Category:Ayurvedic herbs

An Ayurvedic herb is a plant medicine used within the Ayurvedic system of medicine, the indigenous medical tradition of the Indian subcontinent whose continuous written transmission spans more than two thousand years. Ayurveda (from Sanskrit ayus "life" and veda "knowledge") integrates a constitutional theory of three biological humours (vata, pitta, kapha), six tastes (rasa), and seven tissues (dhatu) with a vast pharmacopoeia of plant, mineral, and animal preparations. The pharmacopoeia is documented in the classical compendia Charaka Samhita (the internal-medicine treatise, compiled before the common era), Sushruta Samhita (the surgical and pharmacological treatise, similarly ancient), and Ashtanga Hridaya (the seventh-century synthesis by Vagbhata), and continues through medieval and modern commentaries to the present.

The Ayurvedic plant pharmacopoeia includes upwards of two thousand species in classical and contemporary use; this category collects the herbs whose Ayurvedic use is sufficiently established and clinically relevant to warrant a dedicated wiki monograph. A characteristic feature of the Ayurvedic tradition is the use of compound formulas (yoga) rather than single plants: classical formulations such as Triphala (the three-fruit combination of Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellirica, and Phyllanthus emblica), Trikatu (the three-pungent combination of black pepper, long pepper, and ginger), and the longer hundred-ingredient Chyavanprash have remained essentially unchanged from their earliest documented forms.

The contemporary clinical interface between Ayurveda and Western medicine has been substantially shaped by the pharmacological research of the late twentieth century. The classical Ayurvedic concept of rasayana (rejuvenation therapy) has produced two of the most-studied herbal medicines of the past three decades: ashwagandha (the adaptogen of the Solanaceae, the subject of more than two hundred controlled trials for stress, sleep, and athletic performance), and the medhya-rasayana (brahmi) cognitive enhancers Bacopa monnieri and Centella asiatica. The classical anti-inflammatory medicines turmeric (Curcuma longa) and boswellia (Boswellia serrata) have entered Western clinical use through the same evidence-generation route. The neem tree ('Azadirachta indica), the holy basil (tulsi, Ocimum tenuiflorum), and the Indian ginseng-equivalents complete the foundational set.

The classical Ayurvedic preparations are pharmaceutically distinct from the Western herbal forms in several respects. Bhasma preparations are calcined mineral or metal medicines (the controversial heavy-metal-containing preparations whose use has drawn substantial Western regulatory attention); ghrita are ghee-based herbal infusions (the lipid vehicle is believed to enhance herbal absorption and to carry certain medicines across the blood-brain barrier); taila are oil-based preparations for topical and oral use; avaleha are jam-like syrups; asava and arishta are self-fermented herbal wines. Panchakarma is the classical five-action cleansing protocol that frames the use of these preparations in formal Ayurvedic clinical practice. The wiki monographs focus on the plant-based kashaya (decoctions), kalka (pastes), churna (powders), and the standardised modern extracts in clinical use; the bhasma preparations are referenced where they intersect with Western pharmacovigilance.

The Ayurvedic herbs of established clinical use, as documented in the classical compendia and in contemporary controlled-trial literature, are progressively indexed as their individual monographs are built. The foundational set: ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), turmeric (Curcuma longa), holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum), neem (Azadirachta indica), bacopa (Bacopa monnieri), gotu kola (Centella asiatica), mucuna (Mucuna pruriens), arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia), shatavari (Asparagus racemosus), guggul (Commiphora wightii), boswellia (Boswellia serrata), the Triphala constituents (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellirica, Phyllanthus emblica), the Trikatu constituents (Piper nigrum, Piper longum, Zingiber officinale), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), and the rasayana medhya group.

The boundary of this category is "plant medicine of established use in the Ayurvedic tradition, with a dedicated wiki monograph." Plants used in Ayurveda whose principal contemporary clinical use is in a different tradition (turmeric is foundational in Ayurveda and is also a Western adaptogen and TCM herb) are cross-indexed across all the relevant tradition categories per the multi-membership rule. Compound formulas (Triphala, Trikatu, Chyavanprash, the named yogas of the Ashtanga Hridaya) are referenced on the individual plant pages where they appear and may be given their own pages where the formula is itself the subject of contemporary clinical research. The bhasma mineral preparations are referenced for safety where they intersect with Western pharmacovigilance but are not themselves plant medicines and are not in this category. The classical Ayurvedic theoretical framework (tridosha, rasa, prakriti) is described on the main Ayurveda article and on the individual herb pages where the theory informs the clinical use.

This category page is an encyclopedia article about its subject. The actual index of herbs belonging to the category is generated automatically by the wiki engine, from category-membership declarations on the individual herb pages, and appears at the foot of the page below the references.