Varuna

What is Varuna?

Varuna is a medium sized flowering tree that grows across much of India, often near rivers and streams. The part used in Ayurveda is chiefly the bark, taken from both the stem and the root, and this bark is the classical focus of the plant. The leaves, flowers and root are also described in the older literature for other uses, but when a traditional text names Varuna it usually means the bark.

The name Varuna carries a fitting image. Varuna is the ancient deity of the waters, and the tree that bears the name is the one Ayurveda associates most closely with the body’s own waters, that is, the urinary channels. Among its other Sanskrit names are Setu, meaning a bridge or embankment, and Shvetapushpa, meaning white flowered, a nod to its pale blossoms.

Botanically the tree is often written as Crateva nurvala, an older name that the modern reference works at Kew now treat as the same plant as Crateva magna. The strict botanical spelling is Crateva, though the form Crataeva is very widely used. It belongs to the caper family, Capparaceae, called Capparidaceae in some of the older Ayurvedic writing.

What Ayurveda uses it for

In classical Ayurveda, Varuna bark is the single herb most firmly linked to the mutravaha srotas, the channels that carry and pass urine, and it heads its own group, the Varunadi gana of the Sushruta Samhita. It is traditionally understood to promote the flow of urine, an action called mutravirechana, and to have a scraping, de-obstructing quality the texts call lekhana and bhedana.

Whenever the old texts turn to the urinary system they name Varuna first, and the classical literature describes the bark in the following settings, each given in its Sanskrit term with a plain gloss:

• Ashmari: the hardened concretions of the urinary tract, the condition most closely tied to this herb, where its bhedana or breaking quality is described.
• Mutrakrichra: difficult or painful passing of urine.
• Mutraghata: obstruction or holding of the urinary flow.
• Medoroga: the classical condition of excess fatty tissue, given the bark’s scraping action.
• Gulma and Shotha: abdominal masses and swelling, which the texts group with its clearing quality.
• Krimi: the classical category of worms and small organisms.

These are the traditional textual indications recorded in the classical literature. They set out how Ayurveda has long understood the bark, and are given for reference and study rather than as a modern medical claim or as advice to treat any condition.

Its qualities, in plain words

Ayurveda describes each herb through a small set of qualities, and Varuna’s read as a clear, drying and warming picture.

Its taste, or rasa, is bitter and astringent, the tikta and kashaya of the texts, with some herbal lexicons adding a note of pungency. Bitter and astringent tastes are the ones Ayurveda links with drying and de-obstructing, which fits the herb’s traditional role.

Its qualities, or guna, are light and dry, laghu and ruksha. Think of these as the opposite of heavy and oily, the sort of quality that is felt to reduce, rather than add, dampness and heaviness.

Its potency, or virya, is warming, ushna. This is the herb’s inner heat, and it is why the tradition treats Varuna as an active, moving remedy rather than a cooling or settling one.

Its post-digestive taste, or vipaka, is pungent, katu. Vipaka is the quality that is felt to remain after digestion is complete, and a pungent vipaka is again read as light and clearing.

Taken together these qualities are said to pacify Kapha and Vata. Because the herb is warming and pungent, the same texts note that it can mildly raise Pitta if used in excess.

How it is taken

The classical and most typical way to give Varuna is as a decoction of the bark, called a kashaya or kwatha. The bark is simmered in water so that its qualities pass into the liquid, and this decoction is the traditional form for urinary support. Varuna is also given as a churna, a fine powder, and it appears as an ingredient in medicated ghee, known as ghrita, and in tablets.

Several named preparations are built around it. Varunadi Kashaya, also called Varunadi Kwatha, is the classical decoction that takes its name from the herb. Varunadi Ghrita carries the same group of herbs in a base of ghee. And the Varunadi gana itself, the classical group headed by Varuna after Sushruta, is the wider family these formulations draw on. Decoction remains the form the tradition reaches for first when the urinary channels are the concern.

Good to know

Because the texts class Varuna as warming, ushna virya, it is used with care in strongly Pitta-predominant states, where a heating herb is felt to be less suitable. As with any traditional remedy, it is usually taken as a considered course rather than casually, and in the classical setting its use was guided by a practitioner who matched it to the person.

As general educational background, anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding, or who lives with a diagnosed urinary or kidney condition, or who takes prescribed medicines, should speak with a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or doctor before using it. 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

Which part of the Varuna tree is used? Chiefly the bark, taken from both the stem and the root. This is the part the classical texts emphasise, though the leaves, flowers and root are described elsewhere for other purposes.

Why is Varuna linked with the urinary system? In classical Ayurveda it is the dravya most closely associated with the mutravaha srotas, the urinary channels, and it is the herb most often named in old discussions of urinary concretions, called ashmari. This is a traditional understanding, not a modern medical claim.

What is the usual traditional form? A decoction of the bark, called a kashaya or kwatha. It is also taken as a powder and appears in medicated ghee and in named preparations such as Varunadi Kashaya and Varunadi Ghrita.