Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Tourmaline (vaikranta), of the silicate (borosilicate) mineral group family. Hard, long prismatic crystals, triangular in section and striated down their length, in eight colours by the classical reckoning; native range: granite pegmatites and the gem gravels washed from them. Globally recognized as vaikranta in Sanskrit, and tourmaline in English. The part used is the stone, incinerated to bhasma. Glassy and hard, the prisms deeply grooved along their length; often two-coloured down one crystal, and warming to a rub.
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.
VAIKRANTA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- tourmaline (vaikranta)
- Family
- silicate (borosilicate) mineral group
Form
- Part used
- the stone, incinerated to bhasma
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura) · astringent (kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- rasayana (rejuvenative), balya (strengthening), vrishya (aphrodisiac), tridoshahara, vishaghna (counters poison)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- never the unincinerated stone internally
- Toxicity
- an improperly prepared bhasma is harmful; and since the dravya's identity is unsettled, the material of commerce is not reliably one mineral
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