What is padimugam or padimulam powder added in drinking water. What is the herba!
Question:
What is padimugam or padimulam powder added in drinking water. What is the herbal property of it?
When added to hot water, colour of the water becomes red (like potassium per-manganete). It has some herbal property. This powder is used in Kerala.
Answers:
Hi Rajib D, padimugam or Sappan Wood (su mu), (Caesalpinia sappan Linn.), also known as East Indian redwood, comes from a tree that has both ornamental and medicinal properties.
In traditional Chinese medicine, sappan wood has sweet, salty, and neutral properties, and is associated with the Heart, Liver and Spleen meridians. Its main functions are to invigorate the blood, promote menstruation, and reduce pain and swelling. Sappan wood is often used to treat blood-related conditions such as dysmenorrheal and amenorrhea, and to reduce abdominal pain following childbirth. Sappan wood is also used to reduce pain and swelling caused by external injuries. In addition, sappan wood yields a natural dye (derived from the chemical brazilian), which is used to color fabrics and handicrafts.
The typical dosage of sappan wood is between 3 and 10 grams, boiled in water as a decoction. Some practitioners also recommend sappan wood powder.
Natural products have provided a variety of lead structures, which serve as templates for the development of new drugs. The water kept in Caesalpinia sappan Linn. (Sappan lignum) heartwood is being used in Kerala as herbal drinking water for its antithirst, blood purifying, antidiabetic, improvement of complexion and several other properties. The use of heartwood as a colouring agent for wine, meat, fabric, etc. is well established. It has the potential to hit the market as a safe natural colouring agent with good medicinal value for food products, beverages and pharmaceuticals. There is also a scope for further research to establish its medicinal properties and to identify lead compounds for drug development.
Jason Homan