Sarshapa

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Sarson

What the texts say Sarshapa does

• Kaphaghna — pacifies kapha
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)
• Kandughna — relieves itching
• Shirovirechana — clears the head (nasal errhine)
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)

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

Side effects and limits

• Burning and blistering of the skin from a seed paste left too long
• Aggravation of pitta taken internally in quantity

Avoid or ask first: Not applied to broken skin or left in place as a lepa beyond the time prescribed.; Not used internally in quantity where there is a marked pitta state.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

A small internal quantity; the oil is chiefly for external use.

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.

Katu and tikta with ushna virya and katu vipaka. It is among the sharpest of the everyday dravya and the texts treat it as such.

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.

Rajika properly names the smaller, sharper Brassica nigra; Sarshapa the larger seed. The market uses rai and sarson for the same distinction and not always consistently.

Argemone mexicana seed is the classic and dangerous adulterant of mustard seed and mustard oil in India. It contains sanguinarine and causes epidemic dropsy, which has killed people in documented outbreaks. This is not a quality problem but a poisoning risk, and it is the single most important thing to know about buying mustard oil loose.

Brassica juncea is the usual Sarshapa. Brassica nigra and Brassica campestris are also traded under the name and under the market words rai and sarson, and the three differ in pungency.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Brassica is the Latin for cabbage. Juncea, rush-like, for the slender leaves. Sarshapa is an old word, and the mustard seed appears in the proverbs of three religions as the smallest thing worth naming.

Sarshapa is named among the Shirovirechanopaga mahakashaya of the Charaka Samhita and in two of Sushruta's ganas. That is what the tradition records.

Grown as a crop: how to grow mustard, 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.