Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Cowrie shell (Cypraea moneta), of the Cypraeidae (Gastropoda) family. A small marine gastropod of Indo-Pacific reef flats; the drug is the shell it builds; native range: shallow reef flats and lagoons of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, gathered on the Maldivian and Indian coasts. Globally recognized as varāṭaka, kapardikā in Sanskrit, kaudi in Hindi, and money cowrie, cowrie shell in English. The part used is the shell — purified (shodhana), then calcined to bhasma (kapardika bhasma). A small, hard, egg-shaped shell with a glossy porcelain back and a toothed slit beneath, yellowish-white; calcined it becomes a light, dull-white, gritless ash without taste.
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.
COWRIE SHELL
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- cowrie shell
- Scientific name
- Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, 1758 — the name the sources use; the accepted name is now Monetaria moneta
- Family
- Cypraeidae (Gastropoda)
Form
- Part used
- the shell — purified (shodhana), then calcined to bhasma (kapardika bhasma)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna virya)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- deepana (kindles digestion), pachana, grahi, amlapittahara, and shulaprashamana
Cautions
- Toxicity
- only the properly purified and calcined bhasma is given — the raw or merely powdered shell is not for internal use
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