Capsule
Arjuna Chhal
Latin name: Terminalia Arjuna
Family: Combretaceae
Common name: Arjun, Parth
English name: Arjuna Myrobalan
Habitat: it is found in lower Himalayas,
Bihar, Bengal, Chhota Nagpur, Burma, central
and southern India.
Macroscopic identification: The tree
has a height of almost 25-30 meters. Bark is
available in pieces, at, curved, channeled.
Outer surface is smooth and gray, inner surface
is fibrous and pinkish.
Parts used: bark
Pharmacological action: bark is astringent,
cardiac stimulant, tonic, lithonotriptic,
styptic, tonic and antihelmentic
Action and uses in Ayurveda: ayurvedic
physicians recommend the use of Arjuna bark
in derangements o all the three humours-Kafa,
Pitta, Vata. It is used in hrdroga, medorog,
prameh, vrana, trsa, vyanga.
Indications: Bark is a cardiac tonic,
lowers cholesterol and is used in urinary retention
and diabetes. It is also used in fever and skin
diseases. It is used in bilious affections,
for sores and as an antidote to poison.
Leaves-juice of fresh leaves is used in earaches.
Fruit is both to tonic and obstruent.
It is useful in fractures, ulcers, heart diseases,
biliousness, urinary discharges, asthma, tumors,
leucoderma, anemia, and excessive perspiration
Photochemical: Bark contains a crystalline
compound arjunine, lactones, arjunetin, essential
oils, tannin, reducing sugar and coloring matter.
Terminalia's active constituents include tannins,
triterpenoid saponins (arjunic acid, arjunolic
acid, arjungenin, arjunglycosides), flavonoids
(arjunone, arjunolone, luteolin), gallic acid,
ellagic acid, oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs),
phytosterols, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and
copper. It is thought the saponin glycosides
might be responsible for inotropic effects of
Terminalia, while the flavonoids and OPCs provide
free radical antioxidant activity and vascular
strengthening
Properties and action:
Rasa: kasaya
Guna: laghu, ruksha
Virya: sita
Vipaka: katu
Karma:hridya,Kaphhara,Pitahara, Vrananasan,
Bhagnsandhankarnam, Vyanghar
Preparations: kshirpak, juice, decoction,
powder
Therapeutic classification index:
- Blood and haemopoeitic tissue: it
is used in decoction in hemorrhage and other
fluxes.
- Cardiovascular system: Vaghbhatta
was the first to describe it in heart diseases.
It is highly recommended in heart diseases
complicated with endocarditis, mitral regurgitation,
pericarditis, and angina.
- Digestive system: it is used in diarrhea,
dysentery and sprue.
- Reproductive system: bark is used
in spermatorrhea, gonorrhea
- Respiratory system: it acts as an
expectorant and clears the air passage.
- Skin: it is used in Pruritis and
other skin diseases
- Musculoskeletal system: with milk
it is given in fractures and contusions with
extensive ecchymosis as it promotes reunion
of fracture.
Use of arjun in heart diseases:
1.Bark stem powder of Terminalia Arjuna, 500mg
three times daily, for 3 months to 12 heart
operation showed improvement in left ventricular
ejection fraction and reduced left ventricular
mass.Dwivedi 1997
2.T.Arjuna bark powder reduced the frequency
of angina episodes in otherwise 15 stable patients.Dwivedi
1994
