Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Unani
Ash gourd (Benincasa hispida), of the Cucurbitaceae family. Large trailing annual vine bearing a broad oblong gourd; native range: tropical and monsoon Asia, cultivated from India to China. Globally recognized as kushmanda in Sanskrit, petha in Hindi, dong gua (冬瓜) in Chinese, petha in Arabic, and winter melon, wax gourd, white gourd in English. The part used is ripe fruit-flesh; the rind and seed (TCM). A big gourd frosted with white wax; the flesh crisp, watery and blandly sweet, cooling in the mouth, near odourless.
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.
ASH GOURD
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Ash gourd
- Scientific name
- Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.
- Family
- Cucurbitaceae
Form
- Part used
- ripe fruit-flesh; the rind and seed (TCM)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · bland
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
- Unani
- sweet · bland
Temperature
TCM: cool (the seed slightly cold)
Ayurveda: cooling (sheeta)
Unani: cold (2nd degree) & moist
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses agree on a cool, moist, thirst-quenching flesh
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Large Intestine · Small Intestine
- Unani
- brain · stomach · bladder
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- the rind promotes urination and reduces oedema and clears summerheat; the seed clears heat and phlegm, expels pus and drains lung and intestinal abscess
- Ayurveda
- medhya and hridya, mutrala (diuretic), balya, pacifies pitta and stops bleeding (raktapitta-hara)
- Unani
- muqawwi-e-dimagh (brain tonic), murattib (moistener), mudir-e-baul (diuretic) and mubarrid (refrigerant)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- cold, damp, kapha-laden digestion and diarrhoea from cold
- Toxicity
- essentially a food; very safe
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