Amavata Tailam and Kottanchukkadi Tailam

By Sheela Rani Chunkath

The ayurvedic pharmacoepia has many hundreds of tailams or oils that they use for various ailments. Oils and ghee are used freely and are found to be very effective in tackling various diseases. Many people have stopped using oil and even the traditional oil bath to be had on Deepavali day has oftentimes become merely symbolic. Oil and ghee have somehow become associated with cholesterol. Maybe it was to press home the health advantages of using oil that one of the important activities on Deepavali day was to bathe with a lot of gingelly oil. It is to be liberally applied to the head and massaged well into the skin.

For keeping your skin smooth and soft and also as an antiaging agent oil cannot be beat. Two of the oils that are very good for inflammation of the joints and arthritic conditions are amavata tailam and kottanchukkadi tailam.

Both oils have been described in the Sahasrayogam texts that are popularly used by the vaidyars of Kerala.

Who would have thought that the juice of the leaves of the tamarind tree with gingelly oil would have anti inflammatory properties. They look so tiny and insignificant. Mostly, I remember eating the tender leaves which would have the right degree of sourness and of trying to bring down the tamarind fruits (both the raw and ripe ones) to be eaten with salt and chillies. I also remember stories of an uncle of my husband’s family who had a carrom board which had sides made from tamarind wood. The wood was so hard and impregnated with tannins that it took quite some doing to saw and plane it. I definitely did not think that the juice of the leaf could be used for my inflamed joints many years later.

Amavata tailam is made from the juice of the tamarind leaves. It is fun to see the leaves being pounded and the dark green juice being extracted. The oil especially kottanchukkadi looks a lovely dark green and has a wonderful ayurvedic oil smell. I like it and the smell lingers on after an abhyangam with this oil. Though sometimes people do wonder about the strong odours.

The other main ingredient of the Amavata tailam is the supernatant fluid of curd that is the whey. And of course gingelly oil constitutes the other chief ingredient.

A paste is made of costus root, dry ginger, sweet flag, drumstick bark, garlic, Himalayan cedar wood, white mustard, lesser galangal and Ceylon caper root with water. This paste is added to the tamarind juice, whey and oil. It is boiled till the paste becomes hard. The tailam is filtered and used for external application.

This oil brings to mind various cuisines. Lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum) is used in Thai cuisine and imparts its particular flavour to the dish. The more popularly used herb in Thai cuisine is the Greater galangal. In Tamil they are called chitharathai and perarathai. Lesser galangal is a favourite ingredient in home remedies for colds and coughs.

White mustard and you think of various salad dressings with it as the base. Umm! the smell of oil roasted garlic can make one’s senses come alive. Capers again is a favourite of mine to add a touch of piquancy to a salad. There is mention in Greek and Hebrew literature that the root of the caper plant is boiled and drunk as tea. It is a digestive and an aid against rheumatism. Even today it is popular in Greece.

The parts of the humble drumstick tree, especially its bark, is widely used in many ayurvedic preparations. I am of course partial to murungaikai sambar, the drumstick imparting a lovely flavour to the gravy. One vegetable you can safely eat as farmers do not usually spray pesticides on it as it is not attacked by many pests. Caterpillar infestations are normally tackled by a flaming torch.

Himalayan cedar wood or Devadaru contains a wonderful aromatic oil. Sweet flag, Acorus calamus or vasambu (tamil) also has a fragrance which it imparts to the oil. All in all they add up to that ayurvedic smell which is the predominant odour in a vaidyar’s vaidyasala. I much prefer this to the strong antiseptic odours of an allopathic hospital.

A word of warning: when using tailams either for abhyangam/massage or over the scalp, it should not be used if you are feeling feverish or within 3 to 4 hours of your meal. The meal should have been digested before you apply the oil.

Kottanchukkadi and Amavata tailam have almost the same ingredients in slightly different proportions. Both are effective and wonderful tailams to use.

--- The writer was earlier Health Secretary, Govt. of Tamil Nadu and is currently CMD, TN Industrial Investment Corporation. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail.com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/