Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Cobra venom (Naja naja), of the Elapidae (Reptilia) family. The spectacled cobra, a hooded venomous elapid that rears and spreads its hood when roused; native range: the spectacled cobra of the plains, fields and villages of the Indian subcontinent. Globally recognized as sarpa visa, garala in Sanskrit, sanp ka vish in Hindi, and cobra venom in English. The part used is the venom milked from the fangs and dried, then purified (sodhita) before any use whatever. A clear pale-yellow viscid fluid drying to brittle straw-coloured flakes, all but odourless — nothing in the look of it warns.
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.
COBRA VENOM
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- cobra venom
- Scientific name
- Naja naja (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Family
- Elapidae (Reptilia)
Form
- Part used
- the venom milked from the fangs and dried, then purified (sodhita) before any use whatever
PROPERTIES
Nature
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (usna virya, and tiksna — piercing)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- sodhita sarpa visa is yogavahi (it carries and sharpens the drugs it is compounded with), vyavayi and tiksna (spreading through the body before it is digested), and is used as a jvaraghna sharpener in the minutest dose
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy and lactation, children, the aged and the debilitated; any use outside trained hands, and any use of unpurified venom
- Toxicity
- lethal. A neurotoxic and cytotoxic venom — unpurified it kills, and even sodhita visa is dosed by the fraction of a ratti and is fatal in excess
- Sourcing status
- cites-ii
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