Banana: A sacred Ayurvedic Fruit

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Bananas are not only a delicious food beloved by everyone from babies to the elderly, they are also a great source of cancer-fighting antioxidants and a revered aphrodisiac and building food. Learn more about the Ayurvedic properties of banana.

Sanskrit Name: Kadali

Latin name: Musa sp.

Family: Musaceae

Other Sanskrit names: Sakritphala (Charak, Sushrut), rambhaphala, mocāphala, amsumati phala.

Hindi: Kela, kadali

Ecological Status: Cultivar

Plant Part Used: fruit, flower, stem, leaves, rhizome

 Ethnobotany: Banana is a sacred plant in Vedic lore. Considered as a form of planet Jupiter or Guru, it is worshipped on Thursday, Jupiter’s day. Banana leaves are used as plates in South India and are incorporated into most pujas. The entrance to the wedding hall is flanked with banana plants.

 Unripe banana

Rasa: Kshaya (astringent)

Virya: Shita (cooling)

Vipak: Katu (pungent)

V+ P-K-

 Karmas Unripe:

  • Constipative

  • Cures pitta and rakta diseases

  • Building

Ripe banana

Rasa: Madhura (sweet)

Virya: Ushna

Vipak: Amla (sour)

Guna: Heavy

V- P+ K +

Karmas Ripe:

  • Aphrodisiac

  • Kapha enhancing

  • Demulcent

  • Building

  • Controls appetite

  • Promotes taste

  • Supports muscle tissue

  • Cures emaciation

  • Relieves problems with urination

Dhatus: Mamsa, meda, majja, sukra

Srotansi: Mamsa, meda, majja, sukra, mutra, purisha

Contains: Vitamin C, fibre, potassium, manganese, Vitamin B6, and the antioxidants glutathione, phenolics, delphidinin, rutin, naringin.

Food combining cautions with banana as indicated in Charak Samhita:

  • Do not combine bananas and milk

  • Do not combine banana and yoghurt

  • Do not take liquids within an hour of eating banana.

How to incorporate bananas into a pitta-soothing diet.

Banana for pitta: mash the banana with raw sugar and cardamom to neutralize its pitta aggravating properties. Wonderful with rose petal jam!

Banana pick-me-up: Chop together two bananas, five figs (preferably fresh) and five dates and two teaspoons of honey. To aid digestion, add a pinch of cardamom and two pinches of ginger powder. Great for building muscle!

Banana home remedies

1.     Diarrhoea: Eat two unripe bananas.

2.     Constipation: eat a ripe banana in the evening before bed.

3.     Dry skin, wrinkles: Nourish skin with a mashed banana face pack mixed with a little milk.

4.     Cracked heel: Apply mashed banana to the cracked area.

5.     Warts: Tape banana peel over the wart each night for a week. Choose peel from a ripe banana—the riper the banana, the higher the antioxidant level.

6.     Genital warts: Tape banana peel over the wart each night for a week. Choose peel from a ripe banana—the riper the banana, the higher the antioxidant level.

7.     Dry cough: Eat a banana with a teaspoon of honey and two pinches of black pepper twice daily.

8.     Asthma, allergies, rhinitis: Insert 2-3 long pepper fruits into a peeled ripe banana, keep it overnight and eat in the morning. Follow an hour later with one cup of honey water.

9.     Asthma: Insert seven cloves into a peeled ripe banana, keep it overnight and eat in the morning. Follow an hour later with one cup of honey water.

10.  Burning urination: Eat one or two bananas with a pinch of cumin as a between-meal snack.

Alakananda Ma M.B., B.S. (Lond.) is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) and graduate of a top London medical school. She is co-founder of Alandi Ayurveda Clinic and Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder Colorado, as well as a spiritual mother, teacher, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is a well known and highly respected practitioner in the Ayurveda community both nationally and internationally.

Enliven your holistic health! Visit Alakananda Ma in Alandi Ashram’s ayurvedic clinic to support the overall rejuvenation of your body, mind, and spirit. In-person and virtual appointments available. Book now!