Rasa-Panchaka (the 5-fold herb profile)

The 5-component pharmacological profile assigned to every herb in Ayurveda. You will see all five on every Ingredient page in this formulary.

Component	Sanskrit	What it captures	Possible values
1. Rasa	Rasa	Taste at first contact with the tongue	Madhura (sweet), Amla (sour), Lavana (salty), Katu (pungent), Tikta (bitter), Kashaya (astringent) — combinations possible
2. Guna	Guṇa	Physical/sensory qualities	20 in 10 pairs: heavy/light (Guru/Laghu), oily/dry (Snigdha/Ruksha), cold/hot (Shita/Ushna), slow/sharp (Manda/Tikshna), stable/mobile (Sthira/Chala), soft/hard (Mridu/Kathina), clear/cloudy (Vishada/Picchila), smooth/rough (Shlakshna/Khara), gross/subtle (Sthula/Sukshma), dense/liquid (Sandra/Drava)
3. Virya	Vīrya	Energetic potency on digestion/metabolism	Ushna (heating) or Shita (cooling) — sometimes Anushna-Ashita (neither)
4. Vipaka	Vipāka	Post-digestive effect	Madhura (sweet), Amla (sour), Katu (pungent)
5. Prabhava	Prabhāva	Special unique action not explained by 1-4	Free-form description

Why this matters for cosmetics

The five-fold profile predicts how a herb will behave in a cosmetic formulation:

• Rasa Madhura + Virya Shita → cooling for Pitta-aggravated skin (e.g. Yashtimadhu, Chandana, Ushira)
• Rasa Kashaya + Virya Shita → astringent, pore-tightening (Lodhra, Manjishtha, Triphala)
• Rasa Katu + Virya Ushna → warming, anti-Kapha (mustard, ginger, pippali — used in small amounts to “open” lepas)
• Rasa Tikta + Virya Shita → anti-Pitta + anti-Kushtha (Nimba, Patola, Trayamana)
• Prabhava = Varnya → complexion-improving (Kumkuma, Manjishtha, Yashtimadhu, Padmaka)

The Bhavaprakasha Nighantu is the canonical reference for the rasa-panchaka of every herb; we have ported its values onto each ingredient page in this formulary.