घृत
From Cow (Bos indicus) — goghrita is the classical drug; buffalo ghrita is a different dravya
Jangama · animal origin
TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS
Hindi name: Ghee
What the texts say Ghrita does
What the evidence says. Ghee's lipid effects are well characterised. The classical medhya and rasayana claims are not established by clinical evidence.
Side effects and limits
Ghee is saturated fat. In quantity it raises LDL cholesterol, and the classical snehapana quantities are very large by dietary standards. That is a real consideration in cardiovascular disease and is not answered by tradition.
Avoid or ask first: Ama, and any condition with impaired agni — the classical prohibition, and a sound one.; Obesity and hyperlipidaemia in medicinal quantity.; Kapha-predominant conditions.
A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.
AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE
| Ghrita, as an anupana or a dravya | 5–20 ml |
| In snehapana, as a purvakarma | by the hrasva, madhyama and uttama matra, decided at the bedside |
| Anupana | Ushnodaka · Given as the anupana itself |
| Kala | Pragbhakta for snehana; as the yoga directs otherwise |
Ghrita is the base of a whole class of preparations — Brahmi ghrita, Kalyanaka ghrita, Phala ghrita. In snehapana the quantity is not a fixed number: it is titrated to samyak snigdha lakshana over days.
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.
| Rasa | Madhura |
| Guna | SnigdhaGuruMridu |
| Virya | Sheeta |
| Vipaka | Madhura |
| Doshakarma | Vatapittahara. Increases kapha in quantity. |
| Upayukta anga | Goghrita; purana ghrita (aged, over a year) is a distinct and stronger dravya |
Ghrita is classed among the jangama dravya.
| English | Clarified butter |
| Hindi | Ghee |
| Kannada | Tuppa |
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.
Vanaspati and blended fats are sold as ghee constantly. Buffalo ghrita is not goghrita and the texts separate them.
From Cow (Bos indicus) — goghrita is the classical drug; buffalo ghrita is a different dravya. Clarified butterfat.
A WAY TO REMEMBER IT
Ghrita is from the root ghr, to sprinkle or make bright — the same root as ghee. It is what is poured on the fire in a yajna, and the word for the offering became the word for the substance.
Charaka names ghrita first among the four sneha and describes it as the one that takes on the property of what it is cooked with while keeping its own — which is why the entire ghrita kalpana exists.
Constituents. A product of Cow (Bos indicus) — goghrita is the classical drug; buffalo ghrita is a different dravya.
| Status | Ghee's lipid effects are well characterised. The classical medhya and rasayana claims are not established by clinical evidence. |
| The honest gap | Mineral and animal dravya are far less studied than plant dravya, and what study exists is chiefly characterisation and toxicology rather than clinical efficacy. |
Ghee is saturated fat. In quantity it raises LDL cholesterol, and the classical snehapana quantities are very large by dietary standards. That is a real consideration in cardiovascular disease and is not answered by tradition.
| Contraindications | Ama, and any condition with impaired agni — the classical prohibition, and a sound one. Obesity and hyperlipidaemia in medicinal quantity. Kapha-predominant conditions. |
| Interactions | Any fat-soluble drug — ghrita increases absorption of lipophilic substances, which is the classical yogavahi property described in modern terms. Lipid-lowering medicines — high saturated fat intake opposes them. Orlistat — fat absorption is reduced and steatorrhoea follows. |
| Pregnancy and breastfeeding | Ordinary dietary quantities are unremarkable. Medicinal snehapana in pregnancy is a specialist decision. |