Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Erect shrub or subshrub with pinnate leaves and small pink-red pea flowers; native range: Old World tropics — long cultivated across the Indian subcontinent and tropical Asia as the great dye plant. Globally recognized as nili / nilini in Sanskrit, neel in Hindi, neel (نيل) in Arabic, and true indigo, dyer's indigo in English. The part used is leaves (for the pigment and juice) and root. Grey-green pinnate leaves, near-scentless fresh; steeped and fermented they surrender the deep, insoluble blue of indigotin, pressed into a dense indigo cake.
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.
INDIGO
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Indigo
- Scientific name
- Indigofera tinctoria L.
- Family
- Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Form
- Part used
- leaves (for the pigment and juice) and root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · pungent (katu)
- Western
- bitter
- Unani
- bitter · astringent
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Unani
- cold (cold & dry, 2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- liver · skin · nerves
- Unani
- liver · spleen · brain
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- kesharanjana (blackens and strengthens the hair), vishaghna (antitoxic), krimighna (anthelmintic), kaphapittahara; the leaf-juice (nilini) is a brisk virechana (purgative), and the plant is classed among the apasmara (anti-epileptic) drugs
- Western
- alterative and a smart purgative and emetic in quantity; formerly given in epilepsy and for enlargement of the liver
- Unani
- muhallil (resolvent), mujaffif (desiccant); applied to blacken hair and to clean and heal foul ulcers, and taken for epilepsy (saraa) and hardened swellings of the liver and spleen
Cautions
- Contraindications
- the purgative leaf-juice is unsuited to the weak, the depleted and to pregnancy; cold, dry constitutions by Unani reckoning
- Toxicity
- large internal doses provoke vomiting and violent purging; the pigment stains skin and cloth persistently
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