Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Unani
Rock salt (Halite), of the halide mineral family. Colourless to pink or grey glassy cubic crystals and massive bedded rock; native range: bedded halite in evaporite deposits — classically the salt range of the Sindhu (Indus) country, whence its name. Globally recognized as saindhava lavana, sindhuttha, shitashiva in Sanskrit, sendha namak in Hindi, namak-e-sang, namak-e-sendha in Arabic/Urdu, and rock salt, halite in English. The part used is the crystallised rock salt, powdered. Colourless to rose-pink or greyish, glassy and cubic, cleaving in perfect cubes, clean and frankly saline on the tongue without bitterness, dissolving readily.
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.
ROCK SALT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- rock salt
- Scientific name
- Halite (sodium chloride, NaCl)
- Family
- halide mineral
Form
- Part used
- the crystallised rock salt, powdered
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- salty (lavana) · sweet (madhura, slight)
- Unani
- salty
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita — alone among the salts)
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- stomach · liver · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- deepana (kindles the digestive fire), pachana (digestive), ruchya (restores appetite and taste), hridya (good for the heart), chakshushya (good for the eyes), anulomana (moves the wind downward), and vrishya — and, uniquely among the lavanas, it does no violence to pitta
- Unani
- hazim (digestive), mushtahi (appetiser), mulattif (attenuant), jali (detergent), and mulayyin (mildly laxative)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- high blood pressure, oedema and kidney disease, bleeding disorders, and skin disease — as with all the lavanas; long or free use
- Toxicity
- salt in quantity, long continued, is classically held to loosen the flesh, wrinkle the skin, grey the hair and thin the blood; and in modern terms it raises the blood pressure and loads the heart and kidneys
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