Witnessed by: Ayurveda

Hrivera / sugandhabala (Pavonia odorata), of the Malvaceae family. Small hairy perennial herb or undershrub of wet ground, with lobed leaves and pale pink-purple mallow flowers; native range: damp ground, tank margins and low wet places through India and tropical Africa. Globally recognized as hrīvera · bālaka · ambu · ambhas · udīcya · sugandhabālā in Sanskrit, sugandhbala · bala in Hindi, kala vala in Marathi, and fragrant swamp mallow · Indian hollyhock root in English. The part used is the root. Slender, fibrous, brownish roots in tangled pieces, light and easily broken; the smell sweetly and coolly fragrant, something between vetiver and violet, the taste faintly bitter and astringent with a cooling finish.

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.

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