Aragavadha ARAGVADHA Cassia fistula Ayurvedic Drug (Fruit pulp)

Aragvadha consists of pulp obtained from fruits (devoid of seeds, septa and pieces of pericarp)  Cassia fistula , a moderate sized deciduous tree, common throughout India as wild or cultivated plant, fruits collected when ripe.

Latin Name —

• Cassia fistula

Family —

• Leguminosae

Scientific classification

• Kingdom:    Plantae
• (unranked):    Angiosperms
• (unranked):    Eudicots
• (unranked):    Rosids
• Order:    Fabales
• Family:    Fabaceae
• Genus:    Cassia
• Species:    C. fistula
• Binomial name — Cassia fistula

SYNONYMS ARAGVADHA Cassia fistula

• Sanskrit    :    K¤tam¡la, Vy¡dhigh¡ta, áamp¡ka, N¤padruma
• Gujrati      :    Garamala, Garamalo
• Hindi        :    Amaltas
• Marathi    :    Bahava, Garamala, Amaltas
• Oriya       :    Sunari
• Assamese    :    Sonaroo
• Bengali    :    Sondala
• English    :    Indian Laburnum, Purging cassia
• Punjabi    :    Amaltas
• Tamil       :    Sarakonrai, Sarakkonnai, Sarakkondi, Sharakkonrai
• Telugu      :    Rela
• Urdu        :    Khiyar Shambar
• Kannada    :    Aragvadha, Kakke, Kakke-gida, Kakkemara, Kakkedai, Rajataru
• Kashmiri    :    Kriyangal Phali
• Malayalam    :    Konna, Kritamalam

DESCRIPTION  and PLACES OF ORIGIN of ARAGVADHA Cassia fistula

• Fruit, a many celled, indehiscent pod, 35-60 cm long and 18-25 mm diameter,
• both dorsal and ventral sutures evident, but not prominent,
• short stalk attached to base of fruit and rounded distal end mucronate, pericarp thin,
• hard and woody, nearly straight and subcylindrical, chocolate-brown to almost black in colour, pod surface smooth to naked eye,
• but under lens showing minute transverse fissures, circular to oval, flattened, reddish-brown, smooth, extremely hard and with a distinct dark brown line extending from micropyle to base,
• seed initially embedded in a black viscid pulp consisting of black,fruit initially divided by transverse septa about 5 mm, apart, each containing a single seed attached to ventral suture by a long dark,
• thread-like funicle about 8-12 by 6-8 mm,  thin, shining, circular disc like masses having central depression of seed on both surfaces or as broken pieces adhered with each other, when dipped in water makes yellow solution which darkness to brownish-yellow to dark brown,
• on keeping, pulp fills the cell but shrinks on drying and adheres to both sides of testa, seeds often lye loose in their segments, odour faint, sickly, taste, sweet.

CONSTITUENTS  ARAGVADHA Cassia fistula –

• Sugar,
• mucilage,
• pectin and
• anthraquinone.

PROPERTIES AND ACTION and GUNA –

• Rasa         :    Madhura, Tikta
• Guna         :    Guru
• Virya     :    ushna
• Vipaka     :    Madhura
• Karma       :    Recana

IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS  –

• Aragvadhadi Kvatha Churna

THERAPEUTIC USES  –

• Vibandha,
• Udararoga,
• Hirdroga,
• Prameha
• Udavarta,
• Gulma,

DOSE Ayurveda Drugs  –

• 5-10 g of the drug in powder form.