Apamarga

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Chirchita

What the texts say Apamarga does

• Vamaka — emetic
• Shirovirechana — clears the head (nasal errhine)
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)
• Shothahara — reduces swelling
• Ashmarihara — used in urinary stones

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

Side effects and limits

• Nausea and vomiting — the tradition uses it as an emetic, so this is an expected action
• Burning sensation
• Skin irritation from the kshara

Avoid or ask first: Pregnancy — absolutely.; Breastfeeding.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

The kshara is caustic and the matra is small. Shirovirechana use is Charaka Sutrasthana 2. Contraindicated in pregnancy.

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.

Katu and tikta 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.

Pratyakpushpi and Adhahshalya both describe the flowers and fruits pointing backwards down the spike, which catch on clothing and animals. It is the identifying feature and the reason the plant travels.

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.

Achyranthes bidentata and other species are collected with it. Because the plant is a free roadside weed there is little economic reason to adulterate it, which makes this one of the least falsified dravya in the library — but roadside collection means it carries whatever the roadside carries, and that is the real quality question.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. A weed of every roadside in India, and one of the few dravya a student can find within a hundred metres of any college gate.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Achyranthes is achyron (chaff) + anthos (flower) — the flowers are dry and chaffy. Aspera means rough, which is exactly how the spike feels when it catches your clothes.

Apamarga heads the Shirovirechana group in the Charaka Samhita and is described in the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu. 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 plant carries saponins including achyranthine, along with betaine and an alkali-rich ash.

• 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.