Ayurvedic Herbalism
Bottle gourd
Lagenaria siceraria
Also known as calabash, white-flowered gourd, long melon, opo squash, lauki, Tumbi, Alabu, Katutumbi (the bitter form).
Lagenaria siceraria is the bottle gourd or calabash, a vigorous, white-flowered climbing vine of the cucumber family grown throughout India for its pale green, smooth-skinned fruit. Ayurveda calls the sweet edible gourd Alabu or Tumbi, a cooling, heavy, diuretic food-medicine for heat, thirst, urinary burning and constipation, and treats the bitter form, Katutumbi or Ikshvaku, as a separate emetic drug for supervised vamana therapy. Fruit, seed and leaf are used, the sweet fruit above all.
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Indications what the tradition reached for it in
- Burning urination and scanty urine
- Heat exhaustion, thirst and summer fever
- Constipation in hot, dry patients
- Hypertension and fluid retention (food adjunct)
- Elevated lipids and weight management (food adjunct)
- Acid dyspepsia and burning
- Convalescence with poor appetite
- Insomnia and agitation with heat (traditional)
- Fatty liver (adjunct, seed and fruit)
- Intestinal worms (seed, traditional)
- Kapha excess needing therapeutic emesis (bitter form, supervised)
Specific indications
A hot, thirsty, constipated pitta patient in high summer with burning urine and a dry mouth, who does well on cooked bottle gourd and a small glass of confirmed-sweet fresh juice
An overweight patient with borderline blood pressure and lipids who wants a light, cooling, low-calorie vegetable as the base of a diuretic diet
A convalescent with weak digestion who cannot manage heavy foods but tolerates bottle gourd soup with cumin and ginger
A kapha patient with thick chest congestion selected for vamana under a trained Ayurvedic physician, where the bitter gourd is one of the classical emetic drugs
Safety
Low dose botanical. Used in drop doses in the classical practice; not a plant to dose freely.
Breastfeeding: The sweet cooked fruit is a traditional food for nursing mothers and is regarded as safe; avoid raw juice and the bitter form.
The record lists 8 contraindications; open the plate in the library to read them in full.
In practice
The Ayurvedic practitioner uses sweet bottle gourd as a dietary medicine for pitta and for the heat of summer. Cooked with cumin, coriander and a little ghee it is the classic light food for fever, convalescence, burning and constipation; the fresh juice, taken in the morning, is prescribed for urinary burning, thirst, palpitation and hypertension; and the halwa or kheer is a cooling nourishment for the thin, hot patient.
In Ayurveda
Rasa: madhura (sweet) in the edible form; tikta (bitter) in Katutumbi, the bitter form. Virya: sheeta (cooling). Vipaka: madhura (sweet), sweet form; katu (pungent), bitter form. Guna: guru (heavy), snigdha (unctuous), sara (mobile) in the sweet form; laghu and ruksha in the bitter form. Dosha: the sweet fruit pacifies pitta and vata and increases kapha in excess; the bitter fruit reduces kapha and pitta and is used as an emetic. Prabhava: vamaka (emetic) action of the bitter fruit, Ikshvaku, which is a classical drug for therapeutic emesis. Karma: hridya (cardiac tonic); mutrala (diuretic); pittahara (reduces pitta); dahaprashamana (relieves burning); trishnanigrahana (quenches thirst); sara (promotes bowel movement); balya (strengthening); brimhana (nourishing); vamaka (emetic, bitter fruit); kaphahara (reduces kapha, bitter fruit); krimighna (anthelmintic, seed). Classical indications: hridroga (heart disease); mutrakricchra (painful urination); daha (burning sensation); trishna (thirst); vibandha (constipation); jvara (fever); raktapitta (bleeding disorders); unmada (mental disturbance, traditional); kasa and shvasa (cough and dyspnea, bitter fruit as emetic); visha (poisoning, bitter fruit as emetic); kapha roga (kapha disorders, bitter fruit); krimi (worms, seed). The sweet ripe fruit is a food-medicine, eaten cooked, taken as fresh juice or made into halwa and kheer; the seeds are powdered or pressed for oil; the leaves are juiced in regional practice. The bitter form, Ikshvaku or Katutumbi, is a separate drug used only in supervised vamana therapy as a decoction of the fruit or a paste of the seeds, never as a household remedy. Classical formulations: Alabu swarasa, Alabu beeja churna, Lauki halwa and kheer (food preparations), Ikshvaku kwatha (vamana, supervised only), Ikshvaku beeja kalka (vamana, supervised only). Described in: Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Ashtanga Hridaya, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, Dhanvantari Nighantu, Raja Nighantu, Kaiyadeva Nighantu, Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India.
Dosing as the sources wrote it
| Preparation | As written | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Swarasa (sweet fruit juice) | 50-100 mL fresh juice of confirmed sweet fruit once daily in the morning | 50-100 mL |
| Fruit as food | 100-200 g cooked fruit daily as a dietary medicine | 100000-200000 mg |
| Churna (seed) | 3-6 g powdered seed twice daily | 3000-6000 mg |
| Swarasa (leaf) | 10-20 mL fresh leaf juice daily | 10-20 mL |
| Ikshvaku kwatha (bitter fruit, vamana) | 50-100 mL decoction of bitter fruit as a single supervised emetic dose, Panchakarma use only | 50-100 mL |
Doses are reproduced from the sources for practitioners and are not a recommendation for any person.
From the sources
Overview. Lagenaria siceraria is the bottle gourd or calabash, a vigorous, white-flowered climbing vine of the cucumber family grown throughout India for its pale green, smooth-skinned fruit. Ayurveda calls the sweet edible gourd Alabu or Tumbi, a cooling, heavy, diuretic food-medicine for heat, thirst, urinary burning and constipation, and treats the bitter form, Katutumbi or Ikshvaku, as a separate emetic drug for supervised vamana therapy. Fruit, seed and leaf are used, the sweet fruit above all.
Clinical Notes. The Ayurvedic practitioner uses sweet bottle gourd as a dietary medicine for pitta and for the heat of summer. Cooked with cumin, coriander and a little ghee it is the classic light food for fever, convalescence, burning and constipation; the fresh juice, taken in the morning, is prescribed for urinary burning, thirst, palpitation and hypertension; and the halwa or kheer is a cooling nourishment for the thin, hot patient.
Ayurvedic Profile. Rasa: madhura (sweet) in the edible form; tikta (bitter) in Katutumbi, the bitter form. Virya: sheeta (cooling). Vipaka: madhura (sweet), sweet form; katu (pungent), bitter form. Guna: guru (heavy), snigdha (unctuous), sara (mobile) in the sweet form; laghu and ruksha in the bitter form.
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