Ardraka (Adrak)

Ardraka (Hindi Adrak, Adi; fresh ginger; botanical name Zingiber officinale) is described in the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, the materia medica section of Bhavamishra's Bhavaprakasha, right after shunthi, the dried form of the same rhizome. Its short section in the Haritakyadi varga covers four verses: its names, its properties, eating it with salt before meals, and the conditions and seasons in which it is not advised (p. 268, verses 49–52).

Names

The text gives four Sanskrit names: Ardraka, Shringavera, Katubhadra and Ardrika (p. 268, verse 49). Ardraka means "the moist one", which sets fresh ginger apart from dry shunthi.

Properties

आर्द्रकं शृङ्गवेरं स्यात्कटुभद्रं तथाऽऽर्द्रिका । आर्द्रिका भेदिनी गुर्वी तीक्ष्णोष्णा दीपनी मता ॥ ४९ ॥ कटुका मधुरा पाके रूक्षा वातकफापहा । ये गुणाः कथिताः शुण्ठ्यास्तेऽपि सन्त्यार्द्रकेऽखिलाः ॥ ५० ॥

• Rasa (taste): pungent (katu)
• Guna (quality): heavy (guru), sharp (tikshna), dry (ruksha)
• Virya (potency): hot (ushna)
• Vipaka (post-digestive effect): sweet (madhura)
• Actions: breaks up hard stool (bhedini), kindles digestion (dipana), and removes vata and kapha

The text adds that every property it gave for shunthi is also found in fresh ginger (p. 268, verses 49–50).

Before meals, and when to avoid it

भोजनाग्रे सदा पथ्यं लवणार्द्रकभक्षणम् । दाहे निदाघशरदोर्नैव पूजितमार्द्रकम् ॥ ५२ ॥

The text says eating fresh ginger with salt before a meal is always wholesome, and that ginger is not recommended when there is a burning sensation (daha), or in the summer (grishma) and autumn (sharad) seasons. This edition prints the verse in a shortened form (it goes from verse 50 to 52). Its Hindi meaning gives the fuller reading: before meals, ginger with rock salt kindles digestion, gives a taste for food and cleans the tongue and throat; and ginger is not good in skin disease (kushtha), pallor or anaemia (pandu), painful urination (mutrakrichchhra), bleeding disorders (raktapitta), wounds (vrana) and fever (jvara) (p. 268, verse 52).

The plant

The Hindi commentary of this edition adds notes on the plant (p. 269):

• Botanical name: Zingiber officinale. English: ginger root. The commentary on shunthi, just before, gives the family as Zingiberaceae (p. 268).
• Where it grows: farmed in almost every part of India. It does best in sandy loam enriched with cow-dung manure and needs good rainfall.
• The plant: about a cubit tall, with leaves like bamboo leaves but somewhat smaller. The fleshy rhizome at the base is what is sold as ginger. Flowers and fruits are rarely seen; some older plants bear purplish flowers.
• Uses noted: the juice is taken with honey as a vehicle (anupana) in breathlessness, cough and other kapha disorders; ginger with rock salt before meals for appetite and a clean tongue and throat; ginger juice with onion juice for vomiting and nausea; the juice with jaggery in sheetapitta (urticaria); and the warmed juice as ear drops for earache. In Malabar the juice is given in rising doses as a strong diuretic in dropsy (jalodara), but the commentary warns that this is harmful in long-standing heart disease and kidney disease.
• Dose given: fresh juice, ½–2 teaspoons.
• Regional names: Hindi Adrak, Adrakh, Adi; Bengali Ada; Punjabi Adrak, Ada; Marathi Ale; Gujarati Adu; Telugu Alla, Allam; Kannada Hasi shunthi; Tamil and Malayalam Inji; Marwari Ado.

Sources

• Bhavamishra, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, Haritakyadi varga, verses 49–52: p. 268 (scan and text on SarvaKosh)
• Vidyotini Hindi commentary, notes on the plant: p. 269

This page describes what the granth says. It is not medical advice; consult a qualified vaidya before using any remedy.