Pterocarous santalinus- The ayurvedic cosmetic, रक्त चन्दन , രക്ത ചന്ദനം , சிவப்பு சந்தனம், लाल चन्दन .

Pterocarpus santalinus- Raktachandana

The variety of raktachandana mentioned in raja nighantu is a fragrant one. The one specified in Bhava prakasha is that which consists of a volatile oil. The former which was called “harichandana” is sacred and rarely available. Except that it does not contain the fragrance the other variety is similar in properties to the former one.

Family : Pappilionaceae

Scientific name : Pterocarpus santalinus Linn

Vernacular nomenclature in India

Sanskrit : Rakta chandana, rakta sara, kshudra chandana, hari chandana

Hindi : Lal chandan

Bengali : Rakta chandan

Tamil : Chan chandanam

Telugu : Rakta gandhamu

English : Red sanders wood, Red sandal wood

Distribution : It is seen mainly in the kadappa area of andhra, recently it has been observed that it grows well in Kerala too !

Botanical description :

A very pretty, moderate sized deciduous tree upto 11m in height with blackish brown bark, deeply cleft into rectangular plates and dark purple heartwood; leave scompound , leaflets 3-5, broad-elliptic,obtuse,under surface pale,clothed with fine hairs; flowers yellow,in short simple or sparingly branched axillary or terminal racemes; fruits oblique pods, gradually narrowed into a short stalk, winged, the central hard portion containing the seed, seeds reddish brown, smooth.

Chemical constituents :  When the pulp of this tree was dissolved in chloroform , from it a colouring substance called santalin a, santalinb could be extracted inaddition a colourless substance called pterocarpin, homo pterocarpin, santal was also extracted. It also contains steroids, alkaloids, glycosides and sugars. Rakta chandana when dissolved in petroluem ether , gives the compound acetol olenolic acid, erythroeliol, flavanoids and neo flavanoids.

Parts used : heartwood, fruits

Properties and uses : The heart wood is bitter,sweet, acrid, cooling, constipating, depurative, heamostatic, anti-inflammatory, febrifuge, ophthalmic, diaphoretic, antihelminthic,aphrodisiac, alexetric and tonic. It is useful in cephalalgia, odontalgia, hemicrania, vitiated conditions of pitta, dipsia, burning sensation, vomiting, diarhhoea, dysentry,skin diseases, leprosy, ulcers, haemorrhages, haemoptysis, inflammations, fever, ophthalmology, verminosis, haemorrhoids, general debility and mental aberrations.

The fruits are astringent and tonic, and are useful in chronic dysentry and urethorrhagia.

“रक्तं शीतं गुरु स्वदु छर्द्दि तृष्णास्र पित्तःरुत
तिक्तं नेत्रहितं वृष्यं ज्वर वरण विषापहं”- भावप्रकाश

“रक्त चन्दनमप्याहु रक्षोघ्नं तिक्त शीतलंरक्तोद्रेकःअरं हन्ति पित्तकोपं सुदारुणं “-धन्वन्तरि

“रक्त चन्दनं अतीव शीतलं तिकतमीक्षण गदास्रदोशनुत
भूत पित्त कफ़ कास सज्वर भ्रान्ति जन्तु वमिजित्त तृषापाहं”-राज नि

“रक्त पित्त हरं बल्यं चक्षुष्यं रक्तचन्दनम् “- नि . र  

“रक्त सारं गुरु स्वदु चक्षुष्यं शुक्रलं हिमंकिञ्चित् तिक्तं ज्वर छर्दि तृष्णा पित्तास्र नासनं “ कव् .नि

“लोहितं चन्दनं व्रण्यं लघु तत् चक्षुषां हितं “ सो .नि

“..............ഈവണ്ണം രക്തമാം ചന്ദനതിന്നും
കണ്ണിന്നും നന്നിതോട്ടെരെ രക്ത ശുദ്ധിക്കുതമം “ (ഗു.പാ)

Ayurvedic pharmacopeia :

Rasa : tikta, madhura

Guna : guru

Veerya : sheetha

Vipaka : madhura

Therapeutic uses :

-rakta chandana paste applied over forehead is beneficial for head ache

-in case of ulcers and blisters applying a thick paste of raktachandana heals it and brings ou the latent pus in the blisters

-for persons with bleeding piles paste of rakta chandana mixed with milk or butter milk is beneficial

-rakta chandana, mustha, guduchi, usheera, dhaanyaka made into decoctions and taken 20ml tds for a week cures quaternarian fever

-for blood vomiting and frequent vomiting 5gm of rakta chandana and yashti  madhu mixed in 100ml of milk and sugar as an adjuvant

-for dysentry 3-6gm of rakta chandana added with 10gm of jaggery and mixed with rice water for 7 days cures it.

RESEARCHES -

Hepatoprotective activity of Pterocarpus santalinus L.f.,an endangered medicinal plant

Pterocarpus santalinus L.f. (Fabaceae) is commonly called as Red sander (English), Kempu honne (Kannada) and Raktachandan (Sanskrit). It is an endangered plant species, endemic to the state of Andrapradesh in India.[1] The plant is renowned for its characteristic timber of exquisite color, beauty and superlative technical qualities and ranks among the finest luxury in Japan.[2] Wood is used as astringent, tonic, as external application for wounds, cuts and inflammations, in treating headache, skin diseases, fever, boils, scorpion sting and to improve sight.[3] The red wood yields a natural dye santalin which is used as a coloring agent in pharmaceutical preparations, food stuffs; fruit extract is used as astringent, diaphoretic, in inflammations, headache, skin diseases, bilious infections and chronic dysentry.[4] Heart wood is known to possess isoflavone glucosides,[5],[6],[7] savinin, calocedrin[8] and triterpene.[9] The lignan isolated from the heartwood is known to inhibit tumor necrosis factor-alpha production and T-cell proliferation.[8] Ethanolic stem bark extract is known to possess antihyperglycemic activity.[10]

The tribal groups of Western Ghats, Shimoga region use stem bark extract of Pterocarpus santalinus in treating diabetes, fever, snake bite and jaundice (About 100 g of powdered stem bark is boiled in 500 ml of water for 3-4 h till the volume is reduced to half, cooled and 10 g of jaggery added to the extract and made into pills. Two to three pills a day for 10 days is administered for acute jaundice). 

Review of the literature revealed that this rare medicinal plant remained unexplored for many of its claimed pharmacological activities. In the present study, an effort has been made to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of Pterocarpus santalinus L.f.

The present investigation indicated that both the extracts of Pterocarpus santalinus provide significant protection against CCl ₄ induced hepatotoxicity in rats. CCl₄ is widely used as hepatotoxin in the experimental studies. The CCl ₄ is biotransformed by the cytochrome P450 system to produce the trichloromethyl free radicals, which in turn covalently binds to cell membranes and organelles to elicit lipid peroxidation.[19] Several plants viz., Cassia aungustifolia,[20] Wrightia tinctoria,[21] Foeniculum vulgare[22] and Panax notoginseng[23] have been tested for their efficacy in controlling the CCl ₄ induced liver damage. Further it has been evident that several phytoconstituents have the ability to induce microsomal enzymes either by accelerating the excretion of CCl ₄ or by inhibition of lipid peroxidation induced by CCl ₄ .[24] Phytoconstituents like flavonoids,[25] triterpenoids,[26] saponins[27] and alkaloids[28] are known to possess hepatoprotective activity. Phytochemical investigations of aqueous and ethanol extract of stem bark revealed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, saponins, glycosides, flavonoids, triterpenoids, sterols and tannins. The present study revealed that among the two extract tested, ethanol extract of stem bark of P. santalinus found to possess significant protective effect against hepatotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride which may be attributed to the individual or combined action of phytoconstituents present in it. The component(s) of the extract responsible for this effect however was not investigated. Further investigations are needed for identification of the active compounds responsible for hepatoprotective activity. The present finding provides scientific evidence to the ethnomedicinal use of this rare plant genetic resource by the tribal group of Western Ghats in treating jaundice.