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- Latin:
Piper longum
- Sanskrit:
Pippali
- Hindi:
Pippali
- English:
Long Pepper, Dried Catkins
Parts
Used:
Fruit. Indigenous to north-eastern
and southern India and Sri Lanka. Cultivated throughout India, especially
in Bengal.
Traditional
Ayurvedic Uses:
- Pippali
is certainly one of the most widely used of all Ayurvedic herbs. It
is one of the best herbs for enhancing digestion, assimilation and
metabolism of the foods we eat. It is also highly prized for its ability
to enhance assimilation and potency of herbs in a synergistic formula
(this is called the Yogavahi effect). You will find it in most of
our formulas because of these and other benefits.
- The
Ayurvedic texts list Pippali as one of the most powerful Rasayana
herbs, meaning it is a longevity enhancer. It also cleans the shrotas
that transport nutrients and remove wastes, so it is considered important
for purification. It balances two of the three laws of nature at work
in the mind and body (Vata and Kapha). It also soothes the nerves
to improve the quality of sleep at night.
- Pippali
enhances all 13 of the metabolic processes (Agnis) that create the
7 categories of bodily tissues (Dhatus).
- Along
with Black Pepper and Ginger, Pippali is part of the famous digestive
formula known as Trikatu (Three Spices).
Combinations
are Best
The ayurvedic physicians of Maharishi Ayurveda do not recommend the use of single herbs for self-care due to several important reasons.
One of the specialties of ayurveda is the science of herb combining that has been perfected over thousands of years of clinical practice. From this ayurvedic perspective, the study of herbs from scientific research which is based on single ingredient formulas is not very practical. This is because an herb can give a number of different effects depending on the other herbs it is combined with as well as a number of other factors such as dosage, how the herb was processed, etc. If one focuses just on the results of a study based on one ingredient, while it may be interesting, it does not give the full insight into the complete range of effects available from that particular herb.
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