Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Tin, of the native element (metal) family. A soft, silvery-white, low-melting and highly malleable metal that creaks audibly when bent; native range: smelted from cassiterite of granite pegmatites and the tin-gravels washed from them; the classical texts name Vanga (Bengal) as its country. Globally recognized as vanga, trapu, ranga in Sanskrit, ranga, banga in Hindi, and tin in English. The part used is the metal, incinerated to bhasma. Silver-white with a faint bluish cast, soft enough to mark with a nail, dull-tarnishing in air, and melting in a spoon over a flame.
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.
TIN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- tin
- Scientific name
- Tin (native tin, Sn; in practice smelted from cassiterite, SnO₂)
- Family
- native element (metal)
Form
- Part used
- the metal, incinerated to bhasma
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- pramehaghna (checks urinary-metabolic disease), medohara (reduces fat), krimighna (kills worms), vrishya (aphrodisiac), balya (strengthening), kaphahara, shukrala
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pitta excess and hot conditions; never the unincinerated metal internally
- Toxicity
- an improperly incinerated bhasma retains free metal and is harmful; organotin compounds and heavy metal contaminants of poorly made preparations are toxic, and only a bhasma passing the classical tests (nischandratva, rekhapurnatva, varitara) is used
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