Dugdha

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Doodh

What the texts say Dugdha does

• Jivaniya — vitalising, life-sustaining
• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Balya — strengthening
• Vrishya — aphrodisiac, supports reproductive vigour
• Stanyajanana — promotes breast milk
• Medhya — supports intellect and memory

What the evidence says. Milk's nutrition is thoroughly established. The classical distinctions between animal sources are not established as clinical differences.

Side effects and limits

Lactose intolerance is the common issue and is the majority state in South and East Asian adults. Cow's milk protein allergy is distinct from it and is more serious. Milk with fish is a named viruddha ahara in Charaka and is worth stating as what the texts hold.

Avoid or ask first: Lactose intolerance and cow's milk protein allergy.; Ama and impaired agni, per the classical position.; With fish and with sour dravya, per Charaka's viruddha list.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Ksheerapaka — a dravya decocted in milk and water until the water goes — is a distinct preparation with its own matra and is not the same as taking the churna with milk.

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.

Dugdha is classed among the jangama dravya.

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.

Adulteration with water, starch, urea and detergent is documented and routine in parts of the market.

From Cow (Bos indicus) — godugdha is the classical drug; the texts also describe goat, buffalo, camel, mare and elephant milk separately. Milk.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Dugdha is the past participle of duh, to milk — literally 'that which has been milked'. The same root gives the Greek and Latin words for daughter in one old and contested etymology, the daughter being the one who milks.

Milk is the principal jivaniya dravya and the principal anupana of Ayurveda. Charaka treats the milk of eight animals as eight dravya with different properties, which is a level of distinction modern nutrition does not make.

Constituents. A product of Cow (Bos indicus) is godugdha, the classical drug; the texts also describe goat, buffalo, camel, mare and elephant milk separately.

• 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. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.