Trivrit

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Nisoth

What the texts say Trivrit does

• Virechana — purgative
• Pittarechana — purges pitta
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)
• Kushthaghna — used in skin disease
• Shothahara — reduces swelling

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

Side effects and limits

• Abdominal cramping
• Diarrhoea and dehydration
• Nausea
• Weakness after purgation

Avoid or ask first: Pregnancy.; Intestinal obstruction, appendicitis or undiagnosed abdominal pain.; Inflammatory bowel disease.; and more below.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Shyama trivrit is the more drastic variety and is not the same drug as the gentler Aruna.

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, tikta and kashaya 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.

Rechani names the action directly. The texts distinguish Shweta Trivrit, the white kind, which is the one used, from Shyama Trivrit, the dark kind, which they describe as harsher and warn against for the weak. Shyama is not a synonym for Trivrit: it is the name of the more drastic variety, against the gentler Aruna or Shweta. Charaka Kalpasthana 7 treats them separately, and a prescription reading Shyama Trivrit is not asking for the same drug.

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.

The dark kind, Shyama Trivrit, is cheaper and is sold as the white — which matters because the texts themselves say the dark is harsher and not for the weak. Woody root core is ground in with the bark to add weight, producing material that is simply weak. Marsdenia tenacissima is also traded under the name in some markets.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. Ipomoea turpethum is a synonym. This is the dravya Ayurveda names first for virechana, purgation, and the texts single it out as the gentlest of the strong purgatives.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Operculina is operculum, a little lid — the seed capsule opens by a lid. Turpethum is from the Persian turbid, the drug name itself. Tri-vrit means three-turned, for the twining stem.

Charaka gives a whole chapter of the Kalpasthana to trivrit, and the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu distinguishes its two kinds. 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 bark carries glycoresins, chiefly turpethin, which are the purgative principle.

• 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.