Padma

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Kamal

What the texts say Padma does

• Raktastambhana — checks bleeding (haemostatic)
• Daha prashamana — relieves burning
• Trishna nigrahana — relieves thirst
• Varnya — improves complexion
• Hridya — good for the heart

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

Side effects and limits

The rhizome and seed are ordinary foods across Asia and the flower parts are in long medicinal use, with no significant toxicity recorded. Lotus is grown in ponds and paddies and takes up what is in the water, so heavy-metal uptake from contaminated water is the practical sourcing concern. 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 stamens for the haemostatic action; the other parts are used separately.

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, kashaya and tikta with sheeta virya and madhura vipaka. It sits with chandana and ushira among the cooling dravya.

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.

Nalina is listed as a separate member in some gana lists, which suggests the compilers meant a distinct article - probably the leaf or the stalk.

The stamens of Nymphaea species are sold as Padmakeshara and are a different genus; the lists name them separately as Utpala and Kumuda precisely because they are not the same. Saffron is sometimes bulked with lotus stamens, which is the substitution running the other way.

Nelumbo nucifera, the sacred lotus, which is not a water lily - Nymphaea species are Utpala, Kumuda and Saugandhika and are named separately in the same gana lists.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Nelumbo is from the Sinhala nelumbu. Nucifera means nut-bearing, for the seed. Padma is among the oldest words in the language and names the flower, a number, a colour and a posture.

Padma is named across the Shonitasthapana, Purishasangrahaniya and Mutravirajaniya mahakashaya and heads Sushruta's Utpaladi gana. That is what the tradition records and where.

Grown as a crop: how to grow lotus, from sowing to harvest, in Laisha's grow guides.

• 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.