Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Track Kampillaka with reminders and record whether it helped, in the app.
Kampillaka is a brick-red powder. It comes from the tiny glands and hairs on the fruit of the kamala tree, Mallotus philippensis. Ayurveda uses it as a single herb drug, not as part of a blend.
It has two main old uses. The first is to kill and push out tapeworms. The second is as a purgative, which means a drug that forces the bowels to empty.
Here is the honest verdict. Kampillaka has a long record in Ayurvedic texts, but we found no modern human trials of it. Long use is not proof that a drug works, so treat it as a traditional remedy only.
No one has shown how it works in people. Lab work points to one main chemical, rottlerin. In test tubes, rottlerin seems to stun and kill tapeworms.
In the gut, the powder is thought to irritate the bowel lining. That makes the bowel push its contents out fast. This is likely why the purge and the worm effect happen together.
Skin uses are even less clear. Lab tests show the resin can slow the growth of some fungi and germs. None of this has been checked in careful human trials.
The raw form is the loose red powder brushed off the fruit. Ayurvedic practice usually asks for it to be purified first, a step called shodhana, before anyone takes it.
It is also sold inside mixed Ayurvedic powders and pills aimed at worms or at the bowels.
The same powder has long been sold as a dye for silk and wool. Dye-grade powder is not made for people to swallow.
Kampillaka appears in classical Ayurvedic drug lists, including the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, where it is named for worms and for purging.
Siddha and Unani texts name it too. In the 1800s it was shipped from India to Europe as kamala, both as a worm drug and as a dye.
Its standing rests on that written record, not on modern testing.
See a doctor the same day if the diarrhoea does not stop within a few hours, or if you cannot keep fluids down.
Get urgent care if you notice signs of heavy fluid loss: very little urine, a dry mouth, sunken eyes, confusion, or feeling faint when you stand.
Go to an emergency department for a fast, thumping or irregular heartbeat, severe belly pain, or blood in your stools.
See your doctor first, not after, if you think you have worms. A simple stool test names the worm, and tested prescription medicines treat it safely. Also see a doctor if a skin patch spreads, weeps or does not clear in two weeks.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Kampillaka is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
One email with the summary. We'll also send a short weekly evidence update — unsubscribe any time.
