Shalaparni

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Sarivan

What the texts say Shalaparni does

• Balya — strengthening
• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Shothahara — reduces swelling
• Vatahara — pacifies vata
• Jwaraghna — used in fever

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

Side effects and limits

• Digestive upset

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

One of the Dashamoola and of the Laghu Panchamoola.

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

Desmodium gangeticum. Pseudarthria viscida is supplied as Prishniparni and the two are confused with each other.

These are the marker and the identity test for this dravya, and they are not a test Laisha has run on anything. Laisha does not state the numeric limits here: the assay, ash and extractive figures must be read from the current edition of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, because a wrong limit printed here is a number a laboratory would act on. The entries in this library that DO carry figures carry them because each one was checked.

Madhura and tikta with ushna virya and madhura 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.

Shalaparni means having leaves like the sal tree. Sthira, meaning steady or firm, is the paryaya most often paired with Prishniparni in the texts, and the two are almost always named together.

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 Desmodium species are collected with it and are difficult to separate once the root is dried and cut. Pseudarthria viscida, which is Prishniparni, is the commonest substitute — the two grow together and the texts pair them, so a collector who takes both and sells one name is not always being dishonest, only careless.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. One of the ten roots of Dashamoola, counted among the five lesser roots.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Desmodium is desmos, a chain — the pod breaks into chain-like segments. Gangeticum means of the Ganges.

Shalaparni is counted among the Laghu Panchamoola in the Sushruta Samhita and is recorded as tridoshahara. 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 alkaloids of the indole group and pterocarpanoids. Content varies with the age of the plant.

• 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.