Guduchi

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Giloy

What the texts say Guduchi does

• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Balya — strengthening
• Jvarahara — used in fever
• Trishnahara — relieves thirst
• Dahaprashamana — relieves burning

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

Side effects and limits

• Digestive discomfort

Avoid or ask first: Autoimmune conditions — caution is advised, and a practitioner should be asked first.; Existing liver disease — caution is advised in light of the reported cases above.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Satva (the starch) is a distinct preparation with its own matra and is the sheeta form.

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

Stem only. A high acid-insoluble ash points to adhering soil, and to stem collected from the ground rather than climbing.

These are the pharmacopoeial limits for the article, not a test Laisha has run on anything. They are here so a practitioner can ask a supplier for a certificate of analysis and know what the numbers on it should say.

Tikta predominant, with kashaya. It is among the dravya where the vipaka differs strikingly from the rasa, and that contrast is the usual examination point.

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.

Amrita means nectar or the undying, and Chhinnaruha means one that grows again after being cut — a name describing the plant's habit, which is how a student is expected to recognise it.

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.

Tinospora sinensis is collected and sold alongside it, particularly as dried stem where the two are hard to tell apart. Stems of unrelated climbers are also sold as giloy in loose markets. Once cut and dried the distinguishing features are largely gone, which is the argument for buying from a source that can say where it was collected.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 97 per cent confidence. The name most often confused with it is Tinospora sinensis, a real and separate species sold under the same vernacular names in several markets; the two are not treated as interchangeable by the pharmacopoeia.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Tinospora is teinos (stretched) + spora (seed). Cordifolia is heart-leaved. The heart-shaped leaf is the field mark; cordifolia tells you so.

Guduchi is classed among the rasayana dravya and the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu names a whole varga after it. Ayurveda records it as acting on all three doshas and describes a jvarahara action. That is what the tradition holds and where it is written down, not a finding about what the stem does in a body.

Constituents. The stem carries a range of alkaloids, diterpenoid lactones, glycosides and a starch fraction that is settled out separately as Guduchi Satva. Composition varies with the season of collection and with what the plant was climbing on.

• 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.