Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Ivory (Elephas maximus), of the Elephantidae (Mammalia) family. The Asian elephant — the tusk is its enlarged upper incisor, borne chiefly by the bull; native range: formerly the tusk of the Asian elephant of India and southeast Asia; the animal is CITES Appendix I and the trade is prohibited. Globally recognized as hasti danta, danti in Sanskrit, hathi dant in Hindi, and ivory, elephant tusk in English. The part used is the tusk (ivory), calcined to a black or grey ash. A dense, creamy-white dentine, fine-grained and cross-hatched, tasteless; burnt it gives a black-grey ash, gritty, near odourless.
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.
IVORY
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- ivory
- Scientific name
- Elephas maximus Linnaeus
- Family
- Elephantidae (Mammalia)
Form
- Part used
- the tusk (ivory), calcined to a black or grey ash
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- keshya (raises the hair), and as a calcined ash it is lekhana — it scrapes, which is what the eye-varti asks of it
Cautions
- Contraindications
- the substance is not to be obtained — the unlisted calcined teeth of the same formula (cattle, horse, goat, camel) stand in its place
- Toxicity
- no intrinsic toxicity is recorded for the calcined ash; the decisive caution is legal and conservation, not pharmacological
- Sourcing status
- cites-i
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