Abstract

UNANI PERSPECTIVE AND RECENT STUDIES OF SANDAL SAFED (SANTALUM ALBUM LINN.): A REVIEW

Heena Kausar S, Najeeb Jahan, Kamal Ahmed*, Mohd Aslam, Parwej Ahmed, Shamim Ahmed

ABSTRACT

Sandal safed (Santalum album Linn.) is also known as ‘Royal tree’ belongs to the family Santalaceae. Among the genera of Santalaceae, Santalum contains 25 species which are distributed throughout the world. In India, the genus is represented by Santalum album Linn. and is a native of the highlands of southern India mainly Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala where it is found wildly and cultivated. In Unani system of medicine, therapeutically, this drug is widely used both internally and externally in various cardiac, brain, liver, stomach and skin disorders for its Mufarrreh wa Muqawwie qalb (exhelirent and cardiotonic), Muqawwie dimag (brain tonic), Muqawwie hararategareezi (nuetropic), Qabiz (astringent), Muhallile warm (resolvent), Musaffie dam (blood purifier) and Mujaffif (desiccant) properties. In this review, an attempt has been made to offer a detailed description of Sandal safed in Unani prospective and to collect the pharmacological research studies done on Sandal safed by using modern parameters and techniques.

Keywords: Sandal safed; Santalum album Linn.; Unani medicine; Pharmacological studies.