Bharangi

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

What the texts say Bharangi does

• Shwasahara — relieves breathlessness
• Kasahara — relieves cough
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Shothahara — reduces swelling
• Jwaraghna — used in fever
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)

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

Side effects and limits

• Digestive upset
• Burning sensation

Avoid or ask first: Pregnancy.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

The classical shwasahara and kasahara root.

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.

Tikta, katu and kashaya 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.

Angaravalli, the ember creeper, describes the colour of the flowers. Kharashaka, rough vegetable, names the coarse leaf, which is eaten in some places.

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.

Other Clerodendrum species are collected with it, and Premna species — which include agnimantha — are also sold as bharangi in some markets. Stem is sold as root, which is the usual short cut where a root has to be dug.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. Clerodendrum serratum is a synonym and is the name almost all Ayurvedic literature uses; the genus was split and the plant did not change.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Rotheca is an anagram-like Latinisation of the Malabar name. Serrata is toothed, for the leaf margin.

Bharangi is named in the Charaka Samhita among the dravya for the breath and described in the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu. That is what the tradition holds and where it is written down, not a finding about what the root does in a body.

Constituents. The root carries saponins, flavonoids and phenolic glycosides including serratagenic acid derivatives.

• 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.