Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Unani
Jwarankusha grass (Cymbopogon jwarancusa), of the Poaceae family. Tufted perennial grass of dry sandy ground, the culms erect from a knotted base, bearing a loose reddish panicle; native range: dry open ground of north-west India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, common on the sandy river-beds of the Punjab and Sind. Globally recognized as bhūtika · bhūtṛṇa · jvarāṅkuśa in Sanskrit, jwarankusha · rohisha ghas in Hindi, izkhar makki in Urdu, and jwarankusha grass, camel grass in English. The part used is the whole grass — root, culm and leaf — and the distilled oil. Stiff grey-green blades with a heavy sweetish aromatic scent when bruised, quite unlike lemon; the taste bitter and pungently aromatic.
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.
JWARANKUSHA GRASS
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- jwarankusha grass
- Scientific name
- Cymbopogon jwarancusa (Jones) Schult.
- Family
- Poaceae
Form
- Part used
- the whole grass — root, culm and leaf — and the distilled oil
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · pungent (katu)
- Unani
- bitter · aromatic
Temperature
Ayurveda: cooling (shita)
Unani: hot (2nd degree)
convergence: The traditions diverge: Ayurveda reads the fever-grass as shita virya and gives it to quench the fever's burn; Unani reads the same aromatic grass as hot and dry and gives it to open obstruction. Both accounts stand.
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- kidneys · bladder · liver · stomach · uterus
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- jwaraghna (antipyretic), daha-prashamana (allays burning), trishna-nigrahana (quenches thirst), swedajanana (diaphoretic), vata-anulomana (carminative), kandughna (allays itching)
- Unani
- mudirr-e-baul (diuretic), mufatteh sudad (deobstruent), muhallil-e-waram (resolvent), kasir-e-riyah (carminative), mudirr-e-hayz (emmenagogue), muarriq (diaphoretic)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy, the grass and oil being emmenagogue
- Toxicity
- no toxicity of note in ordinary use; the concentrated oil irritates skin and mucosa
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