Mashaparni

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Mashvan

What the texts say Mashaparni does

• Jivaniya — vitalising, life-sustaining
• Brimhaniya — nourishing, builds body tissue
• Balya — strengthening
• Vrishya — aphrodisiac, supports reproductive vigour
• Daha prashamana — relieves burning

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

Side effects and limits

A wild legume in long use and closely related to the food pulses, with no significant toxicity recorded. Anyone pregnant, on medication or managing a diagnosed condition should speak to a doctor or a qualified practitioner first.

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 jivaniya matra, usually paired with Mudgaparni.

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.

Madhura and kashaya with sheeta virya and madhura vipaka, matching its pair Mudgaparni.

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.

Mahasaha is shared with other dravya in the gana lists, which is one route by which Mashaparni gets misresolved.

Interchanged with Mudgaparni in the market as a matter of routine, and several wild Fabaceae are collected as either. Where a formula names both, receiving one of them twice is the commonest quiet error.

Teramnus labialis is the accepted Mashaparni. Vigna species are also used regionally. It is named for its resemblance to masha, the black gram, and pairs throughout the texts with Mudgaparni.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Teramnus is from the Greek for a bedchamber. Labialis, for the lipped flower. Mashaparni means the one with the leaf of masha, the black gram — like its pair, the name tells you what to look for.

Mashaparni is named among the Jivaniya mahakashaya of the Charaka Samhita and in the Kakolyadi gana of the Sushruta Samhita, always paired with Mudgaparni. 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.