It also creates a strong smell. It increases Pitta and checks Kapha and Vaata. It is useful in the treatment of Visha, Kushta, Kandu (itching), difficulty in passing urine, diseases of the skin, Krimi (worms), Visarpa (Erysipelas), consumption and enlargement of the spleen. It is a tonic (Rasaayana).

Dose:- 5 to 20 grains with ghee or honey.

Action:- Externally parasiticide and internally mild laxative and blood-purifier.

Uses:- Alone its chief use is as an external application as an ointment mixed with oil or ghee. It is an excellent parsiticide and is very useful in itch. It has earned a reputation in certain types of leprosy and it is given in combination with Thriphala and pepper as Gandhaka rasaayana. In combination with mercury, it is very much used in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia as black-sulphide and red sulphide. It is mentioned as veerya-vriddhikaram and rasaayanam.

27. Ghritam

Names:-

Latin (English) Ghee

Tamil Ney

Telugu Ney

Canarese Tuppa

Malayal Ney

Urdu Ghee

Smriti Buddhyagni Sukra Ojah

Kapha Medo Vivardhanam

Vaatapitta Kaphonmaada

Sosha Alakshmi Jwaraapaham

Sarwa Snehottamam Seetam

Madhuram Raspaaka Yoh

Sahasra Veeryam Vidhibhih

Ghrutam Karma Sohasrakrit.

Ghee improves memory, intellect, digestive power, sperm, Ojas, Kapha and Medas. It checks Vaata, Pitta, Visha, Unmaada, Sosha, poverty (Alakshmi) and fever. Ghee is the best of all fats; it is cooling, sweet in taste and also after digestion (Vipaaka). When it is prepared in the proper manner in combination with other drugs, its action improves a thousand fold, (i.e.) it assimilates the properties of the drugs with which it is combined.

Dose:- ½ to 1 oz. used along with articles of diet.

Action:- Demulcent, cooling, tonic and aphrodisiac.

Uses:- It is the best of snehas (snehaanam uttamam) and is far superior to cod-liver oil in tissue-building without its disagreeable smell. It is medicated with other drugs and is used in a number of diseases according to the property of the drug. Its daily use is said to improve complexion, strength and mental powers. It is believed to be an aphrodisiac.

Externally it is much used as an application for burns and wounds of traumatic origin. Satadoutha ghrita, a favourite antiseptic of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia, is prepared by churning the melted ghee hundred times with the decoction of Panchavalkalas. It forms a very good dressing to heal up wounds. It is specially useful in highly inflammatory conditions of the skin and as a cooling external application to plague buboes. In combination with Sarjarasa, it makes a kind of butter called Navaneetam, which is popularly used as an external application for burns and ulcers.

28. Gokshura

Names:-

Latin Tribulus terrestris

Tamil Nerinjil

Telugu Palleru

Canarese Nigginamuthu

Malayal Nerinjil

Urdu Gokhru

Gokshurah Seetalah Swaaduh

Balakrit Vasti Sodhanah

Madhuro Deepano Vrishyam

Pushtidaschaasmares Harah.

Gokshura is cooling, sweet and strengthening. It cleans the bladder. It increases appetite and is an aphrodisiac. It promotes plumpiness and cures urinary stones.

It is given in Rheumatism along with Sonthi regularly every morning as a decoction and as an aphrodisiac boiled with milk and sugar. In consumption along with Aswaghanda and milk. It is combined with guggulu in the treatment of Diabetes and Vaata diseases.

Dose:- ¼ to 1 tola of the seeds of the whole plant to be taken as a decoction boiled with 8 times the quantity of water and reduced to one-fourth or 20 to 60 grains of the churnam or powder to be taken with ghee or honey or cocoanut water or liquid extract of cocoanut roots and flowers and sugar.

Action:- Non-irritant diuretic and urinary antiseptic, alternative, demulcent and aphrodisiac.

Uses:- An infusion or decoction is used to relieve painful micturition, to increase the flow of urine and as a vehicle for diuretic medicines in dysuria, gonorrhoea and other urinary disorders and for the relief of nocturnal emissions and incontinence of urine. In impotence or sexual debility, it is given with milk and sugar or ghee and sugar according to the strength of digestion. The leaf made into a curry is used in dropsy.