Ela(Dvaya)

BOTANICAL NAME: Elettaria cardamomum

FAMILY: Zingiberaceae

 

CLASSICAL CLASSIFICATION:

Charaka- Shvasahara, Angamarda Prashamana, Katuka Skandhas, Shiro Virechanopaga.

Sushruta- Eladi

Bhavprakash- Karpooradi Varga

 

ENGLISH NAME: Lesser cardamom

COMMON NAME:

Hindi- Choti ilaychi

Kannada- Elakki

Bengali- Chot elach

REFERENCE: BHAVAPRAKASH SAMHITA with link e Nighantu:

https://niimh.nic.in/ebooks/e-Nighantu/bhavaprakashanighantu/?mod=read

सूक्ष्मोपकुञ्चिका तुत्था कोरङ्गी द्राविडी त्रुटिः |

एला सूक्ष्मा कफश्वासकासार्शोमूत्रकृच्छ्रहृत् |

रसे तु कटुका शीता लघ्वी वातहरी मता ||५५||

HABITAT: Mainly in western ghats and southern India

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION:

A annual herb, rootstock thick. Leafy stem 2.5-4 cm long. Leaves are oblong lanceolate, pubescent beneath. Flowers are in panicles. Bracts 2-3 flowered, shortly pedicelled; calyx eylindric, membranous, short lobed; corolla tube shortly exserted, lip larger than the corolla segments. Fruits are subglobose or oblong capsules. Flowering and fruiting during may to july.

MAJOR CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: Bornneol, camphene, geraneol, heptane

THERAPEUTIC USES:

• For bad breath: Small piece of one or two cardamom helps in improving bad breath.
• Dry mouth: Chewing a pod of cardamom will moisture the mouth.
• Sore throat:2-3 gm of powder is added to 150-200 ml of hot water and kept for a while till it becomes luke warm.
• Cough: Cardamom and sugar candy are taken in 3:1 and powder it. This chewed in those of 1-2 gm, 3-4 times a day.
• Hiccup: Elaichi pod and banana leaf ash in hiccup.

INDICATIONS:

Hridarog heart diseases, mutrakrcchra urinary disorders, timira eye disorder , svas kasa respiratory diseases, sirashula headache, arsa haemorrhoids.

USEFUL PART:Seeds

DOSAGE: Powder- 0.5-1g

AYURVEDIC FORMULATION:

1. Eladi churna
2. Eladyarista
3. Eladi kasaya