Devadaru

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Devdar

What the texts say Devadaru does

• Shothahara — reduces swelling
• Vedanasthapana — relieves pain
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Kaphaghna — pacifies kapha
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)

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

Side effects and limits

• Skin irritation reported from the undiluted oil applied externally

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

The classical shothahara matra.

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

Cedrus deodara heartwood. Pinus roxburghii wood is substituted where deodar is scarce.

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.

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.

Suradaru and Bhadradaru are the forms Sushruta's ganas use, which is why all three resolve to one dravya in the gana lists.

Pinus roxburghii wood is substituted where deodar is scarce, and the two are difficult to tell apart once chipped. Cedrus deodara is a protected timber species across much of its range, so the medicinal supply competes with a construction market that pays more.

Cedrus deodara is unambiguous. The related Indian trade name devadar is sometimes applied to Erythroxylum monogynum in the south, which is a wholly different plant.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Cedrus is the classical Latin for a cedar. Deodara is straight from Sanskrit devadaru, the timber of the gods — the botanical name is the Sanskrit name, which is rarer than students expect.

Devadaru is named as Suradaru and Bhadradaru across three ganas of the Sushruta Samhita and among the Anuvasanopaga mahakashaya of the Charaka Samhita. That is what the tradition records.

• 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.