Sarpagandha

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Chandrabhaga

What the texts say Sarpagandha does

• Nidrajanana — induces sleep
• Medhya — supports intellect and memory
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)
• Jwaraghna — used in fever
• Vishaghna — antidote (against poison)

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

Side effects and limits

• Drowsiness and sedation
• Nasal congestion
• Slowed heartbeat
• Digestive upset
• Low mood

Avoid or ask first: Depression or any history of it.; Pregnancy and breastfeeding.; Peptic ulcer.; and more below.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Reserpine-bearing. Prescription-restricted in India and barred as a US supplement ingredient. A history of depression is a contraindication.

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.

Tikta and katu with ushna virya and katu vipaka.

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.

Sarpagandha means snake-smelling, and the plant was held to repel snakes and to be used where one had bitten. Chandrika, moonlit, describes the pale flowers. Nakuli links it to the mongoose, the snake's enemy.

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.

Other Rauvolfia species are substituted, chiefly Rauvolfia tetraphylla, which contains a different and more erratic alkaloid profile. Because the whole point of this root is its alkaloid content, a substitution here is not a matter of a weaker preparation but of an unpredictable one.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. This is the most pharmacologically consequential plant in the library: the alkaloid reserpine was isolated from this root and became one of the first modern medicines for high blood pressure and for psychosis. It is on CITES Appendix II. Both facts are dealt with in the safety section, which for this dravya is the most important part of the entry.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Rauvolfia honours Leonhard Rauwolf. Serpentina means serpent-like, for the twisting root. Sarpa-gandha means snake-smell. Latin and Sanskrit chose the same snake.

Sarpagandha is described in the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu and is recorded in later Ayurvedic works as acting where the mind is disturbed and where sleep is lost. That is what the tradition holds and where it is written down, not a finding about what the root does in a body.

Constituents. The root carries indole alkaloids, of which reserpine is the best known; ajmaline, ajmalicine, serpentine and others are also present. Reserpine became a modern prescription medicine in its own right.

• 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.