Red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus)
Pterocarpus santalinus
Western and Ayurvedic herbalism
Western and Ayurvedic herbalism

Red sandalwood

Pterocarpus santalinus

Also known as red sanders, ruby wood, saunderswood, rakta chandana, Red Saunders, AND SYNONYM: Red sounders, Red sandal-wood; Lignum santalinum rubrum, Red sounders, Raktachandana, Raktasara, Kshudrachandana.

CoolingDryingTaste: BitterTaste: SweetTaste: astringent

Pterocarpus santalinus is a small deciduous leguminous tree confined in the wild to the dry hill forests of the southern Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, valued for centuries for its deep red heartwood, which has made it one of the most illegally traded timbers in India. In Ayurveda the heartwood is Raktachandana, red sandalwood, a heavy, cooling, astringent drug that stands beside white sandalwood for burning, bleeding, fever and skin disease, and is used chiefly as a paste on the skin and in the great cooling oils. It is not related to true sandalwood and has no scent.

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Actions

Cooling anti-inflammatoryAstringentHemostaticAntipyreticSkin tonic (topical)AntioxidantAntimicrobialHypoglycemic (laboratory)AntiemeticWound healing (topical)Coloring agentMild antimicrobialWound healingSkin coolingAnti-inflammatory (topical)Hemostatic (mild, topical)

Indications what the tradition reached for it in

Specific indications

A hot, red faced patient with burning eyes and palms, thirst and irritability during a summer fever, cooled by a paste on the forehead and a decoction inside

Recurrent nosebleeds and heavy bright red periods in a pitta woman with a warm dry skin

Inflamed acne and blotchy pigmentation on oily skin that responds to a nightly cooling paste

A sprained or hot swollen joint that wants a cooling, drying paste rather than a warming rub

Hot, inflamed, reddened skin with a burning quality, applied as a cooling paste

Dull, pigmented, or blemished complexion where a cooling astringent wash is wanted

Safety

The record lists 6 contraindications; open the plate in the library to read them in full.

In practice

The Ayurvedic practitioner uses Raktachandana as the cooling paste of choice. The wood is rubbed on a wet stone or the powder mixed with rose water, milk or aloe gel and applied to the forehead for headache and fever, to hot swollen joints and sprains, to acne and rashes, to sunburn and to the reddened eyelids of pitta, and Dashanga lepa, in which it joins Shirisha, Yashtimadhu, Haridra and others, is the classical paste for swellings, bites and skin inflammation.

In Ayurveda

Rasa: tikta (bitter), madhura (sweet). Virya: sheeta (cooling). Vipaka: katu (pungent). Guna: guru (heavy), ruksha (dry). Dosha: pacifies kapha and pitta; may aggravate vata in excess. Karma: dahaprashamana (relieves burning); raktastambhana (hemostatic); raktaprasadana (clarifies the blood); varnya (improves complexion); shothahara (reduces swelling); vranaropana (heals wounds); jvarahara (reduces fever); vishaghna (counteracts poison); chakshushya (benefits the eyes); chhardinigrahana (stops vomiting); trishnanigrahana (relieves thirst); balya (strengthening). Classical indications: raktapitta (bleeding disorders); daha (burning sensation); jvara (fever); vrana (wounds); shotha (inflammatory swelling); netraroga (eye disease); visarpa (spreading skin inflammation); tvakroga (skin disease); chhardi (vomiting); trishna (thirst); prameha (urinary disorders including diabetes); bhagna (fracture, as a paste). The dark red heartwood is the drug, rasped or powdered and given as churna, as kwatha, and as kshirapaka in milk; ground with water on a stone it makes the cooling lepa applied to the forehead, skin eruptions, swellings and fractures, and the wood enters many medicated oils and pastes for the skin and eyes. Classical formulations: Raktachandanadi kwatha, Chandanadi lepa, Dashanga lepa, Kumkumadi taila, Mahamanjishthadi kwatha, Chandanabala lakshadi taila, Raktachandanadi lepa (for headache and fever), Nalpamaradi taila (some versions). 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

PreparationAs writtenMetric
Churna3-6 g powdered heartwood twice daily with water or milk3000-6000 mg
Kwatha50-100 mL decoction twice daily50-100 mL
Kshirapaka3-5 g powder boiled in 200 mL milk once daily3000-5000 mg
Lepa, topical5-10 g paste with rose water applied to the skin or forehead once or twice daily5000-10000 mg
Kwatha, wash50-100 mL cooled decoction as an eye or skin wash once daily50-100 mL
Powder, topical pastemix powdered heartwood with water or rosewater to a paste, apply to affected skin once or twice daily

Doses are reproduced from the sources for practitioners and are not a recommendation for any person.

From the sources

Overview. Pterocarpus santalinus is a small deciduous leguminous tree confined in the wild to the dry hill forests of the southern Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, valued for centuries for its deep red heartwood, which has made it one of the most illegally traded timbers in India. In Ayurveda the heartwood is Raktachandana, red sandalwood, a heavy, cooling, astringent drug that stands beside white sandalwood for burning, bleeding, fever and skin disease, and is used chiefly as a paste on the skin and in the great cooling oils. It is not related to true sandalwood and has no scent.

Overview. Red Saunders is the heartwood of Pterocarpus santalinus, a small leguminous tree native to the hill forests of southern India, prized since antiquity for its deep red, richly pigmented timber. Despite the old name Santalum Rubrum and its historical grouping alongside true sandalwood, it is botanically unrelated to Santalum album and contains no significant aromatic oil; the resemblance in old texts is one of trade name and appearance rather than chemistry.

Clinical Notes. The Ayurvedic practitioner uses Raktachandana as the cooling paste of choice. The wood is rubbed on a wet stone or the powder mixed with rose water, milk or aloe gel and applied to the forehead for headache and fever, to hot swollen joints and sprains, to acne and rashes, to sunburn and to the reddened eyelids of pitta, and Dashanga lepa, in which it joins Shirisha, Yashtimadhu, Haridra and others, is the classical paste for swellings, bites and skin inflammation.

Clinical Notes. In practice today Red Saunders is used almost exclusively as a topical astringent, most often as a fine powder made into a paste with water, rosewater, or milk and applied to inflamed, irritated, or blemished skin.

Drawn from King's American Dispensatory, 18th edition (Felter and Lloyd), and the Bountiful Herbs editorial.

In formulas

Red sandalwood stands in 22 documented formulas in the library, among them Ayaskṛti, Aśvagandhādyariṣṭa, Candanāsava, Sārivādyāsava, Jīrakādi Modaka, Kalyāṇaka Ghṛta.

Often paired with

sandalwoodSantalum albumcardamomElettaria cardamomumchebulic myrobalanTerminalia chebulaIndian barberryBerberis aristatanut grassCyperus rotundusIndian madderRubia cordifolia

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