Syn. Rubia Manjisṭa, Roxb.
Sans. Manjishṭhá, Vern. Manjiṭ, Beng. Hind.
Indian madder, well known as a red dye, is used in medicine chiefly as a colouring agent. All medicated oils are first prepared for use by being boiled with madder. It is regarded as astringent and useful in external inflammations, ulcers and skin diseases. Madder and liquorice root, rubbed into a paste with kánjika, is applied over fractures, to reduce inflammation and swelling. Madder rubbed with honey, is recommended by several writers to be applied to brown spots on the face (pityriasis versicolor).¹
Manjishṭhádya ghrita,² is prepared with clarified butter and a paste composed of equal parts of madder, red sandal wood, and the root of Sanseviera Zeylanica (murvá), and applied to ulcers from burns.
The Sanskrit name printed in Devanagari beside "Manjishṭhá", and the Sanskrit verses in footnotes 1 and 2 (both credited to Chakradatta), are not transcribed.