Witnessed by: Ayurveda
East Indian arrowroot (Curcuma angustifolia), of the Zingiberaceae family. Herbaceous rhizomatous perennial with long narrow leaves and a pale flowering spike; native range: the forests and hill tracts of central and peninsular India. Globally recognized as tavakṣīrī in Sanskrit, tikhur · kuā in Hindi, tavkhir in Marathi, and East Indian arrowroot, narrow-leaved turmeric in English. The part used is starch washed from the rhizome. A fine glistening white powder, faintly gritty between the fingers, without smell and with no taste but a bland starchy sweetness; it sets to a clear pale jelly with hot water.
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.
EAST INDIAN ARROWROOT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- East Indian arrowroot
- Scientific name
- Curcuma angustifolia Roxb.
- Family
- Zingiberaceae
Form
- Part used
- starch washed from the rhizome
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- sheeta (refrigerant), balya (nutritive tonic), grahi (holds a loose bowel), stambhana, daha-prashamana (allays burning), mutrala (mildly diuretic)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- kapha conditions with dampness and mucus; it nourishes but does not kindle, and it clogs a slow digestion
- Toxicity
- none; a food starch
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