Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Dhamasa (Fagonia cretica), of the Zygophyllaceae family. Low, wiry, much-branched spiny undershrub of arid ground with small trifoliate leaves and pink-purple flowers; native range: dry stony ground, sandy plains and desert margins of the Indian subcontinent, Arabia and the Mediterranean. Globally recognized as dhanvayāsa · durālabhā in Sanskrit, dhamasa · damahan in Hindi, dhamasa in Urdu, and Virgin's mantle in English. The part used is whole plant. A stiff thorny herb, nearly scentless, the taste bitter and drying with an astringent close.
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.
DHAMASA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- dhamasa
- Scientific name
- Fagonia cretica L.
- Family
- Zygophyllaceae
Form
- Part used
- whole plant
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- pittashamaka (pacifies pitta), daha-prashamana (allays burning), trishna-nigrahana (quells thirst), jvaraghna (antipyretic), raktashodhaka (blood-cleanser), raktastambhaka (checks bleeding), vranaropana (heals wounds)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- vata disorders and cold, dry states, where its cooling and drying nature aggravates
- Toxicity
- low in customary use
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