Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Indian kino (Pterocarpus marsupium), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Large deciduous tree with a crooked trunk, drooping branches and panicles of yellow flowers, the pod a flat winged disc; native range: Deciduous forests of central and peninsular India, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Globally recognized as asana / pitasara in Sanskrit, bijaysar / vijaysar in Hindi, bijaysar; dam-ul-akhwain-e-hindi in Arabic, and Malabar kino, bastard teak, kino tree in English. The part used is the golden-brown heartwood; and the red astringent gum-kino (the dried exudate of the bark). Hard, close-grained golden-to-brown heartwood that tints steeped water a fluorescent amber; the kino a brittle, glistening, blood-red to blackish gum that shatters to a ruby powder, harshly astringent and drying on the tongue with almost no smell.
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.
INDIAN KINO
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Indian kino
- Scientific name
- Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.
- Family
- Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Form
- Part used
- the golden-brown heartwood; and the red astringent gum-kino (the dried exudate of the bark)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- dominant: astringent (kashaya) · bitter (tikta)
- Western
- astringent
- Unani
- astringent
Temperature
Ayurveda: cooling (shita)
Western: cool
Unani: cold & dry (2nd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses agree on a cooling, drying, astringent wood — a binder of fluxes and a cooler of heat
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- bowels · blood · mucous membranes · skin
- Unani
- intestines · stomach · uterus
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- kashaya and grahi (astringent, binding), a chief pramehaghna and medohara (anti-diabetic, fat-reducing), kaphapittahara, varnya and kushtaghna (for the skin), and a stambhana that checks fluxes
- Western
- a powerful astringent — antidiarrhoeal, antihaemorrhagic and styptic; used as a gargle and an injection for relaxed, weeping surfaces
- Unani
- qabiz (astringent) and habis (checking fluxes and bleeding), mubarrid (cooling); given for the honey-urine (ziabetus) and for loose bowels and leucorrhoeal discharge
Cautions
Contraindications: constipation and hard dry stool, and vata states with marked dryness; its strong astringency may hinder the absorption of other medicines taken at the same time
Toxicity: the wood and kino are well tolerated; the astringency in large or prolonged doses can bind the bowel and dry the tissues
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: additive blood-glucose lowering with its own hypoglycaemic action, risking excessive fall in blood sugar
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