Medhya Rasayana: the Classical Brain Tonics

What is Medhya Rasayana?

Medhya Rasayana is the class of Ayurvedic herbs and preparations kept to support the mind. The word joins two ideas. Medhya means good for the medha, the faculty of intellect and memory, so a medhya herb is one that steadies and feeds the mind rather than the body. Rasayana means rejuvenation, the slow and building side of Ayurveda: a rasayana is taken as a course over time to renew rather than to act in a single dose. Put together, a Medhya Rasayana is a nourishing tonic for the head, given to strengthen the very faculties the classical texts call Dhi (grasp and judgement), Dhriti (retention and steadiness) and Smriti (memory and recall).

The idea has a fixed anchor. In the Charaka Samhita, in the chapter on rasayana therapy, the physician Charaka names a small, definite set of four herbs as the medhya rasayana proper. These four sit at the centre of every later account, and the wider tradition gathers other herbs of the mind around them. What follows is that classical picture: the four named herbs first, then the others the texts also count as medhya, and last the practices and preparations that carry their work.

The four classical Medhya Rasayana

Charaka’s list of four is the heart of the subject. Each is described as supporting the intellect and the memory, and each is a herb of the mind first and the body second.

Mandukparni

Mandukparni is the first of Charaka’s four. It is a small, low creeping plant, listed in this encyclopaedia under its botanical name Centella asiatica, and the fresh juice of the plant is the classical way of taking it. The tradition places it at the head of the group for a mind that is scattered or tired, valuing it to gather and settle the attention. One point is worth settling here: in some regions the name Brahmi is given to this same plant, though in the classical herbals Brahmi and Mandukparni are treated as two distinct herbs, each with its own entry.

Yashtimadhu

Yashtimadhu is the second, the sweet root known in English as licorice. It is sweet in taste and cooling in nature, and the texts favour it for a mind that runs hot or restless. In Charaka’s medhya set it is usually taken as a powder stirred into milk, the sweet, unctuous pairing the tradition holds to carry a herb’s action to the head. Beyond the medhya group Yashtimadhu is one of the most widely used of all Ayurvedic herbs, but here its place is among the tonics of the mind.

Guduchi

Guduchi is the third of the four, a climbing plant whose stem is the part chiefly used. The tradition gives it the name Amrita, the nectar of immortality, a mark of the regard in which it is held as a rasayana. Among the medhya herbs Guduchi is valued as a steadying tonic taken over time, and it is counted a great all-round rejuvenative as well as a herb of the mind.

Shankhapushpi

Shankhapushpi is the fourth, named for its small flower said to resemble a conch. Of all Charaka’s four it is the one most closely tied to the mind alone, and the classical writers reach for it above the others where memory, learning and a settled head are the whole of the matter. It is most often taken as the whole plant, dried and powdered, or as a syrup, and it too is regarded as cooling and quieting rather than stimulating.

Other Medhya herbs

Beyond Charaka’s four, the wider tradition names several more herbs as medhya. They appear across the classical texts and in the great compound preparations of the mind.

Brahmi

Brahmi is the best known of the further medhya herbs, a small marsh plant listed here under Bacopa monnieri. The texts name it first when they speak of memory and learning, and though it does not sit inside Charaka’s specific set of four, it is treated everywhere as a leading tonic of the mind. Like the others it is cooling and settling, taken as fresh juice or as powder in milk, and it is the central herb of several classical preparations of the head.

Jyotishmati

Jyotishmati is a climbing plant whose seed oil the tradition prizes for the intellect. Its very name carries the sense of light and awareness, and one of its common names, the intellect tree, records the same idea. It is regarded as warming and sharpening, which sets it a little apart from the cooling herbs above, and it is used with care and in small measure.

Vacha

Vacha is the aromatic rhizome known in English as sweet flag or calamus. The classical texts count it among the herbs of speech and intellect, and it is a common companion to the sweeter medhya herbs in compound preparations. It is pungent and warming, and like Jyotishmati it is used in small, measured amounts under guidance.

Jatamansi

Jatamansi is the fragrant root known as spikenard. The tradition values it as a quieting herb for a restless, unsettled mind, and it is often placed alongside the medhya herbs where calm and steady sleep are wanted as much as memory. It is cooling and grounding, and it appears in several of the classical mind formulas.

Beyond the herbs

The classical view of the medhya is never herbs alone. The texts set the mind-supporting herbs within a wider rasayana of conduct, and two practices stand out. Pranayama, the regulation of the breath, is held to steady and clear the mind, and it is treated as a discipline of the intellect and not only of the body. Meditation and a calm, ordered way of living belong to the same picture: the classical writers name worry, grief and overwork among the things that wear the faculties down, and they place a settled, contented mind among the things that restore them.

The medhya herbs are also gathered into named classical preparations, and two are worth knowing. Saraswatarishtam is a gently fermented tonic built around Brahmi and other herbs of the mind, named for Saraswati, the presiding form of learning and speech. Brahmi Ghritham is a medicated ghee in which the herbs are cooked into clarified butter, the ghee itself regarded as the ideal carrier to the head. Both are long-standing ways of taking the medhya herbs in a nourishing, slow-acting form rather than as a plain powder.

How they are used

The medhya herbs are taken in a few settled forms. The plainest is the fresh juice, svarasa, of a herb such as Mandukparni or Brahmi, a small measure at a time. Where the fresh plant is not at hand, the dried powder, churna, stands in, usually stirred into warm milk or taken with a little ghee. This pairing is deliberate: the tradition holds that milk and ghee carry a medhya herb’s action to the mind, and they suit the cooling, nourishing nature of most of the group. The compound preparations, the fermented arishtas and the medicated ghees, are the third form, and they are the way the herbs are most often given as a considered course.

Two cautions follow from the classical framing. First, a rasayana is by its nature slow work, taken over weeks as a course and not as a single dose; it belongs to the building side of Ayurveda. Second, the group is not uniform. Most of the herbs are cooling and quieting, but a few, Jyotishmati and Vacha among them, are warming and sharp and are used in small, measured amounts. For that reason the choice and dose of any medhya herb is a matter for a qualified practitioner and not for guesswork.

This guide describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding and is not medical advice. Speak to a qualified doctor or registered Ayurvedic practitioner before using any herb, especially if you are pregnant, taking medication or managing a health condition.

Frequently asked

What is Medhya Rasayana? Medhya Rasayana is the Ayurvedic class of herbs and preparations kept to support the mind. Medhya means good for the intellect and memory, and rasayana means a rejuvenative taken as a course over time. In the Charaka Samhita the term names a specific set of four herbs, Mandukparni, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi and Shankhapushpi, around which the wider tradition of mind tonics is built.

Which are the classical Ayurvedic herbs for memory? The four Charaka names as medhya rasayana are Mandukparni, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi and Shankhapushpi. Brahmi is the other herb most closely tied to memory and learning in the classical texts, and Jatamansi, Vacha and Jyotishmati are also counted among the herbs of the mind. These are the traditional brain tonic herbs of Ayurveda.

How are these brain tonic herbs taken? Most often as a course over several weeks rather than a single dose, since they are rasayana preparations. The plain forms are fresh juice or dried powder taken in warm milk or with ghee; the classical compound forms include the fermented tonic Saraswatarishtam and the medicated ghee Brahmi Ghritham.

Are all the Medhya herbs cooling? No. Most of the group, including Brahmi, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi and Shankhapushpi, are cooling and settling. A few, such as Jyotishmati and Vacha, are warming and sharp and are used in small, measured amounts under guidance.