Cassia fistula

Aragavadha (Frt.Pulp)
ARAGVADHA
Aragvadha consists of pulp obtained from fruits (devoid of seeds, septa and pieces of pericarp) of Cassia fistula Linn. (Pam.Leguminosae), a moderate sized deciduous tree, common as wild or cultivated plant, fruits collected when ripe.

SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Kritamila, Vyidhighita, sampika, Nripadruma
Assamese : Sonaroo
Bengali : Sondala
English : Indian Laburnum, Purging cassia
Gujrati : Garamala, Garamalo
Hindi : Amaltas
Kannada : Aragvadha, Kakke, Kakke-gida, Kakkernara, Kakkedai, Rajataru
Kashmiri : Kriyangal Phali
Malayalam : Konna, Kritamalam
Marathi : Bahava, Garamala, Amaltas
Oriya : Sunari
Punjabi : Amaltas
Tamil : Sarakonrai, Sarak konnai, Sarak kondi, Sharakkonrai
Telugu : Rela
Urdu : Khiyar Shambar

DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Fruit, a many celled, indehiscent pod, 35-60 cm long and 18-25 mm diameter,nearly straight and sub cylindrical, chocolate-brown to almost black in colour, pod surface smooth to naked eye, but under lens showing minute transverse fissures, both dorsal and ventral sutures evident, but not prominent, short stalk attached to base of fruit and rounded distal end mucronate, pericarp thin, hard and woody, fruit initially divided by transverse septa about 5 mm, apart, each containing a single seed attached to ventral suture by a long dark, thread-like funicle about 8-12 by 6-8 mm, circular to oval, flattened, reddish-brown, smooth, extremely hard and with a distinct dark brown line extending from micropyle to base, seed initially embedded in a black viscid pulp consisting of black, thin, shining, circular disc like masses having central depression of seed on both surfaces or as broken pieces adhered with each other, when dipped in water makes yellow solution which darkness to brownish-yellow to dark brown, on keeping, pulp fills the cell but shrinks on drying and adheres to both sides of testa, seeds often lye loose in their segments, odour faint, sickly, taste, sweet.

CONSTITUENTS – Sugar, mucilage, pectin and anthraquinone.

PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Madhura, Tikta
Guna : Guru
Virya : Ushna
Vipaka : Madhura
Karma : Recana
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Aragvadhidi Kvitha Churna
THERAPEUTIC USES – shula, Gulma, Vibandha, Udivarta, Udararoga, Hridroga, Prameha
DOSE – 5-10 g of the drug in powder form.
Note:- The market material contains seeds, septa etc., which form the foreign Matter and should be separated before use.