Ashwattha (Peepal)

What is Ashwattha?

Ashwattha is the peepal, one of the most venerated trees of the Indian subcontinent. Botanically it is Ficus religiosa, a member of the fig family, Moraceae, and a close relative of the banyan. The tree is tall and long-lived, with a pale, smooth bark and a wide, open crown. Its most recognisable feature is its leaf: broad and heart-shaped, drawn out at the tip into a long, slender point, and set on a slim stalk so that the whole leaf trembles and rustles in the lightest breeze. A peepal in the wind is easy to know by that constant, restless shimmer of its foliage.

The Sanskrit name Ashwattha, also written Ashvattha, is old and much discussed. One traditional reading connects it to the horse, ashva, and there are several interpretations of why. What is not in doubt is the tree’s standing. Across the classical literature and in everyday Indian languages it is Peepal or Pippala, and it carries a whole cluster of reverent names. Chief among them is Bodhi, the “tree of awakening”, for the peepal is the species under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, and a peepal grown from that lineage is still honoured today. Another common name is Chala, “the moving one”, again a nod to those endlessly quivering leaves. The tree is planted beside temples, tended for generations, and allowed to reach a great age, so that many a peepal standing today is older than the buildings around it.

In Ayurveda the part most used is the bark, called twak. Beyond the bark, the classical texts also describe the leaf, the tender young shoots, the small fig-like fruit and the milky latex, or ksheera, that the tree exudes when cut. It is the bark, though, together with the shoots and leaf, that gives Ashwattha its settled place among the cooling, astringent substances of the tradition. That breadth of usable parts is part of why the tree is drawn on so widely: bark for decoctions and washes, tender shoots and leaf for their own preparations, and latex where a substance of that particular character is called for.

What Ayurveda uses it for

Classical Ayurveda places Ashwattha firmly among the cooling, astringent substances, and above all among the barks used for the skin and for external tissue. The Charaka Samhita counts it within the Kashaya Skandha, the great class of astringent-tasting drugs, and among the Sandhaniya group, the substances associated with the drawing together and knitting of tissue. In the Sushruta Samhita it belongs to the Nyagrodhadi gana, the group of astringent, cooling barks headed by the banyan, and it is one of the five barks of the Panchavalkala combination described below. The later nighantus, the classical plant glossaries, gather all of this together and record the bark as astringent, cooling and settling in its action.

Within that role, the dravyaguna texts describe the bark, leaf and shoots as traditionally indicated in a familiar set of conditions, each named here in its classical Sanskrit term with a plain gloss:

• Raktapitta: a classical bleeding tendency, understood in the tradition as an aggravation of Pitta affecting the blood, where the cooling, astringent bark is a classic choice.
• Prameha: the classical group of urinary and metabolic disorders, among which the astringent barks are named.
• Twak-roga and Kushtha: the broad classical categories of skin disorders, the setting in which Ashwattha is most at home.
• Vrana: wounds and external lesions, for which the bark decoction is used traditionally as a wash.
• Yoni-roga and Pradara: the classical group of women’s complaints, where its astringent, holding quality is drawn on.
• Daha: burning sensations, met by the tree’s cooling potency.
• Atisara: diarrhoea, where the astringent, holding action, called grahi, is called upon.

These are the traditional textual indications recorded in the classical literature. They set out how Ayurveda has long understood the herb and are given for reference and study, not as statements of medical effect or as advice to treat any condition.

Perhaps its best known classical use is as one of the five barks of the Panchavalkala group, the “five barks”. This group brings Ashwattha together with Nyagrodha, the banyan, and with Udumbara, Plaksha and Parisha, and it is used traditionally in washes, fomentations and pastes for the care of external tissue and for the cleansing and dressing of wounds. In this setting Ashwattha rarely stands alone. It works as part of a small, time-honoured family of Ficus and related barks that share its cooling, astringent character, each one contributing to a combination that the tradition has relied on for the skin and for wounds for a very long time.

It is worth adding, as a matter of cultural rather than medicinal fact, that few plants in the whole of Ayurveda carry the standing of the peepal. Its role as the Bodhi tree, its long life, and its place beside temples and shrines mean it is regarded with a reverence that sits above its practical uses. In the classical world a substance drawn from so honoured a tree was handled with corresponding respect.

Its qualities, in plain words

Ayurveda describes every substance through a short set of qualities, and Ashwattha’s tell a single, consistent story.

Its rasa, or taste, is chiefly kashaya, astringent. That is the dry, faintly puckering quality you notice in strong tea or in unripe fruit, and it is the taste that draws tissue together rather than loosening it. Several of the classical glossaries add a secondary madhura, or sweet, note alongside the astringency, which softens the drying edge a little. Its guna, the physical qualities, are guru and ruksha, meaning heavy and dry.

Its virya, the potency or the warming or cooling effect a substance has on the body, is sheeta, cooling. This is the quality the tradition leans on when it turns to Ashwattha for burning sensations and for bleeding tendencies, both of which are read as states of heat. Its vipaka, the taste that remains after digestion is complete, is katu, pungent.

The classical action terms, the karma, follow directly from all this. The bark is called varnya, relating to a healthy complexion and appearance of the skin, and raktapitta-hara, settling to the classical bleeding tendency. It is vrana-ropana, supporting the natural healing of wounds and external tissue, and grahi, holding and consolidating rather than dispersing.

Put together in plain words, Ashwattha reads as a cool, dry, astringent bark with a faint sweetness behind it. The astringent taste and the cooling potency are the qualities the tradition relies on when it groups the herb with substances that gather, settle and cool rather than spread and heat. Because these qualities pull so clearly in a calming, consolidating direction, the tradition describes Ashwattha as Kapha-Pitta shamaka, that is, pacifying to both Kapha and Pitta. The heavy, dry, astringent nature that quiets these two doshas is the same nature that means it is not a warming or moistening herb, and it is chosen accordingly.

How it is taken

In the classical tradition Ashwattha is prepared in a handful of straightforward ways, and the choice of part is part of the preparation. The bark is dried and ground into a powder, called churna. It is boiled in water to make a decoction, known as kashaya or kwatha, which is the form most often used as a wash or fomentation for the skin and for wounds. It is made into a paste, or kalka, for external application. The tender young shoots and the leaf are used in their own preparations, and the milky latex of the tree is drawn on where a substance of that character is wanted.

Its most familiar formulation is the Panchavalkala group itself, the classical combination of five barks in which Ashwattha sits alongside Nyagrodha, Udumbara, Plaksha and Parisha. Decoctions and pastes built on these five barks are among the most enduring in the Ayurvedic care of external tissue and in the dressing of wounds, and Ashwattha’s astringent, cooling bark is a core member of that set. Because the five share a family character, the tradition treats them as a working unit far more often than it uses any one of them alone. Beyond the Panchavalkala, the bark and its decoction appear in a range of classical washes and formulations directed at the skin, at bleeding tendencies and at external lesions.

This entry does not give prescriptive amounts. Classical dosage depends on the person, the part of the tree, the preparation and the guidance of a qualified practitioner, and the safest course is always to follow that guidance rather than a fixed figure.

Good to know

Ashwattha is a substance of the cooling, astringent, drying kind, and in the classical tradition such herbs are chosen with care for the season, the tissue in question and the individual constitution rather than taken casually. Because its qualities are drying and consolidating, they are best matched to a person and a context by someone who understands the wider picture, which is exactly the role of the Ayurvedic practitioner. Much of its classical use is external, as a wash, a fomentation or a paste for the skin and for wounds, and even there the choice of preparation and strength is a matter for informed judgement.

It is also worth remembering the tree’s standing. The peepal is among the most sacred plants of the subcontinent, the Bodhi tree of the Buddha and a fixture of temple courtyards, and it is honoured as a living thing quite apart from any use made of it. The classical texts describe how its parts were prepared, but they do so within a culture that regarded the tree itself with deep respect.

This entry describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding of the herb. It is not medical advice, and anyone with a health condition should speak to a qualified practitioner.

Frequently asked

Is Ashwattha the same as the peepal tree? Yes. Ashwattha is the classical Sanskrit name for the peepal, or sacred fig, Ficus religiosa, the tall, long-lived tree with heart-shaped, long-tipped leaves that quiver in the wind. It is also widely called Pippala, and Bodhi, “the tree of awakening”, after the tree under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

Which parts of the tree does Ayurveda use? Chiefly the bark, called twak, which is dried for powder or boiled into a decoction. The classical texts also describe the leaf, the tender young shoots, the small fruit and the milky latex, or ksheera, but it is the astringent, cooling bark and the shoots that give Ashwattha its main role, above all in the care of the skin and of wounds.

What is Panchavalkala and where does Ashwattha fit? Panchavalkala means “five barks”. It is a classical group combining Ashwattha with Nyagrodha, Udumbara, Plaksha and Parisha, used traditionally in washes, fomentations and pastes for the care of external tissue and for the dressing of wounds. Ashwattha is one of the five, contributing its cooling, astringent bark to the combination.

Why is the peepal considered sacred? Beyond its place in Ayurveda, the peepal is revered across the Indian subcontinent. It is the Bodhi tree, the species under which the Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment, and it is long-lived and often planted beside temples and shrines. That cultural and spiritual standing is a large part of why the tree is held in such regard, quite separately from the classical uses of its bark and leaf.