Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Fish bile, of the Actinopterygii family. The freshwater fish of the Indian rivers and tanks; the drug is the bile from the gall bladder; native range: the rivers and tanks of the Indian plains, wherever the fish are taken; the bile is a by-product of the catch, never the object of it. Globally recognized as matsya pitta in Sanskrit, and fish bile, fish gall in English. The part used is the bile, taken fresh from the gall bladder of the freshly killed fish. A thin, intensely bitter fluid, dark green to yellow-brown, held in a small translucent sac; it stains and it clings.
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.
FISH BILE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- fish bile
- Family
- Actinopterygii
Form
- Part used
- the bile, taken fresh from the gall bladder of the freshly killed fish
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- chakshushya — benefits the eyes; and lekhana in the eye, scraping the film
Cautions
- Toxicity
- the classical use is external. Swallowed raw, fish gall bladder is a documented cause of acute kidney injury and hepatitis — the toxin (a bile alcohol, cyprinol sulphate in the carps) is not destroyed by cooking or by alcohol, and poisonings from raw fish gall taken as folk medicine have been fatal. Internal use cannot be recommended on any ground
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