Gambhari

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

What the texts say Gambhari does

• Shothahara — reduces swelling
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Vatahara — pacifies vata
• Balya — strengthening
• Rasayana — rejuvenative

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

Side effects and limits

• Digestive upset

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

One of the Dashamoola.

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

Gmelina arborea root. One of the Dashamula and among the more reliably supplied of them.

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 and kashaya with madhura, ushna virya and katu vipaka. The fruit is madhura with sheeta virya and is treated separately.

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.

Kashmari and Shriparni are the paryaya most used in the texts. Madhuparnika, sweet-leaved, points to the fruit rather than the root, and a student should notice that the paryaya of this dravya do not all describe the same part.

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.

Because the tree is planted commercially for timber, root material is more often genuine than for the other great roots. The substitution that occurs is stem bark or wood in place of root, since a timber plantation produces those in quantity and the root only when a tree is grubbed out.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. One of the ten roots of Dashamoola, counted among the five great roots. The same tree is planted widely as a fast-growing timber crop, which is why it is easier to get honestly than most Dashamoola members.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Gmelina honours Johann Georg Gmelin. Arborea simply means tree-like.

Gambhari is counted among the Brihat Panchamoola in the Sushruta Samhita and the fruit is recorded as a rasayana. That is what the tradition holds and where it is written down, not a finding about what the tree does in a body.

Constituents. The root and bark carry lignans including gmelinol, along with iridoid glycosides. Content differs between root, bark and fruit.

• 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.