Dhanyaka (Dhaniya)

Dhanyaka (Hindi Dhaniya; botanical name Coriandrum sativum) is coriander, the round seed and fresh green herb of every Indian kitchen. In the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu it comes right after the three kinds of cumin, jiraka and kalajaji (kalonji). Three verses give its ten names, its properties, the conditions it is used in, and a separate note on fresh coriander (p. 286, verses 86–88).

Names

धान्यकं धानकं धान्यं धाना धानेयकं तथा । कुनटी धेनुका छात्रा कुस्तुम्बुरु वितुन्नकम् ॥ ८६ ॥

The text gives ten Sanskrit names: Dhanyaka, Dhanaka, Dhanya, Dhana, Dhaneyaka, Kunati, Dhenuka, Chhatra, Kustumburu and Vitunnaka (p. 286, verse 86).

Properties

धान्यकं तुवरं स्निग्धमवृष्यं मूत्रलं लघु । तिक्तं कटूष्णवीर्यञ्च दीपनं पाचनं स्मृतम् ॥ ८७ ॥ ज्वरघ्नं रोचकं ग्राहि स्वादुपाकि त्रिदोषनुत् । तृष्णादाहवमिश्वासकासकार्श्यक्रिमिप्रणुत् ॥

• Rasa (taste): astringent (tuvara, that is kashaya), bitter (tikta), pungent (katu)
• Guna (quality): unctuous (snigdha), light (laghu)
• Virya (potency): hot (ushna)
• Vipaka (post-digestive effect): sweet (svadupaki)
• Doshas: removes all three doshas (tridoshanut)
• Actions: kindles digestion (dipana), digests (pachana), increases urine (mutrala), binds the stool (grahi), improves taste (rochaka); it is not virilising (avrishya)

(p. 286, verses 87–88)

Conditions it is used in

According to the text, dhanyaka is used in fever (jvara), thirst (trishna), burning (daha), vomiting (vami), breathlessness (shvasa), cough (kasa), emaciation (karshya) and worms (krimi) (p. 286, verses 87–88).

Fresh coriander

आर्द्रन्तु तद्गुणं स्वादु विशेषात्पित्तनाशनम् ॥ ८८ ॥

Fresh (ardra) coriander has the same properties, but it is sweet and removes pitta especially well. A footnote records a variant reading, pittanashi tad, for the last words (p. 286, verse 88).

Caution: large amounts

The commentary warns that taking coriander in large amounts lowers sexual power and can stop menstruation in women. It names honey, cinnamon and egg as correctives (p. 287).

The plant

The Hindi commentary of this edition adds notes on the plant (p. 287):

• Botanical name: Coriandrum sativum Linn., family Umbelliferae. English: coriander fruit.
• Where it grows: grown in nearly every province of India and abroad.
• How to recognise it: a plant 1–2 feet tall with smooth branches. The leaves near the root are roundish and split into 3–5 toothed lobes; the leaves higher up are fine, like those of dill. White or faintly pink flowers come in umbels like dill flowers. The small oval fruits hang in umbel clusters; when dry they split into two halves, and these are what is sold as dhaniya.
• Constituents: 0.5–1% volatile oil, 45–55% of it coriandrol; about 13% fixed oil, 13% fatty matter, gum, tannin, malic acid and about 5% ash.
• Uses noted: a kitchen spice, used to scent many medicines and given with purgatives such as senna and rhubarb so that they do not cause griping. As medicine the commentary calls it diuretic, digestive, settling vata, binding the stool, cooling burning and quenching thirst, and lists its use in eye disease, the burning of fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, indigestion, bloating and colic.
• How it is taken:
  • for burning and thirst in fever, a cold infusion with sugar candy and honey;
  • for conjunctivitis, its strained decoction as eye drops, after first putting in castor oil; its water is used to wash the eyes in smallpox to prevent later eye trouble;
  • its oil for nerve pain and joint pain, and 1–4 drops with sugar candy for children's colic from wind;
  • a paste of fresh coriander on headache and on burning caused by bhilawa (marking nut);
  • a poultice with barley flour on old wounds, swellings and poisoned boils;
  • its decoction with sugar candy in bleeding piles;
  • its cold infusion as a vehicle in night emissions and white discharge (shvetapradara);
  • an infusion, or the seed powder with sugar candy, in long-standing colds.
• Dose given: 1/2–4 masha.
• Regional names: Hindi Dhaniyan; Bengali Dhane; Marathi Kothimbir, Dhane; Gujarati Dhana, Kothmir; Kannada Kothumburi, Kottambari, Havija; Telugu Kottimiri, Dhaniyalu; Tamil Kottamalli; Sindhi Dhanu; Persian Kashniz; Arabic Kuzbara.

Sources

• Bhavamishra, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, Haritakyadi varga, verses 86–88: p. 286 (scan and text on SarvaKosh)
• Vidyotini Hindi commentary, notes on the plant: p. 287

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