Chakramarda
Quick Facts
- What it is: Chakramarda is the seed and leaf of Cassia tora, used in Ayurveda as a skin paste for itchy ringed rashes and by mouth as a mild bowel-moving herb.
- Main uses: Occasional constipation, Itchy, scaly skin patches applied externally
- Best for: Short-term relief of occasional constipation, Traditional external skin paste
- Active ingredients: Chrysophanol, Physcion, Emodin, Obtusifolin, Aurantio-obtusin, Mucilage (a slippery fibre)
- Forms: Dried seed powder (churna), Leaf or seed paste for the skin (lepa), Capsules or extract, Roasted seed drink, Cooked leaves as a vegetable
- Time to effect: Bowel effect within 6 to 12 hours; skin effects, if any, take days to weeks.
- Side effects: Cramping and loose stools are common; long use can drop potassium and upset heart rhythm.
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What is Chakramarda?
Chakramarda is the seed and leaf of the plant Cassia tora, a low weedy annual that grows along Indian roadsides and field edges. Ayurveda uses it as a single drug, meaning it is given on its own rather than inside a fixed multi-herb formula. English names for it include foetid cassia and sickle senna.
It has two main traditional jobs. Ground into a paste with buttermilk or lime juice, it is applied to itchy, ring-shaped, scaly skin patches (dadru, roughly ringworm). Taken by mouth as a seed powder, it is used as a gentle bowel-moving herb.
Honest verdict on the evidence: almost everything we know comes from laboratory dishes and animal studies, not from people. Long and respected traditional use is not proof that a remedy works, and we say that here once rather than repeating it in every section below.
How does Chakramarda work?
The bowel effect is the one with a plausible chemical basis. The seeds contain anthraquinones (plant compounds that stimulate the lining of the large intestine), the same chemical family found in senna. They pull water into the gut and speed things along, which can loosen stools.
The skin use is far less certain. Laboratory tests show some of its compounds slow the growth of certain fungi and bacteria in a dish. A dish is not a person, and no good human trial shows the paste clears a skin infection.
Traditional theory describes it as scraping away kapha and pitta from the skin and clearing ama (undigested residue). That is a traditional explanation, not a measured mechanism.
What forms does Chakramarda come in?
The most common forms are a dried seed powder (churna) taken by mouth, and a fresh or dried leaf paste (lepa) applied to the skin. Some suppliers sell a water or alcohol extract in capsules.
The seeds are also roasted and brewed as a coffee-like drink, and young leaves are cooked and eaten as a green vegetable in parts of India. Food-level use is far milder than a concentrated seed powder.
Quality control is patchy. Cassia tora seed is sometimes confused or mixed with Cassia occidentalis seed, which is genuinely toxic, so buy only from a supplier who tests and names the species.
Where it comes from:
Chakramarda appears in the classical Ayurvedic texts as a kushtaghna (skin-disease) drug, used mainly outwardly for itchy, ringed rashes. Its Sanskrit name points to the circular shape of those patches.
The same seed is a long-standing staple of Chinese medicine under the name jue ming zi, used there for constipation and for red, irritated eyes. That gives it classical standing in more than one tradition.
It has also been a famine and everyday food plant in rural India, eaten as a cooked leafy green.
Who should avoid Chakramarda?
- Do not use it by mouth if you are pregnant, as bowel-stimulating herbs of this type can cause cramping and are not considered safe in pregnancy
- Do not use it by mouth if you are breastfeeding
- Do not give it to children
- Do not use it if you take digoxin or any medicine for an irregular heartbeat
- Do not use it if you take water tablets (diuretics), steroid tablets or liquorice, because all of these lower potassium as well
- Do not use it if you take warfarin or another blood thinner, unless your doctor has agreed
- Do not use it if you have inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (long-term inflammation of the gut)
- Do not use it if you have a blocked bowel, severe stomach pain, or stomach pain that has not been explained by a doctor
- Do not use it if you are dehydrated or have been vomiting or having diarrhoea
- Do not use it if you have kidney disease or known low potassium
- Do not use it if you are already taking another laxative such as senna or bisacodyl
- Never take it every day for weeks on end; it is for short-term use only
- Never put the seed, powder or paste in or near your eye
- Do not buy it from a supplier who cannot confirm the species, because the seed is sometimes mixed with the toxic Cassia occidentalis
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor if your constipation has not settled within a week, or if you have stomach pain, blood in your stool, or a sudden change in your usual bowel habit.
Get urgent medical help if you have a fast, slow or irregular heartbeat, severe muscle weakness, fainting, or cramping with heavy vomiting or diarrhoea. These can be signs that your potassium has dropped too low.
Also see a doctor if a skin patch spreads, weeps, becomes painful, or has not improved after two weeks of treatment.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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