Shatavari: the Ayurvedic queen of the hundred roots

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✦ Shatavari · in one breath ✦

Mistress of the Yin energy — she reharmonises the feminine cycle and lifts dreams in the evening milk.

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5/5

Average · 20 reviews

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5 ★19

4 ★1

3 ★0

2 ★0

1 ★0

Phenomenal. Sends you right off to sleep, beautiful dreams, wake up and spend your day in pure relaxation. Relaxes the nervous system, never been so chill in my life! Really is a Goddess in herbal form ðŸ‘¼ðŸ§šâ€â™€ï¸

ilzd354b

Daily · 23 March 2023

Adding this to my morning cacao ritual it’s wonderful

Irene

Daily · 27 September 2023

I truly LOVE this shop so truly. The quality of the plants and medicine sold in the shop is so pure and authentic and so rare to find. There is so many opportunities for me to order bulk herbs from lots of other places, even though it cost me just a tiny bit more money, I would much rather order from this shop that has much better quality and potency than most other shops

Joslyn

Daily · 12 February 2023

Awesome stuff it really has a good synergistic effect with some of my other herbs!

Reviewed by Inactive

Daily · 21 October 2019

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⊹ ASK YOUR QUESTION ⊹

Ask the Forest about Shatavari

408 books digested, 97,512 indexed passages. She answers on lineages, synergies, cautions, ritual variations.

⊹ FREQUENT QUESTIONS ⊹

We answer.

What is shatavari?

Shatavari is the root of Asparagus racemosus, a thorny liana of India of the asparagus family. In Ayurveda, she is called the queen of plants — the feminine rasayana (regenerator) of reference, used for more than 3500 years to accompany women through all the seasons of their lives. Her name means "she of the hundred roots".

What is shatavari used for?

Ayurvedic tradition uses shatavari as a ground tonic for the feminine terrain — cycle, conception, postpartum, menopause — and as a nourishing adaptogen that restores what exhaustion has taken. She is a plant of long time, who reveals herself over weeks, not a vitamin with immediate effect.

How do I use shatavari powder?

The classic way — a teaspoon (about 3 to 5 g) of powder in a warm drink (plant milk or simmering water around 80°C), with a pinch of cardamom and a little honey. In the morning or evening. Indian tradition marries her with warm milk, whose fat better carries her saponins. As regular cure over several weeks.

Is shatavari good for menopause?

Ayurvedic tradition has accompanied perimenopause and menopause with shatavari for millennia, for her receptive and cooling quality suited to dry transitions. Preliminary clinical studies explore this use. Shatavari is not a medicine — in case of important symptoms or hormonal treatment, ask a healthcare professional's advice.

Can I take shatavari during breastfeeding?

Shatavari is one of the best-known traditional galactagogues of Ayurveda — the famous Shatavari Kalpa of the forty postpartum days testifies. Modern research is looking into this use. During pregnancy as during breastfeeding, never start without the accompaniment of a qualified practitioner.

What are the contraindications of shatavari?

Avoid shatavari in case of known asparagus allergy (same botanical family). In presence of an estrogen-sensitive condition (breast cancer, fibroids, endometriosis), kidney failure, pregnancy or hormonal treatment, ask for medical advice before use — shatavari has a soft phytoestrogenic activity and a slight diuretic effect.

What does the name shatavari mean?

Sanskrit shat + avar reads "she of the hundred roots" — and indeed, a mature plant carries a bundle of white tuberous roots that can number a hundred. But vari also reads "husbands", hence the reading "she who has a hundred husbands", and the vaidya tradition adds a third, "healer of a hundred diseases". Three readings that coexist over 3500 years.

Is shatavari reserved for women?

Shatavari is mostly celebrated as the women's plant, but Ayurvedic tradition also recognises her for men — she carries the Yin quality, receptive and nourishing, useful to anyone crossing dryness, exhaustion or excess internal heat. Paired with Ashwagandha (the "King"), she forms the Queen-King duo of the Indian pharmacopoeia.

⊹ Chapter · Questions ⊹

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⊹ The forest says ⊹

« Every plant is a door. Shatavari opens onto a long companionship — listen to it more than you measure it. »

Essence

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⊹ CHAPTER II · ESSENCE ⊹

A true elixir of Youth and Wisdom, Shatavari is a Queen of the vegetal realm.

Considered Rasayana and Master of the Yin Energy by the ancient Ayurvedic traditions of India — her powers are immense.

A shamanic medicine too: Shatavari is used by the Tibetan shamans, the Indian yogis and the Chinese Taoist monks. She has long been celebrated for elevating vibrational states and entering a place of high clarity.

Her Tibetan nickname — "the Flying Herb" — refers to her capacity to lift our dreams and visions.

Shatavari revitalises and grounds the body, softens and deepens the emotions, calms and opens the mind, aligns the spirit.

*Shatavari* — śatāvarī, “she who has a hundred roots” — is the root the Ayurvedic vaidyas have set beside women for some three thousand years, from first blood to last. Asparagus racemosus: cooling, mucilaginous, patient. Ayurveda names her for the seasons she accompanies — puberty, motherhood, the great turn of midlife — never for a symptom she would erase.

𖥸𖥸𖥸

She is the plant of the inner mother — the one who nourishes, who contains, who restores what the seasons of feminine life ask and give.

Signature INFUSEIntensity · scored out of 10

Intensity · scored out of 10
sacred feminine		10/10
longevity rasayana		9/10
Yin restored		10/10
the inner mother		10/10
evening Flying Herb		8/10

Rig Veda · Atharva Veda · Charaka Samhita · India's vaidyas · Tibetan lineages · Taoist monks

Tradition

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⊹ CHAPTER III · TRADITION ⊹

Ayurveda — India, more than 3500 years of documented use. Mentioned as early as the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda (earlier than 1500 BCE), folded into the Charaka Samhita and the Ashtang Hridyam — the founding treatises of Ayurveda — as one of the principal plants of the formulas for the feminine ground. She is not a fashionable plant: she is a plant that has passed the test of time.

The three readings of the name. Shat = a hundred, avar = roots: "the plant that has a hundred roots beneath the ground" — and indeed, a mature plant carries a bundle of white tuberous roots that can number a hundred. But vari also reads as "husbands", giving "she who has a hundred husbands", an image of a feminine vitality so full that it will not be drawn out. And the vaidyas add a third: "healer of a hundred illnesses". Three readings that have coexisted and enriched one another for three and a half millennia.

Queen of herbs / feminine Rasayana. Ayurveda grants her a particular status: Queen (Raja), in contrast with Ashwagandha, the "King" or "Horse". Where Ashwagandha carries the projective force, Shatavari carries the receptive and nourishing quality — the hundred roots plunging into the earth. The doctrine of signatures reads that bundle as the cosmic mother whose ramifications go down everywhere to support all that grows. The tantric tradition associates her with Narayani, the feminine form of Narayana (Vishnu), and with the quality of the continuity of life — a plant of devotion as much as of care.

Preparation

⊹ CHAPTER IV · PREPARATION ⊹

A deliciously earthy, slightly nutty flavour. INFUSE form: powder (50 g, 100 g, 200 g), easy to fold into drinks and dishes.

The classic path (morning latte).

1 tsp of powder (≈ 3 to 5 g) in 250 ml of plant milk (almond, oat) or of simmering (~80°C) water
a pinch of cardamom, a little honey; optional: a touch of ghee, which carries the saponins better
stir well or run it through a frother

Decoction. 1 tsp in 1 litre of water, left to simmer gently; add the plant milk when serving. No need to strain — let the powder settle at the bottom.

In a smoothie, juice, yoghurt. 1 tsp to fold into your recipes.

Shatavari reveals herself in regular use: tradition speaks of cycles of about 21 days with pauses for integration, and of background use over several months for the great transitions. It is the repeated gesture, not the intensity, that makes the medicine.

Suggested ritual

The evening latte. 1 tsp of powder in a warm plant milk, cardamom, a touch of honey. Her cooling and calming quality makes her a precious companion of bedtime. Drink her slowly, the way you pay someone a visit — the regularity, day after day, is the heart of the rite.

The Shatavari Kalpa, the classic Ayurvedic preparation of the postpartum (see RITUAL mode), remains the deepest form for the feminine crossings.

We answer.

What is shatavari?

What is shatavari used for?

How do I use shatavari powder?

Is shatavari good for menopause?

Can I take shatavari during breastfeeding?

What are the contraindications of shatavari?

What does the name shatavari mean?

Is shatavari reserved for women?