Abstract: Background: Diospyros cordifolia Roxb. (Ebenaceae), commonly known as Indian ebony is used traditionally for several medicinal purposes. The present study was designed to investigate the anticonvulsant and sleep potentiation effect of methanolic extract of Diospyros cordifolia stem bark (MEDC) in Swiss albino mice. Results: The anticonvulsant effect of the MEDC at the doses of 25, 50 mg kg-1 body weight (b.wt.), intraperitoneally (i.p.), was examined against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ, 80 mg kg-1 b.wt; i.p.) and strychnine (STR, 2.5 mg kg-1 b.wt; i.p.) induced convulsions in mice. MEDC (50 mg kg-1 b.wt; i.p.) significantly delayed (p<0.01) the onset and antagonized PTZ and STR induced seizures. Diazepam (2 mg kg-1 b.wt; i.p.) was used as reference drug for anticonvulsant assessment. Further the study was undertaken to evaluate the pentobarbitone induced sleep potentiation effect of MEDC (25 and 50 mg kg-1 b.wt; i.p.) in mice and the extract significantly increased pentobarbitone (45 mg kg-1 b.wt; i.p.) induced sleeping time in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion: Therefore, the present study demonstrated that D. cordifolia bark possessed remarkable anticonvulsant efficacy demonstrating depressant action on the central nervous system.