Kulattha

What is Kulattha?

Kulattha is the seed of a hardy climbing pulse, Macrotyloma uniflorum, a legume that grows where little else will, spreading over the dry, poor soils of India and asking almost nothing of them. The plant is slender and trailing, with small leaves and pale flowers, and it carries its seeds in short flat pods. It is those seeds, a modest brownish pulse, that Ayurveda and the Indian kitchen have long put to use.

The name is old and the plant well travelled, which is why it answers to so many. In English it is called horse gram, a plain reference to its long use as a hardy fodder as much as a food. Across India it is Kollu in the Tamil country, Hurali in the Kannada-speaking south, Ulavalu in the Telugu lands, and Gahat in the hills of the north. Its older botanical name, Dolichos biflorus, is still met with in the classical literature. Whatever the name, Kulattha is above all a resilient pulse, at home on the leanest ground.

What Ayurveda uses it for

In the classical texts Kulattha is grouped among the Shimbi-dhanya, the pulses and legumes, but the dravyaguna writers single it out for one action above all others. It is the pulse they name for the urinary stone. The tradition calls this quality Ashmari-bhedana, the property of a substance that helps break down and clear the hard concretions of the urinary passage, and it is Kulattha’s foremost classical use. Alongside this the texts describe it as Deepana, kindling the digestive fire, as Grahi, holding and firming the stool, and as Medohara, reducing to the fatty tissue. Its astringent, warming, drying nature was understood to pacify the heavy, cold quality of Kapha and the mobile quality of Vata, while it can raise Pitta and heat the blood.

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

• Ashmari and Sharkara: urinary calculi and gravel, the stone and the sand of the passage, which is the seed’s foremost and best known classical use. These are the traditional textual indications recorded in the dravyaguna literature and in the treatment of Ashmari in the Ashtanga Hridaya; they set out how Ayurveda has long understood the seed and are given here for reference and study, not as statements of medical effect.
• Medoroga: the class of disorders of excess fatty tissue, where the seed’s reducing, drying quality, its Medohara action, is called upon. This is the traditional textual indication recorded in the classical literature and is given for reference and study, not as a statement of medical effect.
• Kasa and Shwasa: the cough and the laboured breathing of the Kapha type, where its warming, drying nature was thought to answer the heavy, damp quality behind them. These are the traditional textual indications recorded in the classical literature and are given for reference and study, not as statements of medical effect.
• Hikka: hiccough, another of the conditions the texts connect with this warming pulse. This is the traditional textual indication recorded in the classical literature and is given for reference and study, not as a statement of medical effect.
• Arsha: the classical category of haemorrhoids, for which the seed’s astringent, holding quality is described. This is the traditional textual indication recorded in the classical literature and is given for reference and study, not as a statement of medical effect.
• Krimi: the classical category of intestinal worms, among the uses recorded for the seed. This is the traditional textual indication recorded in the classical literature and is given for reference and study, not as a statement of medical effect.

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

Its qualities, in plain words

Ayurveda describes every herb by a short list of qualities, and for Kulattha they line up neatly behind its reputation as a warming, drying pulse.

Its taste is astringent, the taste that draws in and firms, which is why the tradition calls it holding and firming to the stool. It is light, dry and penetrating, so rather than feeding and grounding the body it lightens and reduces it, and its penetrating quality is the part the texts connect with breaking down the urinary stone. It is warming, which is why it suits the cold, damp quality of Kapha and the cold, mobile quality of Vata, and why the texts caution that it can heat the blood. And it finishes pungent after digestion, a sign of a herb that reduces and clears rather than builds. Put together, these qualities describe a warm, dry, lightening pulse, which is why the tradition settles most firmly on its stone-breaking and fat-reducing actions. Because that same heat can stir Pitta and the blood, the sources are careful to mark those out as the places where it is used with restraint.

How it is taken

The simplest classical way is a soup or a thin decoction of the seed, the yusha or kwatha of Kulattha, the seed simmered in water until it gives up its qualities and then taken warm. This is the form the texts reach for most, and it is the same plain preparation the household kitchen has always made of the pulse.

From that base the classical writers built their named preparations. Kulattha stands behind formulas such as Kulattha Kwatha, the decoction taken by name, and it appears among the ingredients of stone-clearing and fat-reducing formulas where its warming, penetrating nature is wanted. As a warm, drying pulse it is taken with vehicles that carry its clearing action rather than the sweet, heavy ones reserved for the nourishing herbs.

Good to know

Kulattha belongs to the clearing, reducing side of Ayurveda rather than the nourishing side, and it is prized for the very qualities, heat and dryness, that make it a lightening pulse. One point of care is worth repeating: because it is warming and can heat the blood, the classical writers used it with restraint where Pitta is already high or where there is a tendency to bleeding, and it is these cautions, not its stone-clearing reputation, that the tradition marks out most plainly.

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

Why is it called horse gram? Because the hardy pulse has long been grown as a fodder as much as a food, valued for thriving on poor, dry ground where richer crops fail. The English name records that plain, workaday history. Across India the same seed answers to Kollu, Hurali, Ulavalu and Gahat.

Which part of the plant is used? The seed. It is the modest brownish pulse inside the flat pods that the classical preparations call for, taken most often as a soup or a decoction.

Why is Kulattha used with care where there is heat? Because it is warming and drying by nature and the texts describe it as able to heat the blood and stir Pitta. For that reason the classical writers reserved it for the cold, damp, heavy conditions it suits and used it with restraint where Pitta is already high or bleeding is a concern.