Abstract

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF CHAKRAMARDA – A REVIEW ARTICLE

Ganpat Lal Kumawat*, Ashish Pareek, A. Ramamurthy and Tarun Sharma

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Abstract

Chakramarda (English - Ring worm plant, Cassio tora Linn) is used for the management of numerous skin disorders i.e., ringworm, eczema, psoriasis etc. Cassio tora is a very popular and common plant widely distributed in India. It is an annual shrub and grows everywhere in India. Numerous medicinal properties have been attributed to this plant in Ayurveda (traditional system of Indian medicine). Various parts of thi s plant i.e., leaves, seeds, root etc. possess medicinal properties. It has katu rasa, katu vipaka and ushna virya. This plant is laghu, ruksha in guna and kapha-vatshamaka. The present article is an effort to gain and explore the information about the plant chakramarda from various Ayurveda texts like Samhitas, Ras Granthas and Nighantus. This article concludes various synonyms, morphological properties, pharmacological properties, ethnomedical properties and medicinal as well as clinical uses.

Keywords: Chakramarda, Cassio tora, Ring worm plant, Skin disorders etc.