Stunningly Beautiful, Packed With Medicinal Benefits

HERB HERITAGE : LOTUS

Think about a flower that can thrive in the dirtiest of waters, but still come out clean and bright. A flower that can maintain its own warmth even in the most frigid of environments. A flower that has sparked innumerable myths, legends, art forms, and healing practices in various cultures and religions. A fragile flower that drifts on top of the water, with petals that glisten like gems under the sun. An aroma that brings a sense of tranquillity and sweetness to the atmosphere. A star-shaped figure with a concealed core containing a mystery.

The lotus flower is not just an attractive plant, it is far more significant. It represents purity, rebirth, culture, and enlightenment, among many other things. Additionally, the plant serves as a medicinal resource, with its various components being utilised in traditional medicine practices like Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and Egyptian medicine.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Let us discover how lotus goes beyond being just our country’s national flower.

Acharya Charaka said that simply having lotus can be beneficial in conditions like Raktapitta and other Pitta diseases. In addition to its medicinal benefits, it also holds significance in terms of nutrition. The rhizome, seeds, and flowers of lotus are utilised in culinary dishes.

Lotus is known by the following vernacular names:

Hindi: Kamal, Puryin, Kanwal, Kanval

English: Lotus, Sacred lotus, Indian lo­tus, Chinese water lily

Telugu: Tamara, Puvow, Damara, Er­ratamara, Kaluva, Erra-tamara-veru, Kalung

Malyalam: Venthamara, Chenthamara, Senthamara, Thamara

Tamil: Tamarai, Thamaraipoo, Arvin­dan, Thamarai, Paduman, Kamalam, Sarojam Centamarai, Shivapputamara-ver, Ambal

Bangali: Padama, Padma Phool, Sala­phool

Punjabi: Kawal Kakri

Marathi: Kamala

Kannada: Tavare, Naidile, Tavaregedd, Tavaribija

Oriya: Padma

Gujarati: Kamal, Suriyakamal

Arabic: Nilufer, Ussulnellufir

Assam: Podum

Synonyms of lotus with their signifi­cance as mentioned in Ayurveda are as follows:

Ambhoruha, Kusesaya & Sarasa: It is an aquatic plant

Pankeruha: The root of which is embedded in mud

Padma: The flower is beautiful

Nalina: Its flowers have fragrance

Rajiva: Having numerous stamens

Satapatra & Sahasrapatra: Having numerous petals

Tamarasa: With profuse nectar

Bisaprasuna: Growing from rhizome

Puskara: It is particularly a nutrient, especially its seeds

According to Acharya Bhavmishra, lotus comes in three varieties—red, white, and blue—that have identical properties. The white type of lotus is referred to as Pundareeka, while the red type is called Koknada and the blue type is known as Indivera. Pundareeka is considered better than the others and is beneficial for Pitta and Rakta dosha. Koknada is beneficial for conditions related to Vata, Pitta, Kapha, and Rakta doshas. Indivera is most effective for rasayana karma as stated in Raj Nighantu. It is utilised to strengthen the body.

As per Ayurvedic texts, lotus is described as having astringent, sweet, and bitter taste; being light, unctuous, and lubricous in properties; cold in potency; and sweet in metabolism. It is used to rectify Kapha-Pitta dosha, changes in urine colour, expelling worms, vomiting, and difficulty in urination, disorders with bleeding, fatigue, light headedness, high body temperature, strengthening the heart and clotting blood, providing a cooling effect to the body, relieving thirst, counteracting poisoning, and treating skin issues when applied topically.

PREPARATIONS AND FORMULATIONS

Some common Ayurvedic preparations made of lotus flower and its different components include arvinda asava, hriberadya taila, ekadasha shatika prasarini taila, mopharva, lakshdya taila, mahachandana taila and raktapitta kulakandana rasa, etc.

The entire plant is used for medicinal purposes, with a focus on flowers, seeds, tuber, and stamens (Padmakesra). The entire plant helps in getting rid of worms and treats thirst, fever, biliousness, vomiting, and strangury. The root, which is bitter, helps with cough and biliousness, relieves thirst, and has a cooling effect on the body. The ground root is recommended for haemorrhoids as a soothing agent as well as for diarrhoea and indigestion. It is applied as an ointment for ringworm and other skin conditions. The stem is beneficial for strangury, blood disorders, vomiting, and leprosy. The young leaves have a bitter, cooling effect and can help with burning sensations, thirst, strangury, piles, and leprosy. The big leaves serve as refreshing bedding for high fevers. The flower is both sweet and cooling, helping with coughs, thirst, blood issues, skin problems, and signs of poisoning. It is effective in fevers and liver issues, improving eyesight and serving as a heart tonic.

The anthers have cooling properties, act as an aphrodisiac, taste astringent, help with diarrhoea; reduce Kapha and Pitta; calm the uterus; beneficial for thirst, bleeding piles, inflammations, and poisoning; treat ulcers and sores in the mouth. The fruit is bitter and astringent, sweet and cooling; relieves thirst, purifies blood, reduces Kapha and Pitta, and freshens breath. The seeds have a sweet and flavourful taste, along with being astringent and slightly bitter. They are considered aphrodisiac and can also act as a sedative on the pregnant uterus. Additionally, they have the ability to eliminate Kapha and Vata, making them beneficial as an astringent in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery. Furthermore, they are known to enhance overall body strength and are helpful in managing symptoms such as burning sensation, vomiting, and leprosy.

THERAPEUTIC USES

• The juice of the leaf and flower stalks helps in diarrhoea.
• The filaments with honey and fresh butter or with sugar help in bleeding piles.
• An aqueous extract of the fresh root stock of the white flowered variety helps in snake bite and scorpion bite.
• Seed powder with honey cures eye diseases.
• The root of lotus may be chewed in dental caries.
• Stamens of lotus are pounded with rice water along with sugar candy juice to help treat diarrhoea in kids.
• Cold infusion with sugar help in heart strengthening in high grade fever.
• Cold infusion stops bleeding in pregnancy.
• Peya (liquid gruel) of lotus seeds stops vomiting, hiccough, metrorrhagia.
• Powder of kamal kesar with sugar stops bleeding piles, metrorrhagia, and bleeding disorders.
• Liquid gruel of rhizome treats diar­rhoea, bleeding diarrhoea, indigestion.
• Local application of rhizome treats skin ailments.
• Regular use of butter mixed with sugar and lotus stamens stops bleeding piles.
• Tender leaves of lotus plant mixed with sugar help in prolapse of rectum.
• Water obtained from lotus ash and mixed with honey helps in intrinsic haemorrhage.
• Powdered lotus stamens mixed with sugar help in haemoptysis.
• Lotus stalk, lotus stem, Pippali and Haritaki mixed with honey, or Dural­abha or Musta with cold water help get rid of alcoholism.
• Lotus root cooked in oil mixed with cow’s urine helps in conditions of reten­tion of urine associated with severe pain.
• Cow’s milk alone cooked with lotus instilled in eyes reduces redness, haem­orrhage, pain, wound, inflammation.
• Stamens of white lotus pounded with rice water and mixed with sugar candy check dysentery immediately.
• Leaves of blue lotus mixed with honey and sugar, taken with milk help in mis­carriage and abortion.

*The writer is an Ayurveda physician, DST Woman Scientist A, AIIMS New Delhi, and founder of Pratha Ayurveda.