Ashwagandha

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Asgandh

What the texts say Ashwagandha does

• Balya — strengthening
• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Vrishya — aphrodisiac, supports reproductive vigour
• Vatahara — pacifies vata
• Nidrajanana — induces sleep

What the evidence says. Limited and mixed.

Side effects and limits

• Drowsiness
• Stomach upset
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting

Avoid or ask first: Autoimmune conditions — not recommended.; Thyroid disorders — not recommended.; Before surgery — not recommended.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Classically given with dugdha as balya and rasayana. API assay: total withanolides not less than 0.2 per cent.

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

Root only. Leaf and stem raise the ash and lower the withanolides, and leaf-adulterated material is common.

These are the pharmacopoeial limits for the article, not a test Laisha has run on anything. They are here so a practitioner can ask a supplier for a certificate of analysis and know what the numbers on it should say.

Tikta and katu with madhura. Madhura vipaka with ushna virya is the combination the texts credit for its balya action.

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.

Ashwa means horse and gandha means smell: the fresh root smells of it, and that is the feature the name records. Vajini and Hayagandha say the same thing in other words.

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.

Withania coagulans, a different species, is sold under overlapping names, and roots of unrelated plants appear in loose powder. Because the root is usually sold cut or powdered, the horse smell that gives the plant its name — the one feature a buyer could check — is often the only test left, and it fades with age.

Matched to the accepted name in the GBIF backbone at 99% confidence. Solanaceae is the nightshade family, which matters: several relatives are toxic, and a plant collected in the wild by somebody who is not certain is the commonest route to harm in herbal medicine.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Withania honours Henry Witham. Somnifera is somnus (sleep) + fero (I bring) — sleep-bringing. The Sanskrit says the root smells of a horse; the Latin says what it was thought to do.

Ashwagandha has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years, where it is classed among the rasayana preparations. Ayurveda describes it as supporting resilience under strain. That is what the tradition holds; it is a description of a historical practice, not a finding about what the plant does in a body.

Constituents. Contains several bioactive compounds, including a group of substances known as withanolides.

Grown as a crop: how to grow ashwagandha, from sowing to harvest, in Laisha's grow guides.

• No dose is given, here or anywhere in this library. Dose depends on the preparation, the extract strength, body weight, liver and kidney function, and everything else a person is taking.
• Nothing here is a recommendation to take ashwagandha, or to stop taking anything prescribed.