Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Neem (Azadirachta indica), of the Meliaceae family. Fast-growing evergreen tree with pinnate, sickle-toothed leaflets; native range: the Indian subcontinent, now planted across the dry tropics. Globally recognized as nimba / arishta in Sanskrit, neem in Hindi, azad dirakht-e-hindi (آزاد درخت هندی) in Arabic, and margosa, Indian lilac, holy tree in English. The part used is leaf, bark, seed-oil, twig. Slender toothed leaflets intensely bitter and faintly garlicky; the pressed seed-oil is thick, acrid and sulphurous-smelling.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
NEEM
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Neem
- Scientific name
- Azadirachta indica A.Juss.
- Family
- Meliaceae
Form
- Part used
- leaf, bark, seed-oil, twig
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
- Western
- bitter · astringent
- Unani
- bitter
Temperature
Ayurveda: cooling (sheeta)
Western: cool
Unani: hot (2nd degree) & dry
convergence: a standing East–West divergence: the Indic witnesses read the great bitter as cooling, while Unani classes it a hot, drying deobstruent — agreement only that it dries and purifies
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- skin · blood · liver · digestion
- Unani
- skin · liver · blood · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- kushtaghna (heals skin disease), krimighna (anthelmintic and antiparasitic), jvaraghna (antipyretic), kapha-pitta-hara and a bitter blood-purifier
- Western
- alterative, bitter tonic, antiparasitic, febrifuge, antiseptic and insecticidal
- Unani
- musaffi-e-khoon (blood purifier), daf-e-taffun (antiseptic), daf-e-deedan (anthelmintic), mufattih-e-sudad (deobstruent) and dafi-e-humma (antipyretic)
Cautions
Contraindications: debility and vata excess, pregnancy and infancy; large internal doses of the seed-oil
Toxicity: concentrated seed-oil is potentially neurotoxic to infants (Reye-like encephalopathy); may impair fertility with prolonged high dose
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: additive blood-glucose lowering · immunosuppressants: immunostimulant action may oppose the drug
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