Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Iron, of the native element (metal) family. A hard, heavy, grey, strongly magnetic metal, rusting to a red-brown oxide in damp air; native range: found native only rarely (in meteorites and a few basalts) and smelted from its oxide and carbonate ores; the classical texts distinguish three kinds — munda (wrought), tikshna (steel) and kanta (the loadstone iron), the last held best. Globally recognized as lauha, loha, ayas in Sanskrit, loha in Hindi, and iron in English. The part used is the metal as sheet and filings (lauha patra, lauha curna), purified and incinerated to bhasma. Steel-grey with a metallic lustre when clean, very heavy, strongly drawn to a magnet, giving a distinct inky-metallic taste and a characteristic smell to the hands; reddens and scales in damp air.
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.
IRON
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- iron
- Scientific name
- Iron (native element, Fe)
- Family
- native element (metal)
Form
- Part used
- the metal as sheet and filings (lauha patra, lauha curna), purified and incinerated to bhasma
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya) · sweet (madhura)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- pandughna (relieves anaemia), rasayana, balya (strengthening), varnya (improves complexion), lekhana (scrapes and reduces), medohara, chakshushya, kaphapittahara, sthairyakara (gives stability)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- the raw or unpurified metal is never taken internally; hyperacidity with ulceration; where iron is already in excess
- Toxicity
- iron unpurified is held by the classical texts to carry the eight great faults, and iron in excess is a real poison — it blackens the stools, irritates and ulcerates the stomach, and loads the liver. Safety rests on complete shodhana and marana, and on not giving it where it is not needed.
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