Hingvashtaka Churnam

What it is

A churnam is a fine powder of dried ingredients ground together, kept ready for use and taken by the spoonful. Hingvashtaka Churnam is one of the best known of the digestive powders, and its name tells you exactly how it is built. Hingu is asafoetida, ashtaka means a set of eight, and churnam is the powder. So the whole word means “the eight-part asafoetida powder,” a blend of asafoetida and seven companions, ground fine.

The character of the powder follows from its parts. Asafoetida is warming and strongly aromatic, and around it stand a small circle of the kitchen and the pharmacy alike: dry ginger, black pepper and long pepper, ajwain, rock salt and the two cumins. Nearly every part is pungent, light and warming, so the blend as a whole is a heating, drying, lively powder rather than a soothing one. The tradition treats it above all as a powder for the digestive fire, one that kindles the fire and carries the wind downward, which is why it is taken not on its own but with the food itself.

What Ayurveda uses it for

In the classical texts Hingvashtaka Churnam belongs to the Deepana and Pachana group, the powders that kindle the digestive fire and help it complete its work, and it is valued too for Vata-anulomana, the settling of the downward flow of Vata. Its warm, pungent, light nature was understood to answer a sluggish, wind-troubled digestion, and to move things in their proper downward direction.

Within that role the classical writers describe the powder as traditionally indicated in a familiar set of conditions, each named here in its classical Sanskrit term with a plain gloss:

• Agnimandya: weakness of the digestive fire, the powder’s classical home.
• Adhmana and Anaha: bloating and distension, where the wind gathers and does not move.
• Shula: colic and griping in the belly.
• Aruchi: loss of appetite and distaste for food.
• Vibandha: constipation, the wind and the stool held up rather than carried down.
• Gulma: the classical category of abdominal masses and gatherings.
• Krimi: the classical category of intestinal worms.

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

What is in it

The whole design of the powder is in its eight parts, and it repays a closer look at each. At the centre stands Hingu, asafoetida, the resin that gives the blend its name and its unmistakable aroma; the tradition prizes it as a warming, wind-settling spice for the digestion. To it are joined the two pungents that Ayurveda pairs so often, Shunthi or dry ginger and Maricha or black pepper, both warming and kindling. Then comes Pippali, long pepper, the third of the group the texts call the three pungents, valued for the digestion and for its lasting warmth.

Around this warming core sit the seed spices. Ajamoda, ajwain or wild celery seed, is sharp and aromatic and much used for the wind and the belly. Saindhava lavana, rock salt, is the one salty note in an otherwise pungent blend, added in a small measure, and the tradition regards it as the lightest and most suitable of the salts for the digestion. Last come the two cumins, Shweta Jeeraka, the ordinary white cumin, and Krishna Jeeraka, the darker black cumin, both quiet, warming carminative seeds that round the powder off. Together the eight make a blend that is pungent, light, dry and warming through and through, which is the quality the formula is reaching for.

How it is taken

The classical way with Hingvashtaka Churnam is to take it at the very start of the meal, mixed into the first morsel of food, so that it meets the food as the digestion begins its work. A common and pleasant way is to stir a small measure of the powder into a little ghee and take it with that first mouthful of rice or a warm meal; the ghee carries the powder and softens its sharpness. It may also be taken with warm water.

It is used in modest amounts, by the small spoonful, and like most churnams it is taken as a course over a stretch of days rather than as a single dose. Being warm and drying by nature, it is a powder the tradition suits to a cold, sluggish, wind-troubled digestion rather than a heated one.

Good to know

Hingvashtaka Churnam is a warming, pungent powder, and its qualities line up plainly behind its purpose: it kindles and dries rather than soothes and cools. That same warmth means the tradition reads it as pacifying to Kapha and to Vata, the cold and the mobile, while it can raise Pitta, the hot; so the older texts place it with the cold, damp, sluggish digestion rather than the heated one. Because it carries a strong salt and a strong warmth, it is used by the small measure and with food, not by the spoonful on an empty stomach.

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

Frequently asked

Why is it called the eight-part powder? Because it is built from eight ingredients ground together. Hingu is asafoetida, ashtaka means a set of eight, and churnam is the powder, so the name reads as “the eight-part asafoetida powder.” The eight are asafoetida, dry ginger, black pepper, long pepper, ajwain, rock salt, white cumin and black cumin.

Why is it taken with the first mouthful of food? That is the classical instruction. The powder is a Deepana and Pachana blend, meant to meet the food as the digestion begins, which is why the tradition takes it at the start of the meal rather than on an empty stomach, often stirred into a little ghee with the first morsel.

Why does it lean warming and drying? Because nearly every one of its eight parts is pungent and warming, from the asafoetida and the two peppers to the ajwain and the cumins. That warm, dry, light quality is the whole point of the blend, and it is why the tradition places it with the cold, sluggish, wind-troubled digestion and reads it as pacifying to Kapha and Vata.