Tuvari

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Phitkari

What the texts say Tuvari does

• Stambhana — astringent, checks discharge
• Raktastambhana — checks bleeding (haemostatic)
• Vranashodhana — cleans wounds
• Krimighna — anthelmintic (against worms)

What the evidence says. Alum's astringent and antimicrobial action is established; the internal classical uses are not.

Side effects and limits

Aluminium-bearing, and chronic aluminium exposure matters in renal impairment. Concentrated alum is a mucosal irritant.

Avoid or ask first: Renal impairment.; Prolonged internal use.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Chiefly external. The same substance is entered separately as Sphatika because the texts treat it under both names and a reader looking up either should find it.

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.

Tuvari is classed among the Uparasa — as Kankshi.

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.

Ammonium alum is sold as phitkari and is a different salt. Tuvari, Kankshi and Sphatika are three names for one substance and a student should know they are not three drugs.

Potassium aluminium sulphate, the same salt as Sphatika. Tuvari and Kankshi are the Rasashastra names for it among the uparasa.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Tuvari is from tuvara, astringent — the taste is the name. Kankshi is the other classical name for the same salt.

Used in raktapitta, in vrana and as a gargle, and as a mordant in the preparation of other dravya.

Constituents. Potassium aluminium sulphate, the same salt as Sphatika. Tuvari and Kankshi are the Rasashastra names for it among the uparasa.

• 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. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.