Neer Kovai Tablets for External Application

-by Sheela Rani Chunkath

In the good old days when popular rubifacients were not available for treating a headache, the remedy was oftentimes picked out from stuff available in the kitchen. If you have a headache with a heavy head, try making a smooth paste of black pepper and applying it on your forehead. When pepper is ground with a little water on the traditional South Indian stone ‘ammikkal’, it feels like a sticky paste. This sticky paste is applied to the forehead where it is allowed to dry and then washed off with warm water after a while.

I have personally tried this and found the remedy to be quite effective when your headache is just starting to make itself felt. All aches and pains are best treated in the initial stages itself. I have seen many people write off Ayurvedic or Siddha medicines saying that it does not give a quick cure. Many of them try these medicines only when all other systems have probably failed them.

Most diseases are much easier to treat before the disease has taken itshold over you and your system. The doshas are then in complete disequilibrium and there would have been an ama (toxins) build-up. Ayurveda believes that most disease is a manifestation of the disequilibrium of the three doshas. Disease is treated by treating the vitiated dosha and putting it back in balance.

If you constantly have a heavy head with phlegm in the sinus area you probably have a vitiated kapha dosha. The application of a pepper paste or dried ginger paste pack tries to reduce the kapha and alleviate the headache. Be careful if you have sensitive skin as the pepper paste is quite hot.

While home remedies are helpful, in the siddha system of medicine, there is a ready-made tablet called Neer Kovai mathirai described in the classical Siddha text, Siddha Vaidya Thirattu.

Neer Kovai Mathirai is made from 1 portion turmeric, 1 portion kasturi turmeric, ½ portion of borax (Venkaram in Tamil), ½ portion of benzoin resin (sambrani in Tamil), ½ portion of pepper and ½ portion of dried ginger. ½ portion of Myristica fragrans (jathikkai in Tamil)), ¼ portion of omam (Ajwain in Hindi), ¼ portion of cloves and ¼ portion of camphor. All the ingredients are powdered finely and lime juice is added to it. The mixture is formed into small balls and dried in the sun. In modern pharmacies the mixture is made into tablets with a tablet-making machine. I have seen Neer Kovai tablets being made in the Lakshmi Seva Sangam, the ayurvedic unit of Gandhigram Trust. The pharmacist painstakingly grinds all the ingredients and adds the lime juice which turns the mixture into a lovely ochre colour. To use the tablet, it is dissolved in a little hot water and applied to the forehead. If you have the time and patience, rub it over a stone with a little water (the kind you use to make sandal paste by rubbing a piece of sandal wood). Collect the smooth paste and apply it on the forehead. If you are surprised by a visitor, they are apt to think that you have become some sort of Kalimata devotee because you will have this nice ochre paste on your forehead! It is, however, a very effective headache remedy and a great favourite of my husband.

--- The writer was earlier Health Secretary, Govt. of Tamil Nadu and is currently, Principal Secretary and Chairman & Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail.com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/