Age Ayurveda Nighantu

A nighantu is the classical Ayurvedic lexicon of medicinal substances. The tradition has produced them for centuries, from the Dhanvantari Nighantu to the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu and the Raja Nighantu, each cataloguing dravyas with their names, properties and uses. This is a modern one: 740 referenced entries on herbs, classical formulations and Ayurvedic instruments, free to read, quote and cite.

Every entry opens with a plain definition, states its key facts in a table, cites the classical texts it comes from, and reports published research with dates attached.

740 monographs 806 glossary definitions Free to read and quote

Sections

• Herbs

  505 entries. Single-herb monographs covering identification, Ayurvedic pharmacology, phytochemistry, classical references and published research.

• Formulations

  143 entries. Classical preparations: churnas, vatis, tailas, ghritas, kashayas, arishtas, avalehas, guggulus and rasayanas.

• Instruments

  37 entries. Panchakarma equipment, therapeutic vessels, diagnostic tools and para-surgical instruments described in the classical texts.

• Reference

  53 entries. Cross-cutting entries: pharmacological actions, compound classes, doshas, plant families and body systems.

• Classical texts

  2 entries. The Samhitas and Nighantus the monographs draw on.

• Glossary

  806 short definitions for compounds, plant families and pharmacology terms.

Guides

• Shirodhara

  The full practice guide: classical basis, choosing the oil by dosha, temperature and duration, session protocol, cautions, equipment and notes for therapists.

How to use this

Each monograph has a plain-Markdown twin: append .md to any entry URL, for example /herb/ashwagandha.md. There is a curated site map for language models at llms.txt and a full text index at llms-full.txt. Everything here may be quoted and cited; see how we source for attribution.

What this is not

This is reference material, not medical advice. Traditional uses and research findings are reported as their sources state them, never as claims about what any product does. The site is published by Age Ayurveda, which sells Ayurvedic products; where an entry relates to something we sell, that is disclosed on the page itself and nowhere else. See our editorial standards.