Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Bristly luffa (Luffa echinata), of the Cucurbitaceae family. Slender climbing annual vine with small bristly egg-shaped fruits; native range: riverbanks and moist scrub of northern and central India. Globally recognized as jimutaka, devadali in Sanskrit, bindal, kukadvel in Hindi, and bristly luffa, bitter sponge gourd in English. The part used is fruit. Wiry tendrilled stems and green fruits covered in soft prickles; intensely bitter and nauseating to taste.
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.
BRISTLY LUFFA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- bristly luffa
- Scientific name
- Luffa echinata Roxb.
- Family
- Cucurbitaceae
Form
- Part used
- fruit
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- vamana (emetic), virechana (purgative), kamalahara (relieves jaundice), shothahara (reduces dropsical swelling)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- avoid in pregnancy, in the weak, aged and children, and in pitta-predominant or ulcerated conditions
- Toxicity
- a drastic irritant; overdose causes violent vomiting, purging, cramping and collapse — a physician-only remedy
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