Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Shankhini (Canscora decussata), of the Gentianaceae family. A slender, erect annual herb with a squared stem, opposite decussate leaves, and small pale flowers; native range: damp grassy ground and rice-field margins across India, and on into tropical Africa. Globally recognized as śaṅkhinī, shankhapushpi in Sanskrit, sankhahuli, dankuni in Hindi, and shankhini in English. The part used is the whole plant. A thin wiry herb, the stem four-angled and the leaf pairs set crosswise at each node; markedly bitter, in the gentian manner.
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.
SHANKHINI
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- shankhini
- Scientific name
- Canscora decussata (Roxb.) Schult. & Schult.f.
- Family
- Gentianaceae
Form
- Part used
- the whole plant
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- medhya (for the mind and the memory), rasayana (rejuvenative), nidrajanana (brings sleep), raktashodhaka (cleans the blood), jvaraghna (checks fever), krimighna, kaphapittahara
Cautions
- Contraindications
- none of note in the classical texts; caution in pregnancy
- Toxicity
- a mild herb in ordinary use; the trade material is unreliable, since all four shankhapushpis are sold under the one name
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