Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Sea salt (samudra lavana), of the halide salt (marine evaporite) family. A white to greyish crystalline salt, coarse or fine, drawn from evaporated sea water; native range: evaporated from sea water in coastal salt-pans and lagoons. Globally recognized as samudra lavana in Sanskrit, samudri namak in Hindi, and sea salt, common salt, bay salt in English. The part used is the refined salt. White to dull grey cubic grains, plainly salty, dissolving freely in water, faintly damp in humid air.
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.
SEA SALT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- sea salt (samudra lavana)
- Family
- halide salt (marine evaporite)
Form
- Part used
- the refined salt
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- salty (lavana)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna, but the mildest of the lavanas)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- deepana (kindles digestion), pachana (digestive), rochana (restores relish), anulomana (moves the wind downward), vatahara
Cautions
- Contraindications
- oedema and fluid retention, bleeding tendency, skin disease, pitta excess; not in excess or long use
- Toxicity
- benign in ordinary dietary use; classically excess salt is said to slacken the flesh, redden the eyes and thin the blood, and it aggravates pitta and kapha
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.