According to Indian mythology, this plant originated from the drops of ambrosia (Amrita) which fell on the earth when Indra was drinking it. It is known in Ayurveda as an adaptogen and anti-ageing agent. This plant was known to early Arabian writers and through them to the Greek writer, Actuarius, who mentions five kinds.

Found throughout the greater parts of India.

T.chebula is a tree with a rounded crown and spreading branches. The bark is dark-brown, often longitudinally cracked; the leaves are ovate or elliptic with a pair of large glands at the top of the petiole; the flowers are yellowish white, in terminal spikes; the drupes are ellipsoidal, obovoid or ovoid, yellow to orange-brown and hard when ripe, becoming 5-ribbed on drying; the seeds are hard and pale yellow.

Chebulagic, chebulinic acid and corilagin.

The fruits are credited with laxative, stomachic, tonic and alterative properties. It is also a known adaptogen and anti-stress, hepato-protective drug.