Karavellaka

Botanical Name

Momordica Charantia

Family

Cucurbitaceae

Sanskrit

Kathillam, Susavi

English

Bitter Guard

Hindi

Karela

Kannada

–

Malayalam

Pavakka

Telugu

Kakara Kaya

Tamil

Paavaikkai

Marathi

–

Distribution

Whole of india.

Parts Used

Panchanga, Fruit Rind

Dose

Fresh Juice: 10-20ml

Chemical Constituents

Charantin, polypeptide- p etc

Ayurvedic Properties

Quality (Guna)

Laghu, Ruksha

Taste (Rasa)

Katu, Tikta

Metabolism (Vipaka)

Katu

Potency (Virya)

Sita

Impact (Prabhava)

Bhedana, Deepana

Pharmacological Action

  • Laxative: helps in detoxifying the body and intestinal disorders .
  • Blood purifier: katu tikta property helps in purifying the blood and thus helps in skin disorders.
  • Antifungal, antibacterial: cures inflammation and infections in the body thus helping in building up the immunity.
  • Anthelmenthic: helps in overcoming intestinal worms especially in children. It lowers blood sugar level in the body.

Therapeutic Uses

  • Diabetes: fruit juice is given since it has hypoglycemic action.
  • Malaria: decoction of the leaf is given.

Some of the common formulations

Panchatiktaka kashaya