Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Unani
Sal ammoniac (Salammoniac), of the halide mineral family. A white, tough, fibrous crystalline salt in crusts and sublimate cakes, subliming without melting; native range: encrustations around volcanic fumaroles and burning coal seams, and classically sublimed from the soot of dung-fired hearths — the temple of Ammon in Libya gave it its name. Globally recognized as 硇砂 nao sha in Chinese, navasadara, narasara in Sanskrit, naushadar in Arabic/Urdu, and sal ammoniac, ammonium chloride in English. The part used is the purified and sublimed salt. White and translucent, tough and hard to powder, odourless until warmed, then faintly ammoniacal; sharply saline and cooling-bitter on the tongue, dissolving with a marked chill in the water.
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.
SAL AMMONIAC
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- sal ammoniac
- Scientific name
- Salammoniac (ammonium chloride, NH₄Cl)
- Family
- halide mineral
Form
- Part used
- the purified and sublimed salt
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- salty · bitter · pungent
- Ayurveda
- salty (lavana) · pungent (katu)
- Unani
- salty · acrid
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Unani
- hot & dry (3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Liver · Spleen · Stomach
- Unani
- lungs · stomach · liver · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- breaks up hard accumulations and masses, dispels blood stasis, dissolves growths, and transforms phlegm; externally it corrodes and removes what has grown on the skin
- Ayurveda
- deepana (kindles digestion), bhedana and lekhana (breaks up and scrapes away masses), mutrala (diuretic), kaphaghna, and shvasahara
- Unani
- muhallil (resolvent), jali (detergent), mukhrij-e-balgham (expectorant), mudirr-e-baul (diuretic), and akkal (escharotic) applied externally
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy, weak digestion and deficiency without accumulation, gastric ulceration, kidney or liver disease, and blood loss; not for long or free use
- Toxicity
- a sharp, corrosive salt — irritant to the stomach and gut, and in quantity it disturbs the acid-base balance and depresses the nerves and breathing; the escharotic use will burn sound skin
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