Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Jambul (Syzygium cumini), of the Myrtaceae family. Large evergreen tree bearing crowded oblong purple-black fruits; native range: the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia; long naturalised across the tropics. Globally recognized as jambu / mahaphala in Sanskrit, jamun in Hindi, jaman in Arabic, and jambul, black plum, jambolan, Java plum in English. The part used is seed; fruit; bark. Juicy dark plums that stain the tongue purple with a sweet-sour astringency that puckers the mouth; the single seed is hard and intensely astringent-bitter.
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.
JAMBUL
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Jambul
- Scientific name
- Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels
- Family
- Myrtaceae
Form
- Part used
- seed; fruit; bark
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- dominant: astringent (kashaya) · sour (amla) · then: sweet (madhura)
- Western
- astringent · sour
- Unani
- astringent · sour
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- cold & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- stomach · bowels · kidneys · blood
- Unani
- stomach · liver · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- grahi and stambhana (astringent, checking), kaphapittahara, mutrasangrahaniya (checks polyuria), a noted drug for prameha (diabetes)
- Western
- astringent, and specific in diabetes and glycosuria; the bark and seed check diarrhoea and dysentery
- Unani
- qabiz (astringent), daf-e-ziabetus (antidiabetic), mane-e-ishal (antidiarrhoeal), muqawwi-e-meda (stomachic)
Cautions
Contraindications: constipation and cold dry states, high vata; recently after childbirth
Toxicity: large amounts of the fruit on an empty stomach may gripe and bind; otherwise well tolerated
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: additive glucose-lowering effect — may risk hypoglycaemia
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