Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Grape (Vitis vinifera), of the Vitaceae family. Woody deciduous climber with tendrils, bearing clustered berries; native range: the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Near East; cultivated since prehistory around the Mediterranean and Asia. Globally recognized as draksha in Sanskrit, angur; munakka (raisin) in Hindi, inab (عنب); zabib (raisin) in Arabic, and wine grape, vine; raisin, currant in English. The part used is ripe fruit and its raisins (dried); also leaf and unripe verjuice. Translucent green to purple berries, sweet and juicy with a cooling finish; dried to soft, dark, honeyed raisins.
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.
GRAPE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Grape
- Scientific name
- Vitis vinifera L.
- Family
- Vitaceae
Form
- Part used
- ripe fruit and its raisins (dried); also leaf and unripe verjuice
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
- Western
- sweet · sour
- Unani
- sweet
Temperature
Ayurveda: cooling (shita)
Western: cool (& moist; raisins warmer)
Unani: hot (& moist, temperate; raisins warming)
convergence: the fresh fruit is cooling and moist to all who name it; the dried raisin is reckoned warmer and more nourishing
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- blood · liver · lungs · kidneys
- Unani
- liver · heart · lungs · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- shita-madhura, vata-pitta-shamaka, brimhana (nourishing), vrishya (aphrodisiac), kasahara and shramahara (relieves cough and fatigue), and mridu-rechana (mild laxative)
- Western
- nutritive, cooling, demulcent, mildly laxative and diuretic; a restorative in convalescence and fevers
- Unani
- muqawwi (tonic to heart, liver and body), mullid-e-dam (blood-forming), mulaiyin (laxative), and munzij (ripens humours of the chest)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- weak, cold digestion with much kapha and loose stool; diabetics should limit the sugar-rich fruit
- Toxicity
- none of note; excess of fresh fruit may loosen the bowels and provoke wind
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