Maricha (Black pepper)

Maricha (Hindi Kali mirch, Gol mirch; botanical name Piper nigrum) is black pepper. The Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, the materia medica section of Bhavamishra's Bhavaprakasha, describes it in the Haritakyadi varga in three verses: its names, the properties of dried pepper, and how fresh green pepper differs. The next two verses make it one of the three spices of trikatu (pp. 271–273).

Names

मरिचं वेल्लजं कृष्णमूषणं धर्मपत्तनम् ॥ ५९ ॥

The text gives five Sanskrit names: Maricha, Vellaja, Krishna, Ushana and Dharmapattana (p. 271, verse 59). Krishna means "black" and Ushana "burning, pungent". Ushana is also a name the text gives to other pungent drugs, such as pippalimula and chavya.

Properties

मरिचं कटुकं तीक्ष्णं दीपनं कफवातजित् । उष्णं पित्तकरं रूक्षं श्वासशूलकृमीन्हरेत् ॥ ६० ॥

• Rasa (taste): pungent (katu)
• Guna (quality): sharp (tikshna), dry (ruksha)
• Virya (potency): hot (ushna)
• Doshas: overcomes kapha and vata, raises pitta
• Actions: kindles digestion (dipana)
• Used in: breathlessness (shvasa), colic (shula) and worms (krimi)

(p. 271, verse 60)

Fresh (green) pepper

तदार्द्रं मधुरं पाके नात्युष्णं कटुकं गुरु । किञ्चित्तीक्ष्णगुणं श्लेष्मप्रसेकि स्यादपित्तलम् ॥ ६१ ॥

The text says that pepper used fresh, while still moist, is different: it is sweet after digestion (madhura vipaka), not very hot, pungent, heavy (guru) and only a little sharp. It makes phlegm flow out (shleshma-praseki) and does not raise pitta the way dried pepper does (p. 271, verse 61).

Trikatu, the three pungents

विश्वोपकुल्या मरिचं त्रयं त्रिकटु कथ्यते । कटुत्रिकं तु त्रिकटु त्र्यूषणं व्योष उच्यते ॥ ६२ ॥ त्र्यूषणं दीपनं हन्ति श्वासकासत्वगामयान् । गुल्ममेहकफस्थौल्यमेदःश्लीपदपीनसान् ॥ ६३ ॥

Dry ginger (shunthi), long pepper (pippali) and black pepper together are called trikatu, also katutrika, tryushana and vyosha. The text says trikatu kindles digestion and is used in breathlessness, cough, skin diseases, gulma, prameha, excess kapha, obesity, excess fat (meda), filariasis (shlipada) and chronic cold (pinasa) (p. 273, verses 62–63).

A few verses later, black pepper is also the sixth member of shadushana: the five drugs of panchakola with an equal part of pepper added. The text gives it the properties of panchakola and adds that it is dry, hot and removes poison (p. 278, verse 74).

The plant

The Hindi commentary of this edition adds notes on the plant (pp. 271–273):

• Botanical name: Piper nigrum Linn., family Piperaceae. English: black pepper.
• Where it grows: native to south Konkan, Assam, Malabar, Malaya and Siam. It grows most in the hot, wet south (Travancore, Malabar), on low moist ground, and is also grown around Cachar, Sylhet, Darjeeling, Saharanpur and Dehradun.
• The vine: pieces of the vine are planted in the rains at the foot of large trees, which it climbs. Leaves 5–7 inches long and 2–5 inches wide, pointed, shaped like betel leaves. The berries grow in clusters.
• Black pepper: the berries are green and only mildly pungent when unripe. They are picked as they start turning orange-red and dried, which turns them black; berries left to ripen fully lose some of their bite.
• Southern and eastern pepper: the commentary rates southern pepper above eastern. Southern pepper is brownish outside, greenish-white inside and sharper; eastern pepper is blacker outside and white inside.
• White pepper: fully ripe yellow berries are soaked, their skins rubbed off, and dried. Since most of the pungency is in the skin, white pepper is milder, with the same kind of properties but somewhat weaker. The commentary mentions its use against repeated bouts of fever in filariasis. Its names: Bengali sada morich, Marathi pandhre mire, Gujarati dhola mari.
• Constituents: piperine (5–9%), piperidine (about 5%), a pungent resin called chavicine, volatile oil (1–2.5%) and starch (about 30%).
• Uses noted: aromatic, stimulating, digestive and appetising; brings on sweating, clears kapha and kills worms. It increases urine and stomach secretions, helps in digesting ghee, and is used in bloating, indigestion and dysentery, and with honey and ghee in cough. Externally, oil cooked with it is massaged on painful joints, paralysed limbs and itchy skin; it is applied with ghee on piles, ground on boils, with vinegar on insect stings, rubbed with curd as an eye salve in night blindness, gargled as a decoction for toothache, and added to tooth powders.
• Too much: the commentary warns that large amounts cause abdominal pain, vomiting, burning in the bladder and urinary passage, and hives (udarda).
• Dose given: powder, 2–4 ratti.
• Regional names: Hindi Kali mirch, Gol mirch, Marich; Bengali Golmorich; Marathi Mire; Gujarati Mari; Punjabi Kali mirch; Kannada Ollemenasu; Telugu Miriyalu; Tamil Milagu; Malayalam Kurumulaku.

Sources

• Bhavamishra, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, Haritakyadi varga, verses 59–63: pp. 271–273 (scan and text on SarvaKosh); shadushana, verse 74: p. 278
• Vidyotini Hindi commentary, notes on the plant: pp. 271–273

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