About onion
Based on colour onion is found in 2 varieties – red and white. It is used all across India as a vegetable.Its biennial plant is 2-3 ft tall; leaves are long, muscular, hollow and cylinderical. Flower stalk is long and green in colour. The tip has small white flowers. Fruit is generally dehiscent and has three compartments, each having small back seeds.Chemical Composition & Properties of Onion
It is heavy in digestion, hot, and pungent, unctuous, sweet in taste but slightly bitter.As per Bhava Prakash, onion is tasty, eradicates gastric problems, promotes physical strength, improves pacifies and is heavy. Red onion is cool, alleviates pitta, improves digestive functions and works like sedative. Onion seeds are aphrodisiac, cure tooth infections and Urinary disorders. Its main function is to pacify vata. Its purgative property is well trusted. As per Ayurveda, onion pacifies vata, enhances pitta and kapha, relieves pain, cures oedema and swelling, subsides inflammation and cures skin disorders. It increases the raja and tama guna and so is amedhya (reduces intellect). It enhances digestive functions, improves digestion, anuloman and purifies urinary system and increases poteney. It is spermatogenic, coagulates blood, emenogogue, aphrodisiac and improves physical strength and cures itching.Medicinal Usage & Benefits of Onion
Sleeplessness
Apply paste of Indian mustard on throat. In case the skin turns red, remove the paste and apply gheeor oil.
Cold
Give 10-20 ml juice of onion with 1 teaspoonful honey mixed in it, 2-3 times a day. It is beneficial in curing cold.
Night Blindness
Squeeze juice of onion and add a little amount of salt to it. Put 2 drops of this solution in eyes. Eyesight: Put drops of its juice in the eyes with honey mixed in it.
Self-tested use
Take 10 ml juice of onion, 10 ml juice of ginger root, 10 ml lemon juice and 50 ml honey. Mix them all and put 2 drops of this solution in the eyes regularly. It prevents cataract.
Tooth ache
Take onion and kalaunji (black cumin) in the chilum and inhale its smoke. It cures swelling of gums and tooth ache
Throat problem
Grind onion in vinegar and give this to the patient. It cures throat disorders
Faintness
Crush the fruit and let the patient inhale it. It cures faintness due to hysteria.
Otalgia
Put 2-4 drops of its warm juice in ears. It cures ear pain.
Otitis
Cook linseed in onion juice and then strain the solution. Put 4-8 drops of this solution in ears. It cures internal swelling of ears.
Hoarseness of voice
Roast onion in fire and crush the pulp. Give 250 mg roasted borax to the patient followed by the pulp of roasted onion. It clears the voice.
Cough
In case of children give 5-10 ml of onion juice with sugar mixed in it.
. In case of mothers of young children, boil 1-2 onions in water and give this water to the patient to drink. It cures cough. It reduces vata and dilutes the phlegm such that it gets released easily. It reduces anxiety and also eliminates pitta.
Asthma
Give its 40-60 gm decoction every morning and evening.
Digestion
Drinking its juice or eating it raw improves the digestion power. It also clears stool.
Bleeding
Give 20-30 ml juice of white onion, 2-3 times a day. It stops the bleeding. White onion when taken with buttermilk is more beneficial.
Flatulence
Give its 20 ml juice with 125 mg asfoetida and 1 gm black pepper and salt, thrice a day. It cures gastric pain and swelling of stomach due to wind.
Abdominal pain
Give lemon juice with salt and 1-2 teaspoonful of onion juice, it cures stomach pain
Improves digestion
Mix 1-2 onion in 50 gm vinegar and give this to the patient. It strengthens stomach.
Calculus
Give its 10-20 ml fresh juice thrice a day for 3 months. It dissolves stones in kidney and warts which then gets released through urine.
Burning micturition
Give decoction of onion. It cures burning sensation while urination
Purgation
Prepare tablets of 3 medium sized onions and leaves of tamarind. Give these tablets to the 10-15 gm patient for purgation.
Syphilis
Give 6 gm onion juice with 4 gm cow’s ghee and 3 gm honey mixed in it. Also give milk to the patient at night. It cures impotency and syphilis.
Cholera
Take 6 gm onion juice, 125 mg powder of black pepper, 250 mg camphor and 25 gm lime stone water or banana. Mix them all and give at an interval of 15 minutes to the patient. It controls vomiting and loose motions. It also cures stiffness of the body.
Mix equal quantities of onion juice and limestone water. Give this to the patient.
. Grind 25 gm onion and 6 black peppers into a fine paste which dissolves in water completely. Give this to the patient, as much as can be consumed. It shows results after the first dose. Some amount of sugar can also be mixed in it.
Put 250 mg camphor in the patient’s mouth and then give 10 gm onion juice. It cures even the incurable cholera.
Give onion juice after every 15 minutes.
Piles
Grind 2 onions and apply the paste on the boils. It is beneficial in piles and prolapse rectum.
. Roast 2 onions in ash of fire. Remove the peel and prepare its paste and tie it on the boils. It immediately cures the haemorrhoids.
Bleeding piles
Take 125 ml onion juice and mix 20 gm sugar candy in it. Give this once a day. It gives relief in bleeding piles.
Menstrual cycle
Unripe onion must be taken regularly. It ensures normal menstrual cycle.
Sexual vigour
Fill onions in a container and cover its mouth with an air tight lid. Bury this container in the place where cows are kept. Take out the container after 4 months and eat 1 onion everyday. It increases the sexual desire.
Take 1⁄2 kg onion juice, 2 kg honey and 250 gm sugar. Mix them all to prepare a syrup. Take 25 syrup everyday.
Take 15-20 gm onion juice, honey and brandy everyday. It enhances the body energy levels and cures bowel disorder.
Ascites
Its regular use is beneficial in fever, ascites, cold, and old cough.
Arthritis
Mix equal quantities of onion juice and mustard oil and use this mixture to massage. It relieves the pain.
Leucoderma
Paste of its seed is beneficial.
Eczema
Grind onion in vinegar and apply on the affected area. It is beneficial in case of eczema or swelling which has black patches on it.
Blood disorders
Take 50 ml onion juice and add 10 gm roasted white cumin seeds in it. Give 1 gm of this mixture everyday to the patient. It cures eczema, scabies, pama etc blood disorders.
Inflammation
Warm its pulp and tie on the affected area.
Fever
Give 1 medium sized onion with black pepper powder sprinkled on it to the patient. It cures fever due to gastric problems.
Sun stroke
Apply its fresh juice on body. It immediately cures the impact of heat stroke.
