Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Romaka salt, of the halide (an NaCl-group lake salt with accessory salts; a mixture, not a single species) family. A light white efflorescent crust and fine crystalline salt raked from dried lake-beds; native range: the efflorescent crusts and evaporated crop of inland saline lakes — classically the Sambhar lake country of Rajasthan. Globally recognized as romaka lavana, sakambhari lavana in Sanskrit, sambhar namak in Hindi, and romaka salt, lake salt in English. The part used is the crystallised salt, powdered. White and fine, light in the hand, saline with a thin sharp bite and a bitter tail from its accessory salts.
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.
ROMAKA SALT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- romaka salt
- Family
- halide (an NaCl-group lake salt with accessory salts; a mixture, not a single species)
Form
- Part used
- the crystallised salt, powdered
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- salty (lavana)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- deepana (kindles the digestive fire), pachana (digestive), bhedana (breaks up and moves downward), tikshna and laghu (sharp and light in action), and vata-kaphahara
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pitta disorders, bleeding and burning states, high blood pressure, oedema and kidney disease, and skin disease — it is sharp and heating where saindhava is not
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