Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Unani
Wild indigo (Tephrosia purpurea), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Spreading much-branched undershrub with pinnate leaves and small purple pea-flowers; native range: sandy wastelands and roadsides across tropical India and the drier Old World tropics. Globally recognized as sharapunkha · plihashatru in Sanskrit, sarphonka · sarphoka in Hindi, sarphoka in Arabic, and purple tephrosia · wasteland weed in English. The part used is whole plant and root. Wiry stems and silvery leaflets, bitter and dryly astringent, with the faint bean-like note of a legume.
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.
WILD INDIGO
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Wild indigo
- Scientific name
- Tephrosia purpurea (L.) Pers.
- Family
- Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Form
- Part used
- whole plant and root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
- Unani
- bitter · astringent
Temperature
Ayurveda: heating (ushna)
Unani: hot & dry (2nd degree)
convergence: both {witness_count} witnesses read it hot and drying — a deobstruent heat for the spleen
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- spleen · liver · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- plihaghna and yakrit-uttejaka (spleen–liver stimulant), dipana-pachana (digestive), krimighna, jvaraghna, shvasahara
- Unani
- mufattih-e-sudad (deobstruent), muhallil-e-warm (resolvent of swellings), and a stimulant to the liver and spleen
Cautions
- Contraindications
- high pitta, acidity and heat states; pregnancy in large medicinal dose
- Toxicity
- low toxicity; excess may irritate the stomach and provoke nausea
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