Agnimantha

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Arni

What the texts say Agnimantha does

• Shothahara — reduces swelling
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Pachana — digests ama (digestive)
• Vatahara — pacifies vata
• Mutrala — diuretic

What the evidence says. Traditional use is extensive and long recorded. Modern clinical evidence is limited.

Side effects and limits

• Digestive upset
• Burning sensation in those of pitta constitution

Avoid or ask first: No absolute contraindication is documented here. This is written deliberately rather than left blank.

A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

One of the Dashamoola; the root bark is the part used.

Reported from Sharangadhara Samhita and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Laisha states what the texts prescribe; it does not recommend. No quantity here is adjusted for a particular person — not for agni, koshtha, bala, age, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything already being taken.

Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Part I

Premna serratifolia and Clerodendrum phlomidis are both used as Agnimantha with regional authority. The species must be named before a figure means anything.

These are the marker and the identity test for this dravya, and they are not a test Laisha has run on anything. Laisha does not state the numeric limits here: the assay, ash and extractive figures must be read from the current edition of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, because a wrong limit printed here is a number a laboratory would act on. The entries in this library that DO carry figures carry them because each one was checked.

Four rasa, with ushna virya and katu vipaka.

These are the actions the classical texts record. They are statements about what the tradition holds, and this library does not restate them as findings about a human body.

Agnimantha means fire-churner: the wood was used as the drill for kindling the sacrificial fire, and the name records a use that has nothing to do with medicine. Vahnimantha says the same thing another way.

Rasa, guna, virya, vipaka and karma are recorded as the classical texts give them, with the text and section named so a student can open the book and check. Where an exact chapter and verse could not be confirmed, this library names the section rather than inventing a number.

Two plants are used as Agnimantha across India: Premna serratifolia and Clerodendrum phlomidis, which the texts and later commentators distinguish as the large and the small kind. Both usages are old and neither is a fraud. As with Prishniparni, a Dashamoola preparation from one region may not contain the same plant as one from another, and a student is expected to know that rather than be surprised by it.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. Premna integrifolia and Premna obtusifolia are treated as synonyms. In parts of India Clerodendrum phlomidis is used under this name, and that is set out below. One of the ten roots of Dashamoola, counted among the five great roots.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Premna from Greek premnon, a tree stump — the genus was named for its short, thick trunk. Serratifolia is serrated leaf. Agnimantha means fire-churner: its wood was used to make the ritual fire by friction.

Agnimantha is counted among the Brihat Panchamoola in the Sushruta Samhita and is recorded as shothahara. That is what the tradition holds and where it is written down, not a finding about what the plant does in a body.

Constituents. The root and bark carry iridoid glycosides and alkaloids including premnine. Composition differs between the two plants used under this name.

• This is a study and clinical reference for practitioners and students. The matra and anupana it records are what the classical texts and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India PRESCRIBE — Laisha reports them, it does not recommend them. They are not a prescription for any particular person, and they are not adjusted for your age, agni, koshtha, bala, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything else you are already taking. Only a qualified practitioner who has examined you can do that.
• Traditional classification is recorded as what the classical texts say, with the text and the place in it named so it can be checked. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.