Tejpatra

What is Tejpatra?

Tejpatra is the dried leaf of Cinnamomum tamala, a small evergreen tree of the laurel family and a close relative of the cinnamon whose bark is so familiar. It is often called Indian bay leaf, though it is not the bay of the Mediterranean kitchen but a cinnamon in its own right. The leaf is easy to recognise once you know it: broad, leathery and marked by three prominent veins that run its length, with a warm, faintly sweet aroma when it is crushed. It is this leaf, whole or ground, that Ayurveda uses, and the bark of the same tree is aromatic too.

The name carries its own sense. Tejpatra joins the idea of brightness or sharpness with patra, a leaf, while the older Sanskrit names Tamalapatra and Patraka simply mark it out as the leaf. What sets Tejpatra apart in the classical pharmacy is the company it keeps. Together with the bark of true cinnamon, Twak, and the pods of cardamom, Ela, it forms the Trijataka, the group of three sweet aromatics that season and warm so many preparations. When the flower-like Nagakeshara is added, the group of three becomes the Chaturjataka, the four sweet aromatics.

What Ayurveda uses it for

In classical terms Tejpatra is a warming aromatic spice, a deepana and pachana substance: deepana meaning it kindles agni, the digestive fire, and pachana meaning it helps that fire do its work so food is digested comfortably rather than sitting heavy. The dravyaguna texts also count it among the hridya substances, those regarded as favourable to the heart, and its light, dry, penetrating nature was understood to settle the cold, heavy quality of Kapha and the cold, dry quality of Vata.

Within that role the old texts return to the leaf in a clear set of settings, each given here in its Sanskrit term with a plain gloss:

• Agnimandya: a weak digestive fire, which its warming, kindling nature is called upon to stir.
• Aruchi: loss of taste and appetite, for which the aromatic is said to lend relish to food.
• Adhmana: bloating and distension of the belly.
• Pinasa: a blocked, running nose, of the kind the texts group with cold and congestion.
• Hrillasa: nausea and a turning of the stomach.
• Kasa: the cough that the texts group under this term.
• Shula: the colic and griping pain named by this term.

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.

Beyond these named settings, the wider importance of Tejpatra lies in its membership of the Trijataka and Chaturjataka. These small groups of sweet aromatics are folded into a very large number of classical churnas and confections, where the leaf lends warmth, fragrance and its digestion-kindling character to the whole.

Its qualities, in plain words

Ayurveda sets out every herb by a short list of qualities, and for Tejpatra they line up neatly with the way it is used.

Its taste is pungent, with a sweet turn and a bitter note behind it, and pungent flavours are the ones the tradition ties to kindling and stirring rather than to cooling. It is warming, which is why it settles the cold, heavy quality the texts call Kapha and the cold, dry quality called Vata. It is light, dry and penetrating, so it does not weigh the body down but moves and reaches through it. And it finishes pungent even after digestion, keeping its warming, stirring character all the way through. Put together, that is a warm, light, aromatic spice that wakes the digestion up, which is why the tradition names it among the deepana substances and, for its steadying, agreeable nature, among those said to favour the heart.

How it is taken

The plainest use is the oldest one: the whole or powdered leaf, a churna, folded into cooking and into warm, aromatic preparations. As a fragrant spice it is rarely used alone. Its natural place is alongside its companions, the cinnamon bark and cardamom of the Trijataka, with which it is measured out together.

Beyond the kitchen, Tejpatra is a component of many classical compound preparations. As one of the three or four sweet aromatics it is carried into a broad range of churnas and medicated confections, the avaleha and lehya type preparations in which sweet spices are set into a rich base. There it works less as a single remedy than as part of a warming, fragrant group, lending its own digestion-kindling and heart-favouring character to formulas built for many purposes.

Good to know

Tejpatra sits on the everyday, culinary and aromatic side of the Ayurvedic pharmacy rather than the slow tonic side, and it is most at home taken with food and within compound preparations rather than as a single dose. Because it is ushna, warming, and tikshna, penetrating, the classical writers treat it as a warming spice best used in moderation by those of a heated constitution. It is worth keeping in mind, too, that the Indian bay leaf of this entry is a cinnamon relative and not the Mediterranean bay of European cooking, though the two share a name in English.

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

Is Tejpatra the same as the bay leaf in European cooking? No. Tejpatra, the Indian bay leaf, is the leaf of Cinnamomum tamala, a relative of cinnamon, and it carries a warm, faintly sweet, cinnamon-like aroma. The bay of the Mediterranean kitchen is a different plant altogether. The two share the English name “bay leaf” but are not the same herb.

What is the Trijataka? It is the classical group of three sweet aromatics: the bark of true cinnamon, Twak, the pods of cardamom, Ela, and the leaf described here, Patra or Tejpatra. When the aromatic Nagakeshara is added, the three become the Chaturjataka, the four sweet aromatics. These small groups season and warm a great many classical preparations.

Which part of the plant is used? Chiefly the leaf, whole or ground to a powder. The bark of the same tree is aromatic as well, but it is the three-veined leaf that Ayurveda names as Tejpatra.