100+ Main Herbs of Ayurveda

63. Naagakesaram

Names:- Latin Mesua ferrea

Tamil Sirunagappu

Telugu Naagakesaramulu

Canarese Naagakesara

Malayal Nagappu

Urdu Naagakesar

Naagakesaram alposhnam

Laghu tiktam Kaphaapaham

Vastiruk Visha Vaataasra

Kandhooghnam Sopha naasanam.

Naagakesaram is slightly heating. It is bitter and light. It checks Kapha. It is useful in the treatment of diseases of the urinary bladder, poisons, Vaatarakta, itching and swelling.

Dose:- 10 to 30 grains of the powder to be taken with honey or sugar and butter.

Action:- Cooling, carminative and aromatic.

Uses:- It enters into the composition of almost all lehams of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia, a a digestive, carminative and aromatic. It is a mild febrifuge. In bleeding piles and dysentery attended with blood, the powder is given, with butter and sugar. In Swetapradara or leucorrhoea, a paste of this with curd followed by a diet of rice and butter-milk is recommended by Bhaavaprakaash.

64. Navaasaaram

Names:- Latin Ammonii Chloride

Tamil Navaacaaram

Telugu Navaasaaramu

Canarese Navaasaagara

Malayal Navasaram

Urdu Navasaagar

Rasendra jaararam loha,

Draavanam jatharaagni Krith

Gulma Pleehasya soshaghnam

Bhutktamaamsaadi jaaranam

Biddakhyamcha Tridoshaghnam

Choolikaa lavanam matam

Navaasaaram is useful for digesting mercury and for liquefying loha. It improves digestion. It is useful in the treatment of Gulma, Pleeha, diseases of the mouth and wasting of the body (sosha). It helps in digesting food uch as flesh. That which is called Bida is tridoshaghnam. It is also called choolikaa lavana.

Doses:- 5 to 15 grains to be taken with the decoction of Gokshura or any other diuretics.

Action:- Diuretic and hepatic tonic.

Uses:- As a diuretic, it is used in liver disorders, ascites, retention of urine etc. Mixed with chunnam, it evolves ammonia, which in solution with water is applied as an external application to injured joints and to corpion bites. It is used in the preparation of Sankhadraava and Swarnavanga. It is also used externally as a paste with cow’s urine or lime water or lemon juice along with Sunti and Devadaru, renewed every 4 hours to relieve deep seated inflammation, and poison.

65. Nimba

Names:- Latin Melia azadirachta

Tamil Vembu

Telugu Vepa

Canarese Bevu

Malayal Vepu

Urdu Neem

Nimbah Seeto laghu graahi

Katupaako Agni Vaatamuth.

Vrana Pitta Kapha Chardi

Kushta hrillaasa meha nuth.

Nimba (neem) is light, cooling and constrictive. It is pungent by Vipaaka. It checks heat and Vaata. It is used in the treatment of Vrana, vitiation of Pitta and Kapha, Vomiting, Kushta and Hrillaasa – Vomiting Sensation.
Dose:- ¼ to 1 tola as a decoction boiled with 8 times the quantity of water and reduced to one fourth.
3 to 10 minims of the oil with milk and sugar or in a capsule or pill.

¼ to 1 oz of the juice of the tender leaves with honey.

As a kalka of the leaves with salt and peppet of a marble size.

Of a mixture of root, stem, leaf, flower ad fruit crushed together, in dose of ¼ to ½ tola as an infusion or decoction with honey or sugar.

A handful of the leaves to the boiled with 40 to 80 oz. of water for an enema.

Action:- Febrifuge, antiperiodic, antipyretic, anthelmintic, antiseptic, blood-purifier and bitter tonic and specific in leprosy.

Uses:- The bark is used in intermittent and remittent fevers, general debility and convalascence. It is a reputed blood-purifier and hence it is given as a specific in cases of Kushta (Leprosy), Vaatarakta and other diseases of the blood. The tender leaves ground into mass with pepper and salt are given as a carminative and anthelmintic and in leprosy. The juice of the leaves is used with honey in Kaamala or jaundice and worms. The seeds are anthelmintic and alterative. The oil extracted from it is bitter, anthelmintic and stimulant and has a specific action in leprosy both internally and externally. The toddy which naturally oozes out of the tree is used as a tonic and also in leprosy. The gum is used by some in chronic gonorrhoea.

A decoction of the leaves with a little salt is very good for a enema to expel worms and also to remove wind. The decoction of the bark is used as an antiseptic lotion for cleaning ulcers. The leaves are disinfectant and local stimulant and are used as poultices to indolent glands and swellings. The paste of the leaves, ground with turmeric, is used as a popular remedy for ulcers in Small-pox. The foam obtained by churning the tender shoots with cold or ice water is applied to the body to reduce the high temperature in fevers. The external application of the oils is antiseptic and healing. This is very useful in leprosy.
Neem leaves are used dry in libraries to keep off book-eating worms. They are placed in between the books in the shelves.