Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Zinc, of the native element (metal) family. A bluish-white, brittle, low-melting metal, crystalline on a fresh break; native range: smelted from sphalerite and calamine ores; the Zawar mines of Rajasthan distilled zinc from the 13th century, the first in the world to do so. Globally recognized as yashada, jasta in Sanskrit, jasta in Hindi, and zinc, spelter in English. The part used is the metal, incinerated to bhasma. Bluish-white and lustrous when fresh, dulling to grey in air, brittle and crackling when broken, showing a bright crystalline fracture.
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.
ZINC
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- zinc
- Scientific name
- Zinc (native zinc, Zn; in practice smelted from sphalerite and calamine)
- Family
- native element (metal)
Form
- Part used
- the metal, incinerated to bhasma
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- astringent (kashaya) · bitter (tikta)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- pramehaghna (checks urinary-metabolic disease), chakshushya (good for the eyes), balya (strengthening), vrishya (aphrodisiac), kaphapittahara, shukrala, ropana (heals)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- never the unincinerated metal internally
- Toxicity
- an improperly incinerated bhasma retains free metal and is harmful; excess zinc over long use provokes nausea and vomiting and depletes copper, and only a bhasma passing the classical tests (nischandratva, rekhapurnatva, varitara) is used
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