Pippali (Pipal)

Pippali (Hindi Pipal, Pipar; long pepper; botanical name Piper longum) is described in the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, the materia medica section of Bhavamishra's Bhavaprakasha. Its section in the Haritakyadi varga covers six verses: its eleven names, its properties, the diseases it is used in, how fresh and dried pippali differ, and its use with honey and with jaggery (pp. 269–270, verses 53–58). The Hindi commentary notes that pippali, dry ginger (shunthi) and black pepper (maricha) together make trikatu, "the three pungents" (p. 268).

Names

The text gives eleven Sanskrit names: Pippali, Magadhi, Krishna, Vaidehi, Chapala, Kana, Upakulya, Ushana, Shaundi, Kola and Tikshnatandula (p. 269, verse 53). Magadhi and Vaidehi name the lands of Magadha and Videha; Krishna means "the dark one", and Kana "the grain".

Properties

पिप्पली दीपनी वृष्या स्वादुपाका रसायनी । अनुष्णा कटुका स्निग्धा वातश्लेष्महरी लघुः ॥ ५४ ॥

• Rasa (taste): pungent (katu)
• Guna (quality): unctuous (snigdha), light (laghu)
• Virya (potency): not hot (anushna); the Hindi commentary reads this as only mildly hot
• Vipaka (post-digestive effect): sweet (madhura)
• Actions: kindles digestion (dipana), strengthens virility (vrishya), rejuvenating (rasayana), removes vata and kapha, and is laxative (rechani)

(p. 269, verses 54–55)

Conditions it is used in

पिप्पली रेचनी हन्ति श्वासकासोदरज्वरान् । कुष्ठप्रमेहगुल्मार्शःप्लीहशूलाममारुतान् ॥ ५५ ॥

According to the text, pippali is used in breathlessness (shvasa), cough (kasa), abdominal disease (udara roga), fever (jvara), skin disease (kushtha), prameha, gulma, piles (arsha), disorders of the spleen (pliha), colic (shula) and amavata (p. 269, verse 55).

Fresh and dried pippali

आर्द्रा कफप्रदा स्निग्धा शीतला मधुरा गुरुः । पित्तप्रशमनी सा तु शुष्का पित्तप्रकोपिणी ॥ ५६ ॥

• Fresh (ardra): increases kapha, calms pitta, and is unctuous, cool, sweet and heavy
• Dried (shushka): aggravates pitta

The verse describes the fresh fruit in detail and says only one thing about the dried fruit (p. 269, verse 56).

With honey and with jaggery

पिप्पली मधुसंयुक्ता मेदःकफविनाशिनी । श्वासकासज्वरहरी वृष्या मेध्याऽग्निवर्द्धिनी ॥ ५७ ॥

Taken with	Used in or for
honey	excess fat (medas), kapha, breathlessness, cough, fever; also strengthening, good for the intellect (medhya) and for digestion
jaggery	chronic fever (jirna jvara), weak digestion (agnimandya), cough, indigestion (ajirna), loss of taste (aruchi), breathlessness, heart disease, pallor (pandu) and worms (krimi)

For pippali with jaggery, the text says physicians take twice as much jaggery as pippali powder (pp. 269–270, verses 57–58).

Elsewhere in the same varga, pippali is the companion for haritaki in the late-winter (shishira) season (p. 261, verse 34).

The plant

The Hindi commentary of this edition adds notes on the plant (pp. 270–271):

• Botanical name: Piper longum Linn. (also given as Chavica roxburghii), family Piperaceae. English: long pepper; the drug is the dried fruit spikes (catkins).
• Where it grows: the warmer parts of India, from eastern Nepal to Assam and the Khasi hills, Bengal, west to Bombay and south to Travancore; also Sri Lanka, Malacca and the Philippines.
• The plant: a creeper that spreads only a short way, from a thick, upright root whose branches run along the ground. The leaves are soft, roundish and shaped like betel leaves, 2½–3½ inches across; the upper ones have no stalk. The fruit spikes are 1–1½ inches long and blackish, packed with tiny fruits.
• Pahadi pipal: a second kind, Piper sylvaticum Roxb., grows mostly in Assam and Bengal. Its vine reaches several feet, its leaves are a little larger, and its spikes are ¾–1½ inches long and round. The commentary says Bengal's kavirajas use it more.
• Constituents: a volatile oil (about 1%), piperine, piperidine, a pungent resin (chavicin), starch and fat.
• Uses noted: the commentary calls it rejuvenating, aromatic, digestive and warming, and lists its use in bloating, indigestion, weak digestion, abdominal colic, cough, breathlessness, chronic fever, fever after childbirth, amavata, sciatica (gridhrasi), low back pain, vatarakta and paralysis. Its powder with honey is used in cough, breathlessness, hoarseness and hiccup, and after childbirth to cleanse the womb. For vardhamana pippali, the dose rises by three pippali a day to thirty on the tenth day and then falls by three a day; some boil the pippali in milk and water, eat them and drink the milk. Pippali ground for sixty-four prahara is used in chronic fever, and an oil made with dry ginger and pippali is rubbed on in sciatica, low back pain and paralysis of the legs.
• Dose given: powder, 2–4 ratti. Correctives named: zereshk (barberry), babul gum and isabgol.
• Regional names: Hindi Pipal, Pipar; Bengali Pipul; Marathi Pimpali; Gujarati Pipar, Lindi pipar; Kannada Hippali; Telugu Pippali, Pippalu; Tamil and Malayalam Tippili; Tulu Ippali; Persian Filfil daraz; Arabic Darfilfil.

Sources

• Bhavamishra, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, Haritakyadi varga, verses 53–58: pp. 269–270 (scan and text on SarvaKosh)
• Vidyotini Hindi commentary, notes on the plant: pp. 270–271

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