“Role of Palash (Butea monosperma) in Shvitra.”

Abstract

Skin is envelope of our body expressing the harmony inside, it is one of the five  dnyanendriyas as told by Ayurveda, which is responsible for the perception of touch. It also performs the functions such as protection of body against physical, chemical, mechanical and biological injuries; thermoregulation etc. One of the most notable components of skin, that contributes to complexion is a pigment known as melanin. When melanin is less or absent in skin leads to hypopigmentary disorder. Shvitra is Hypopigmentary disorder of skin, in which shukla varna appeared on the skin. Acharya Charaka stated that shukla varna comes under the vikruta varna. In Ayurveda more than 600 medicinal plant are included as drug, and they are used either alone or in combination with each other to alleviate the disorders. Palash is one of them, Palash belonging to family Fabaceae, Palash is katu, tikta and kashay in rasa. Its viapk is katu and veerya is ushna, it alleviates kapha and vata dosha but aggravates pitta dosha, in literature it is found that palash is useful in many diseases like trushna, atisar, jwar, charmarog, kushtha, apasmar and prameha. Acharya Vagbhat stated  in Ashtang Hridaya, that palash is used in shvitra chikitsa, Vagbhata included palash in Asanadi gana. A number of medicine are mentioned for management of shvitra. Like psoralen, ultra violet therapy and corticosteroids in the treatment of shvitra, but they are associated with side effects. Hence, there is need to develop effective medicinal plant for the management of shvitra.