Tephrosia purpurea (L.) Pers, a member of Fabaceae (Papilionaceae) family, is widely known in Ayurveda, as “Sarwa wranvishapaka”, for its wound healing properties: in Unani, as “Sarphooka”, it is recognized blood purifier and used in kidney disease ailment. It is distributed throughout Asia, including India, where it flourishes in poor soils, and in the plains. Its seed, and leaves are traditionally used in folk medicine for treating of asthma, rheumatism, hemorrhoids, dyspepsia, syphilis gonorrhea, and enlargement of the spleen and kidney. Leaves contain rutin (a flavonoid), lupeol (a triterpenoid), and β-sitosterol (a sterol), etc. The therapeutic efficacy is mainly due to its content of pongamol, rutin, β-sitosterol, tephrosin, purpurin, purpurenone, bulnesol, and tephrostachin which have been reported. The flavonoid-rich aerial parts are potent in healing burn wounds. Clinical studies have revealed antifertility, diuretic, antispermatogenic, antileishmanial, antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anti-diarrheal, and insecticidal properties.