Arishtaka

Names and identification

Language	Name
Sanskrit	Arishtaka; synonyms Phenila, Pitaphena, Raktabija, Arthasadhana, Mangalya, Garbhapatana
Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi	Ritha
Kannada	Antuvala
Telugu	Kunkudu kaya
Tamil	Ponnankottai
English	Soapnut tree
Latin/Botanical	Sapindus trifoliatus L. (southern India) or Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn. (northern India)
Family	Sapindaceae

Arishtaka is the name of a tree, the soapnut. It is not a fermented preparation, even though the related word arishta also names that class of medicines. This page keeps its original address but describes the plant.

Where does the identification come from?

• Sanskrit lexicons: Apte’s Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary gives arishtaka as “the soap-berry plant (Sapindus saponaria, &c.)”; Monier-Williams gives the soapberry tree whose fruits are used for washing, citing Manu 5.120 and Sushruta; Shabda-Sagara gives the same with the pounded fruits as the cited use (Wisdom Library). Böhtlingk and Roth translate it simply as “Seifenbaum”, soap tree.
• Ayurvedic review: Gandhi and others 2022, Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences, compiles the drug from the Brihattrayi and six nighantus and identifies it as Sapindus trifoliatus L. and Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn., family Sapindaceae, following P.V. Sharma’s Dravyaguna Vijnana in assigning S. trifoliatus to southern India and S. mukorossi to the north. Phenila is the synonym used by every nighantu the review consulted. Because the sources name two species, the botanical field above is left open.
• The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy accepts both Sapindus trifoliatus L. and Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.
• We could not find a monograph for Arishtaka or Phenila in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Part I, Volumes I to VII.

Arishta, Arishtaka and Nimba

The shorter word Arishta has several meanings. Monier-Williams records it for the soapberry (Sapindus detergens Roxb.), for the neem tree Azadirachta indica (citing the Ramayana), and for “a distilled mixture, a kind of liquor”, the fermented preparation (Wisdom Library). In Ayurvedic usage Arishta is a standard synonym of Nimba, and the 2022 review notes that commentators on Charaka and Sushruta read Arishta as either Arishtaka or Nimba, that Dalhana on Sushruta Uttaratantra 39.285 glosses it as “Nimba or the Phenila tree”, and that Raja Nighantu also uses it for Katuki. The review concludes that Arishtaka and Phenila in the Brihattrayi are the same drug, the Sapindus tree.

The Ayurvedic Formulary of India, Part I, lists no fermented arishta or asava called Arishtaka.

Ayurvedic pharmacology (Dravyaguna)

Property	Value	Description
Rasa (Taste)	Tikta	Primary taste
Guna (Quality)	Laghu, Tikshna	Physical quality
Virya (Potency)	Ushna	Heating/Cooling effect
Vipaka (Post-digestive)	Katu	Post-digestive effect

These values follow Kaiyadeva Nighantu, Raja Nighantu and Dravyaguna Vijnana as tabulated in the 2022 review; Dravyaguna Vijnana adds Katu rasa, Raja Nighantu gives Snigdha guna, and Madanapala Nighantu gives Shita virya instead of Ushna. P.V. Sharma records Vamaka (emetic) as its prabhava.

How is it used traditionally?

• The nighantus, as compiled in the 2022 review, attribute to it Garbhapatana, Lekhana, Grahanashana, Vamaka, Vedanasthapana and Kaphanissaraka actions, and list it for Graha roga, Kushtha, Visphota, Daha, Mutrakrichchhra, Krimi, Rajorodha, Ahiphena visha, Jangama visha, Kandu, Kasa, Shvasa, Rakta vikara and Kashtartava. The parts used are fruit, root, leaf and seed.
• Charaka Chikitsasthana 24.160 applies a paste of the tender leaves of Badara and Arishtaka in Madatyaya with burning sensation, and Ashtanga Hridaya and Ashtanga Sangraha include it in Kapitthadi lepa for fever with burning, according to the same review.
• The fruits have been used for washing since at least the Manusmriti (5.120, as cited by Monier-Williams), and the review describes soapnut as a detergent for cloth and hair.

Recent safety updates

• The 2022 review reports that the fruit and root are used as fish poison, that the honey from the flowers is said to be poisonous to bees, and, citing Nadkarni, that the seeds are described as narcotic and an acrid poison.
• The nighantus list Garbhapatana (abortion-inducing) among its actions and Vamaka (emetic) as its prabhava, which argues against any use in pregnancy and against casual internal use.