Witnessed by: Unani
Papaya (Carica papaya), of the Caricaceae family. A soft-stemmed, unbranched tree-herb with a crown of large lobed leaves and fruit borne against the trunk; native range: native to Central America and southern Mexico; carried by the Spanish and Portuguese through the tropics, and long naturalised and grown across India. Globally recognized as papita, papita desi in Arabic/Urdu, papita in Hindi, and papaya, papaw in English. The part used is the dried unripe fruit; also the latex, the seed and the leaf. The green fruit is firm and pale, bleeding a copious white latex where it is cut, and the latex bites the tongue and the skin; the dried slices are buff, hard and faintly acrid.
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.
PAPAYA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- papaya
- Scientific name
- Carica papaya L.
- Family
- Caricaceae
Form
- Part used
- the dried unripe fruit; also the latex, the seed and the leaf
PROPERTIES
Nature
Temperature
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- stomach · liver · intestines · spleen
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Unani
- hazim (digestive — it dissolves flesh), mulayyin (laxative), qatil-e-deedan (kills worms), muhallil-e-warm (resolves swelling), mudirr-e-baul (diuretic), mufattit (dissolves and disperses); the latex akkal (escharotic) outwardly
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy above all — the green fruit and its latex are a well-attested emmenagogue and abortifacient, and are held to bring on the courses and to cast the child; also hot temperaments and the acid stomach
- Toxicity
- the latex is a caustic and a sensitiser — it blisters the skin, wounds the eye, and the dust of the dried fruit and the papain of the trade are known respiratory and contact allergens; the ripe fruit as food is harmless
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