Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Unani
Saltpetre (Niter), of the nitrate mineral family. Colourless to white, glassy prismatic needles and efflorescent crusts, deflagrating fiercely on hot coals; native range: efflorescent crusts on old walls, stable floors, cave earth and the soil of dry inhabited country, leached and recrystallised; scraped and refined by the nitre-makers. Globally recognized as 硝石 xiao shi, 火硝 huo xiao in Chinese, soraka, suryakshara in Sanskrit, shora qalmi, shora in Arabic/Urdu, and saltpetre, nitre, potassium nitrate in English. The part used is the refined and recrystallised salt. Colourless, glassy and needle-like, odourless, sharply saline-bitter with a distinct cooling bite on the tongue; thrown on a coal it flares and deflagrates.
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.
SALTPETRE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- saltpetre
- Scientific name
- Niter (potassium nitrate, KNO₃)
- Family
- nitrate mineral
Form
- Part used
- the refined and recrystallised salt
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter · salty
- Ayurveda
- pungent (katu) · bitter (tikta) · salty (lavana)
- Unani
- acrid · salty
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Stomach · Large Intestine · Spleen
- Unani
- kidneys · bladder
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- breaks up hard accumulations and masses, dispels blood stasis, purges downward, and dissolves stone
- Ayurveda
- mutrala (diuretic), ashmarighna and mutrakricchrahara (dissolves stone and eases painful urination), deepana and bhedana (kindles digestion, breaks up masses), and svedajanana
- Unani
- mudirr-e-baul (diuretic), mufattit-e-hasat (lithotriptic), muhallil (resolvent), jali (detergent), and dafe-e-humma (antipyretic)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy, weak digestion and deficiency without accumulation, kidney disease, anaemia, and gastric ulceration
- Toxicity
- in any substantial dose a gastric irritant and a systemic poison — it turns the blood pigment and depresses the circulation, causing collapse; never given undiluted or in quantity
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