Red Sandalwood or Chandana {Pterocarpus santalinus}
Red Sandalwood also know as Chandana
Ayurveda Characteristic and Uses
- Effect on doshas – Good for pacifying Pitta
- Taste – Bitter, sweet
- Energetics – Cooling
- Main Traditional Action: Skin disorder, purifies blood, bleeding disorder, fever, diarrhoea
- Other Traditional Uses: Cough, vomiting, fever, hyperdipsia, helminthiasis, diseases of the blood and eye, wounds, and edema
Modern Research
Studies have been done showing its effects against mitochondrial dysfunction and membrane lipid changes induced by ulcerogens in gastric mucosa, its anti-helicobacter pylori effect, it ability to induce apoptosis in HeLa cells, as a protectant against ibuprofen induced gastric ulcers, on wound healing activity, on inhibiting tumor necrosis factor-alpha production and T cell proliferation, on allergic contact dermatitis, and on blood glucose, serum lipids, plasma insulin and hepatic carbohydrate metabolic enzymes.