Gokshura

BOTANICAL NAME: Tribulus terrestris

FAMILY: Zygophyllaceae

 

CLASSICAL CLASSIFICATION:

Charaka- Dashamoola, Shothahara, Mutravirechaniya, Krimighna.

Sushruta- Vidarigandhadi, Veerataruvadi, Laghu Panchamoola.

Bhavprakash- Guduchyadi Varga

 

ENGLISH NAME: Caltrops fruit

COMMON NAME:

Hindi: Gokhru

Punjabi: Bhakhra, Gokhru

Bengali: Gokhri, Gokshura

Kannada: Neggilamullu, Neggilu, Sannaneggilu

REFERENCE: BHAVAPRAKASH SAMHITA with link e Nighantu:

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

गोक्षुरः क्षुरकोऽपि स्यात्त्रिकण्टः स्वादुकण्टकः |

गोकण्टको गोक्षुरको वनशृङ्गाट इत्यपि |

पलङ्कषा श्वदंष्ट्रा च तथा स्यादिक्षुगन्धिका ||३८||

गोक्षुरः शीतलः स्वादुर्बलकृद्बस्तिशोधनः |

मधुरो दीपनो वृष्यः पुष्टिदश्चाश्मरीहरः |

प्रमेहश्वासकासार्शः कृच्छ्रहृद्रोगवातनुत् ||३९||

HABITAT: Pasture lands, road sides and other waste places, chiefly in hot, dry and sandy regions, grows throughout India as prostrate herb and upto 3,000 m in Kashmir.

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION: It is an annual or perennial prostrate herb with spreading branches and silky villous young parts; Leaves- simple pinnate, opposite. Leaflets- almost sessile, rounded or oblique at the base, mucronate at the base; Flowers – bright yellow , solitary; Fruit – 5 angled or winged, spinous tuberculate, hard, separating into 5 cocci, each coccus having two long stiff sharp spines and two shorter , seeds one or more in each.

It grows usually in places where there is less rainfall. The whole plant or fruits are used for medicinal purpose. Flowering and fruiting time : July – August

MAJOR CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: Potassium nitrate, sterols, sapogenin with pyroketone ring (diosgenin), gitogenin and hecogenins.

THERAPEUTIC USES:

• To fight diabetes: 3-6gm of powder is used internally.
• Inflammation: Decoction of 50-100ml should be given internally.
• Urinary calculi: Fine powder of gokshura with honey and half cup of sheep milk, twice a day before food for 1 week.
• Cyst: Powder of gokshur eliminate excess of water from body and reduce the size of cyst.
• In pregnancy care: Powder of drug added with milk and water then boil till only milk content remains and consuming in 3^rd trimester.

INDICATIONS:

Shoolaroga pain, Arsa piles, Svasa respiratory disease, Daurbalya weakness, Hrdroga heart diseases, Kasa cough, Mutrakrcchra urinary disorder, Asmari kidney stones, Prameha diabetes.

USEFUL PART: Fruit

DOSAGE: 3-6 g of the drug in powder form, 20-30 g of the drug for decoction.

AYURVEDIC FORMULATION:

1. Goksuradi gugullu
2. Traikanaka ghrit
3. Draksadi churna