Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Buttermilk (Bos taurus), of the Bovidae (Mammalia) family. The domestic cow — the milk soured to curd, the curd churned and the butter taken off; native range: wherever the cow is milked and the curd is churned — the everyday drink of the Indian household. Globally recognized as takra in Sanskrit, chhachh, mattha in Hindi, moru in Tamil, and buttermilk, churned curd in English. The part used is the buttermilk — what remains after the butter is churned out of the curd. A thin, white, faintly opaque liquid, cleanly sour and refreshing, sometimes with a little butter still suspended; it separates on standing and must be stirred back.
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.
BUTTERMILK
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- buttermilk
- Scientific name
- Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758
- Family
- Bovidae (Mammalia)
Form
- Part used
- the buttermilk — what remains after the butter is churned out of the curd
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- astringent (kashaya) · sour (amla) · sweet (madhura)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna) — the point on which it inverts the milk it came from
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- deepana and pachana (kindles the fire and digests ama), grahi (binds the stool), lekhana (scrapes fat and obstruction), srotoshodhana (clears the channels), and kapha-vata shamana
Cautions
- Contraindications
- the classical list is explicit and stands as given — kshata (wounds and chest injury), durbalata (debility), murcha (fainting), bhrama (giddiness), daha (burning), raktapitta (bleeding disorders), and the hot season; also not in pitta disorders with acidity, nor in acute ulceration
- Toxicity
- a food, non-toxic; the cautions are of pattern, not of poison
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