Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Nagabala (Grewia hirsuta), of the Malvaceae family. Small hairy shrub or undershrub with rough serrate leaves, yellow flowers and small lobed drupes; native range: dry scrub, hedges and open forest across the Indian peninsula and Sri Lanka. Globally recognized as nāgabalā · gaṅgeruki in Sanskrit, gangeran in Hindi, and hairy grewia in English. The part used is root. A rough hairy plant; the root pale, slightly mucilaginous, the taste plainly sweet and faintly astringent.
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.
NAGABALA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- nagabala
- Scientific name
- Grewia hirsuta Vahl
- Family
- Malvaceae
Form
- Part used
- root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- balya (strengthening), brimhana (building and nourishing), vrishya (aphrodisiac and generative), vatahara (pacifies vata), grahi (checks the loose bowel), jivaniya (vitalising)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- kapha disorders, ama and feeble digestion, obesity — the sweet building root is heavy
- Toxicity
- low in customary use
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