Parpata

What is Parpata?

Parpata is a small, delicate herb, most often identified as Fumaria indica and sometimes as the closely related Fumaria parviflora, a slender annual that grows low as a common weed in the fields and waste ground of India. The plant is unassuming: thin, much-divided leaves, a spreading habit, and tiny pink or purplish flowers. It is the whole plant, gathered and dried, that Ayurveda uses.

One thing the reader should know from the outset is that several different regional plants have long carried the name Parpata, so the botanical source varies from one part of India to another. In much of the country the herb is the fumitory described above, known in the vernacular as Pittapapra, Pitpapra or Shahtara; elsewhere other small bitter herbs stand in under the same name. The classical texts describe Parpata chiefly by its qualities and its actions, and it is on those that this entry rests.

What Ayurveda uses it for

In the classical texts Parpata is above all a Jwaraghna herb, one that settles fever, and it is among the plants the tradition names first for that purpose. Its bitter, cooling nature was understood to draw down heat, and the same quality gave it a wider role in states the texts connect with excess Pitta and with the heat of the blood. Alongside settling fever it is described as Deepana and Pachana, kindling the digestive fire and helping the body process what the texts call ama, and as Trishnanigrahana, easing excessive thirst. It is held to pacify both Pitta and Kapha.

Within that role the dravyaguna texts describe the herb as traditionally indicated in a familiar set of conditions, each named here in its classical Sanskrit term with a plain gloss:

• Jwara: fever, and especially the Pittaja type, its foremost classical use.
• Trishna: excessive thirst, which its cooling, thirst-settling quality is called upon to ease.
• Daha: burning sensation, met by the same cooling nature.
• Raktadosha: the classical disorders of the blood, including the skin complaints the tradition places under this heading.
• Chardi: nausea and the urge to vomit.
• Bhrama: giddiness or a sense of reeling.
• Kushtha: the broad classical category of skin disorders.

These are the traditional textual indications recorded in the classical literature. They set out how Ayurveda has long understood the herb and are given for reference and study, not as statements of medical effect or as advice to treat any condition.

Its qualities, in plain words

Ayurveda describes every herb by a short list of qualities, and for Parpata they line up neatly behind its reputation as a cooler of heat.

Its taste is bitter, with an astringent edge, and in Ayurveda a bitter taste is the taste that draws down heat and clears. It is light and dry, so rather than feeding or grounding the body it lightens it, which suits a state of fever and heaviness. It is cooling, the quality that sits at the centre of its reputation and the reason the tradition reaches for it when the body runs hot. And it finishes pungent after digestion. Put together, these qualities describe a light, dry, cooling herb, which is why the sources settle most firmly on its fever-settling and blood-cooling action, and why they count it as pacifying to both Pitta and Kapha.

How it is taken

The usual form is a water preparation of the dried whole plant, in keeping with its cooling purpose. The classical writers often gave it as a kwatha, a decoction, or as a hima or phanta, the gentler cold and hot water infusions the tradition favours when the aim is to draw down heat without adding warmth. The dried herb is also used as a powder, or churna.

Parpata appears by name in named classical preparations. It is the herb behind Parpatadi Kwatha, a decoction built around it, and it is one of the six ingredients of Shadanga Paniya, the classical medicated drinking water whose name means “six-part water,” traditionally used to settle thirst and cool a heated body. As a cooling herb it was typically taken in these light water-based forms rather than in the rich, oily vehicles reserved for the nourishing plants.

Good to know

Parpata is one of the light, clearing herbs of Ayurveda, belonging to the cooling and reducing side of the tradition rather than the nourishing side. One point is worth keeping in mind: because more than one plant is sold under the name Parpata across different regions of India, the identity of the herb in any given supply can vary, and the classical texts define it above all by its bitter taste and its cooling, fever-settling action.

This entry describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding of the herb. It is not medical advice, and anyone with a health condition should speak to a qualified practitioner.

Frequently asked

Which part of the plant is used? The whole plant. Parpata is a small, delicate herb, and the classical preparations call for the entire plant, gathered and dried, rather than a single part.

Is Parpata cooling or warming? Cooling. Its cooling nature is the quality at the heart of its reputation, and it is why the tradition reaches for it in states of fever, thirst and burning that it links to excess heat and to Pitta.

Why do different sources describe Parpata as different plants? Because several regional herbs have long shared the name Parpata across India. The most common source is the fumitory Fumaria indica, also called Pittapapra or Shahtara, but other small bitter plants stand in under the same name elsewhere. The classical texts identify the herb chiefly by its bitter taste and its cooling, fever-settling action.