Triphala or the ‘the three divine fruits’ - ‘nelli, thanni and kadukka’, form part of an important herbal rasayana formulation in Ayurveda. It consists of equal parts of pericarps of three myrobalans - Emblica officinalis Gaertn. (Nellikka), Terminalia bellerica Roxb.(Thannikka) and Terminalia chebula Retz. (Kadukka). In traditional medicine, it is recognised that all diseases are due to the imbalance in tridosha or three elements of the body - kapha, ‘pitha’ and ‘vata’.

      However, the tridoshic rasayana products formulated from ‘Triphala’ have a balancing and rejuvenating effect on these three bodily humors. The plants, Terminalia bellerica and T. chebula, are considered to have a warm energy while Emblica officinalis is a cooling agent. Triphala is used in the treatment of common cold, pharyngitis, constipation and many other diseases.

    The common....