Abstract

A REVIEW ON MEDICINAL PLANTS USED FOR SEETHA KAZHICHAL (DYSENTERY) IN SIDDHA LITERATURE

Sountharya A.* and Essakkypandian G.

ABSTRACT

Siddha system of medicine is a form of traditional medicine which originated from the South India. Siddha system emphasizes aetiology and management of various diseases affecting mankind. One of the most important common diseases is seetha kazhichal. In Siddha system of medicine, symptoms of Seetha kazhichal may be correlated with symptoms of Dysentery. This paper deals with search using key words Seetha kazhichal, Seetha bethi and Kaduppu kazhichal screening of some herbs are taken from Siddha literature and by using some search engines like Google Scholar, PubMed. In this review, we made an attempt to summarize the medicinal plants screened for Seetha kazhichal with respect to the parts used and their taste, Pharmacological activities and phytochemicals of some plants to treat Seetha kazhichal. According to this review, total 36 herbs used for Seetha kazhichal were collected from siddha literature. These medicinal plants have astringent, bitter, and sweet taste, which has the property to neutralize the vitiated pitham. The taste of astringent mitigates and controls the pitham. The action of astringent taste will remove all adverse effects caused by deranged pitham. Most of these plants have antimicrobial, antioxidant activities which helps to cure dysentery caused due to infection. Therefore, this shows that, the medicinal plants are best suitable for Seetha kazhichal (Dysentery).

Keywords: Seetha kazhichal, Dysentery, Medicinal plants, Siddha literature.