Chavya

Sanskrit name: चव्य

निरुक्ति: चर्व्यत् इति । 

Chavya (Bha. Ni.): It is chewable.

Latin name: Piper chaba Hunter.

Piper officinarum Cas D. C.

Family: Piperaceae

Gana:

 Synonyms:

Chavika (Bha. Ni.)

Ushana (Bha. Ni.) 

Vernacular Names:     

English	Cubeb, Java long Pepper
Assam	Chepaan
Bengal	Chei
Punjabi	Chabak
Hindi	Chavya
Gujarat	Chavka, Chavaka
Kannada	Kadumenasinaballi, Chavya
Malayalam	Kattumulaku, Kattumulakunveru
Marathi	Chavaka
Tamil	Chavyam, Chevuyam
Telugu	Chevyamu

Morphology:

Habit:  Climbing glabrous pepper, rather fleshy. Leaves oblong, ovate or lanceolate acuminate, base round unequal, cordate; nerves at base 3, with 2 pairs from the midrib, 12.5- 18 cm. long, 6.3- 7 cm. wide; petioles 6-13 mm. long. Peduncles 13-25 mm. long. Fruiting spikes cylindro-conic, widest at base, bright red, 2.5- 7.5 cm. long, 6 mm. through. Drupes very small, globose sunk.

Distribution: Cultivated in various parts of India and Malaya Islands.

Guna – Karma:

          Chavya is similar to the Pippali mula in Guna karma, specially useful in Gudaja roga.

Prayojya anga: Kanda (Stem pieces)- Drug consists of dried cut pieces of stem of variable length and usually 0.5-2.0 cm in width, cylindrical and somewhat twisted, greyish-brown, surface smooth with a few longitudinal wrinkles, nodes and internodes distinct, fracture- short; odour-peppery; taste- acrid.

Matra: 1-2 gm in Churna from.

Vishishta yoga: Chavikasava; Panchakola Phanta, Pranada Gutika, Kankayana Moaka, Chavyai ghruta

Amayika prayoga: Yunani Hakims use it as Nasya in apasmara.

Chemical composition: Alkaloids, Glycosides and Steroids. P.V.: Piperine, fixed oil, volatile oil, alkaloid pelitorine. After distillation it gives volatile oil that is similar to oil of Maricha and Shunthi. Its stem contains Piperine, pipelatin, b-sitosterol, glycoside, mucilage, fructose and grape sugar. 

Note: In Indian Medicinal Plants of Orient Longman publisher it is mentioned as Piper brachystachyum Wall.

Important references: