Maha Masha Thailam

What it is

Maha Masha Thailam is a medicated oil, a thailam. Its name tells you how it is built. Masha is black gram, the small black pulse, and it is the herb that gives the oil its character. Maha means great, and it marks this as the fuller, more elaborate version of a masha oil rather than a simple one.

The oil is cooked, not blended. A group of herbs is simmered into a base of sesame oil over many hours, in the slow classical method, until the oil takes on their qualities and the water is driven off. The result is a heavy, warm, deeply oily preparation. It is one of the more nourishing oils in the classical range, and the tradition treats it as such.

What it is used for

Maha Masha Thailam belongs to the family of oils the texts reach for in Vata disorders, the dry, cold, unsettled quality that the tradition reads in stiffness, weakness and unsteady movement. It is an oil for the muscles and the joints in particular.

The classical picture it suits is the body that has gone stiff and dry, where movement is hard and the limbs feel weak rather than merely sore. Because masha and the herbs around it are strengthening and nourishing, the oil is not just warming but building. The tradition uses it where there is depletion underneath the stiffness, where the tissue itself needs feeding and not only loosening.

It is an oil for external use, worked into the body in massage and in the warm oil therapies of the tradition. It is not taken by mouth.

Its qualities, in plain words

Every classical oil is described by the qualities it carries, and for Maha Masha Thailam they all point the same way. It is warming, which is why it suits the cold quality of Vata. It is heavy and very oily, so it nourishes and grounds rather than drying the body out. And it finishes sweet after digestion, the mark in Ayurveda of something that builds tissue and strength.

Put together, this is a warming, weighty, strengthening oil. The black gram at its heart is itself considered heavy and strength-giving, and the herbs cooked alongside it, the Bala group above all, are the classical strengtheners. The sesame oil base is the oil the tradition trusts most for settling Vata, prized for the way it carries the herbs deep into the body.

How it is made

The oil follows the classical thailam method, the same slow process used for the medicated oils of the tradition. First a strong decoction is made by boiling the herbs in water and reducing it down. Separately, certain herbs are ground to a soft paste. The decoction, the paste and the sesame oil are then cooked together over a steady, moderate heat for many hours.

As it cooks, the water boils away and the oil draws in the qualities of the herbs. The classical maker watches for set signs to know when each stage is reached, testing the paste and the oil as the tradition describes. When the cooking is judged complete, the oil is strained warm through cloth, leaving the spent herbs behind, and allowed to settle and cool before it is stored away from light and heat.

How it is used

Maha Masha Thailam is warmed gently before use, never made hot, and worked into the body. The most common way is Abhyanga, the oiling and massage of the body that sits at the centre of the classical routine. The oil is applied generously and worked in with steady strokes, then left on the skin for a time before a warm bath.

In the fuller therapies of the tradition the same oil is used in larger ways, poured and held warm against the body over a course of days. These are practices carried out under a practitioner, not at home. As a household oil it is simply warmed and massaged in.

Good to know

This entry describes the classical understanding of the oil within the Ayurvedic tradition. It is not medical advice. Anyone with a health condition, and anyone who is pregnant, should speak to a qualified practitioner before using a medicated oil, and it is sensible to try a little on a small patch of skin first.

Frequently asked

What does “Masha” mean in the name? Masha is black gram, the small black pulse, and it is the herb the oil is built around. It is considered heavy and strengthening, which sets the character of the whole preparation.

Is it taken by mouth? No. Maha Masha Thailam is an oil for external use, warmed and massaged into the body. It is not swallowed.

What is it cooked in? Sesame oil. The tradition treats sesame oil as the base best suited to settling Vata, because it is warm, oily and penetrating, and most of the classical Vata oils are built on it.