The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c4.s3: Forms of Medicines

The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c4.s3

Language: English

Forms of Medicines

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चूर्ण Churna or powders are prepared by pounding dry substances in a mortar with a pestle and passing the powder through cloth.

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स्वरस Svarasa or expressed juice is prepared by pounding fresh vegetables in a mortar, expressing the juice and straining it through cloth.

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कल्क Kalka or paste is prepared by grinding dry or fresh vegetable substances on a stone with a muller, and then making a thin paste, with the addition of water when necessary.

क्वाथ Kvatha or decoctions are, as a general rule, prepared by boiling one part of vegetable substances with sixteen parts of water, till the latter is reduced to one-fourth. The medicines should first be pounded small, then boiled over a slow fire, and the decoction strained through cloth. When decoctions are prepared with dry substances, eight parts of water are recommended to be used. Decoctions are administered with the addition of salt, honey, sugar, treacle, alkalies, clarified butter, oil, or some medicinal powders.

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फाण्ट Pháṇṭa or infusions are prepared by steeping one part of powdered herbs in eight parts of hot water, for twelve hours during the night. They are administered in the same way as decoctions.

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शीतकषाय Sítakasháya or cold infusion is prepared by steeping one part of a drug in six of water for the night, and straining the fluid in the morning.

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पानीय Pání'ya is a weak form of decoction prepared by boiling one part of medicinal substances in thirty-two of water till the latter is reduced to one-half. This preparation is usually taken ad libitum for appeasing thirst or some such object.

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प्रमथ्या Pramathyá is a sort of decoction in which the medicines are first reduced to a pulp and then boiled in eight parts of water till the latter is reduced to one-fourth. It is administered with the addition of honey.

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मन्थ Mantha is an emulsion of medicines in fine powder with four parts of cold water.

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क्षीरपाक Kshí'rapáka or decoction in milk. The proportions in this preparation, are one part of medicine, eight of milk and thirty-two of water. The materials are boiled together, till the water is evaporated and the milk alone remains; the decoction is then strained.

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यवागु Yavágu. Sometimes medicines are added to powdered rice, wheat, barley, etc., and boiled with water into a gruel which is taken as aliment. The proportion of water in this preparation is six to one of solid materials. This preparation is called Kalka-sádhya-yavágu or gruel made with medicinal paste, in contradistinction to another form called Kvatha-sádhya-yavágu or gruel made with a decoction of medicines, for which last see Oryza sativa.

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अवलेह Avaleha or extract. To prepare it, decoctions, after being strained, are again boiled down to the consistence of a thick extract. This extract, when properly made, does not readily dissolve in water, can be drawn out into wires, and will receive impressions of coins on its surface. Extracts are administered with the addition of sugar, decoctions, or powders.

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वटिका *Vaṭikā* and गुडिका *Guḍikā* or pills and boluses. These are usually prepared by reducing a decoction of vegetable substances to a thick consistence and then adding some powders for making a pill-mass. Sometimes pill-masses are made of powdered medicines with the addition of treacle or honey.

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मोदक *Modaka* are boluses prepared by adding powders to cold syrup and stirring them together till uniformly mixed. No boiling is required in this preparation.

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खण्डपाक *Khaṇḍapāka* or confections. These are made by adding to syrup medicines in fine powder and stirring them over the fire till intimately mixed and reduced to proper consistence. Honey is often subsequently added to confections. Syrup may be made with sugar and water or milk or the strained decoction of some medicinal substance. Confections should be of the same consistence as extracts above described.

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भावना *Bhāvanā* or maceration of powders in fluids. Powders, and especially mineral substances, are often soaked in various fluids, such as expressed juice of herbs, decoctions, etc., and then dried. For this process the quantity of fluid added to the powder should be sufficient to cover it. The mixture is then allowed to dry in the sun. A single operation of this sort is completed in twenty-four hours, but the process is generally repeated from three to seven times, and often with a variety of fluids, so that the resulting mass combines in it the active principles of various drugs.

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पुटपाक *Puṭapāka* or roasting. In this process vegetable drugs are reduced to a paste which is wrapped up in *jamvu* or *vaṭapatra* (leaves of *Eugenia Jambolona* and *Ficus Bengalensis*), firmly tied with fibres of some sort, covered with a layer of clay from half to one inch in thickness and roasted in cowdung fire. When the layer of clay assumes a brick-red colour on the surface, the roasting is known to be completed. The ball should now be withdrawn from the fire and broken, and the juice of the roasted drug expressed and administered, with the addition of honey or such other adjuncts as may be directed. Sometimes the roasted drug itself is given in the form of a powder or pill.

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सन्धानवर्ग *Sandhánavarga* or products of acetous fermentation.

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काञ्जिक *Kánjika*. This is a sour liquid produced from the acetous fermentation of powdered paddy. Two seers of powdered *áus dhán* (paddy grown in rainy season), are steeped in eight seers of water and laid aside in an earthen pot for fifteen days and upwards, when the mixture undergoes acetous fermentation. The resulting fluid is called *Kánjika* or *Dhányámla*, that is, the acid produced from paddy. *Kánjika* is a clear transparent fluid with an acid taste and vinous smell. It is cooling, refrigerent, and useful as a drink in fever, burning of the body, etc. It is sometimes applied externally upon the principle of wet-sheet packing, cloth steeped in the fluid being wrapped round the body for relief of high fever and heat of body. It is also used as a vehicle for other medicines and for preparing decoctions, oils, etc. Other grains besides paddy are sometimes used for acetous fermentation. If mustard or the seeds of *Raphanus sativus* (mulaka) are added to paddy, the resulting fluid is called *Siṇṭáki*. If the husked grains of barley are boiled and steeped in water, the resulting acid liquor is called *Sauvira*. When the husks of fried *másha-kaláya* (pulse of *Phaseolus Roxburghii*) and barley are boiled together for acetous fermentation, the acid is called *Tushámvu*. *A'rnála* is a sour gruel made from fermentation of boiled rice. A mixture called *Sukta* or *Chukra* is thus prepared :—Take of treacle one part, honey two parts, *kánjika* made as above described, four parts, whey eight parts, mix together in a clean earthen pot, and bury the pot in a heap of paddy for three days. The properties of these preparations are similar, they being regarded as cooling, refrigerent, diuretic, and useful in nervous diseases, rheumatism, dyspepsia, indigestion, urinary diseases, intoxication from spirituous drinks, etc. What is ordinarily spoken of as conjee water in English, is a decoction of rice and not the *kánjika* of Sanskrit Materia Medica.

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द्रावक *Drávaka* or distilled mineral acids. Several formulæ are given in different works for the preparation of mineral acids. A number of mineral substances or salts are heated in a retort and the distilled fluid collected in a glass receiver. The test of acids is said to be their property of dissolving a cowrie or shell thrown into them. The following are two examples of the compositions used for preparing mineral acids.

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स्वल्पद्रावक *Svalpadrávaka*. Take of alum, chloride of ammonium, borax, sulphide of antimony, impure carbonates of potash and soda called *yavakshára* and *svarjikákshára*, and rock salt, each eight tolás, nitre six tolás, orpiment four tolás ; powder, mix and rub them together repeatedly with lemon juice and dry. Introduce the mixture into the receptacle of a distilling apparatus, and distill over the fire. The dose of the acid thus distilled is two drops. It should be taken with six grains of long pepper. One week's use of this medicine is said to cure spleen disease, dyspepsia, etc.

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शङ्खद्रावक *Sankhadrávaka*. For this preparation take of sulphate of iron thirty-two tolás, alum and rock salt sixteen tolás each, nitre one hundred and twenty-eight tolás, powder, mix and distill the mixture from a glass retort. The dose of this acid is said to be twelve minims. The tongue should be anointed with clarified butter before using this medicine. It should not also touch the teeth.

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आसवारिष्ट *Asava* and *arishṭa* or medicated spirituous liquors. These are prepared from honey and treacle, with the addition of various medicinal substances. They are all steeped in water and aid aside in earthen jars for vinous fermentation. The proportion of the different ingredients, as a general rule, is as follows :— Water thirty-two seers, treacle twelve seers and a half, honey six seers and a quarter, medicinal substances one seer and a quarter, in powder or decoction. When raw vegetables are used for fermentation, the resulting fluid is called *A'sava*. When the decoction of drugs only is added, the fermented liquor is called *Arishṭa*. These preparations combine the properties of spirituous drinks and those of the drugs used in preparing them. They are heating, stimulant, easily digested and stomachic. The preparation called *Drákshárishṭa* is made with honey, sugar and decoction of raisins, with the addition of a few aromatics, (see *Vitis vinifera*). Its action must be analogous to that of wines. It is used as a stimulant in exhausting diseases.

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घृत तैलयोर्विधि: Medicated oils and *Ghritas*. These are decoctions of vegetable drugs in oil or *ghrita* (clarified butter) and form a prominent feature of native practice. They are prepared in great varieties and are extensively used in almost all sorts of diseases. The ghritas are chiefly used internally, and the oils are rubbed on the body. They are prepared by boiling vegetable drugs in ghrita or oil, with the addition of water or other fluids such as kánjika, milk or a decoction of drugs, etc. As a general rule, the proportion of the different ingredients used is as follows :— Medicinal substances, in form of paste, one part, ghrita or oil four parts, water or other menstruum sixteen parts. When the fluids used are thick, such as decoctions or the expressed juice of vegetables, the proportion of solid paste is reduced from one-fourth to one-sixth and one-eighth respectively of the oil or ghrita. Sometimes no solid paste is used at all.

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If more than one variety of fluid is ordered, then up to four sorts the usual proportion of four of fluid to one of ghrita or oil is observed, and these are boiled separately with each fluid ; but, when the number of fluids exceeds four, each of the fluids ordered is taken in quantity equal to the oil or ghrita, and the whole boiled together.

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घृतपाक Ghritapáka or preparation of medicated ghrita. The ghrita or clarified butter is first of all heated on a fire so as to deprive it of any water that may be mixed with it. A little turmeric juice is then added to purify it, as it is said, but the object, I suppose, must be to colour it. Ghrita thus purified is placed on a fire in an earthen, copper, or iron pan and melted with a gentle heat. Then the medicinal paste and fluids to be used are added, and the whole boiled together till the watery parts are all evaporated and the ghrita is free from froth. It is then strained through cloth and preserved for use. Ghrita thus prepared should be imbued with the colour, taste and odour of the medicines with which it has been boiled. It is recommended that the preparation of ghrita by boiling be not completed in one day, and that the medicines be allowed to remain in contact with the butter for some time, so that their active principles may be thoroughly extracted. The boiling process is carried on to three degrees, called, respectively, mridu, madhyama and khara páka. In the first, the boiled paste is somewhat soft; in the second, it is dry and just soft enough to be made into pills with the fingers. In the third form, it is turned hard and dry. The intermediate form is preferred for internal administration and injection into the rectum, while the over-boiled form is used for external application. The under-boiled form is said to be suitable for use as snuff.

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तैलपाक *Tailapáka* or medicated oils. In preparing these, sesamum oil should be used unless otherwise specified. Sesamum oil, before being boiled with medicinal substances, is coloured and purified as follows :—First of all it is heated to deprive it of any water that may be mixed with it ; then the following substances are steeped in it for twenty-four hours, viz., madder one sixteenth part in weight of the oil, turmeric, wood of *Symplocos racemosa* (lodhra), tubers of *Cyperus rotundus* (mustaka), a bark called naliká, the three myrobalans, root of *Pavonia odoráta* (bálá) and the tender shoots of *Pandanus odoratissimus* (ketaki), each one sixty-fourth part in weight of the oil. These ingredients in fine powder should be soaked in the oil, with the addition of an equal quantity of water for a day. The mixture should then be boiled till the water is evaporated, and finally strained. To the oil thus prepared, medicinal substances, in the form of paste, decoction, etc., are added in the same proportions as for the preparation of *ghritapáka*. They are then boiled together till the watery parts are all evaporated. When cool, the oil is strained through cloth so as to separate the solid particles. Some medicinal oils, and especially those used in the treatment of nervous diseases, rheumatism, etc., are subjected to a third process of boiling with various aromatic and fragrant substances. This is called the *Gandha páka* or boiling for rendering the oil fragrant. The following substances, or as many of them as are available, are used for scenting medicated oils, namely, cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, fenugreek seeds, saffron, leaves of *Cinnamomum Tamala*, white sandal wood, aloes wood, *jatámansi* root, *Curcuma Zedoaria* (sati), *Cyperus rotundus* (mustaka), kakkola (an aromatic seed,) resin of *Pinus longifolius* (*gandhavirájá*), storax, long pepper root, root of *Andropogon muricatus* (usira), nakhi (*Unguis odoratus*),* pouch of civet cat (*khattási*), camphor, musk, *Permelia perlata* (*saileya*,) root of *Aplotaxis auriculata* (*kushṭa*), seeds of *Abelmoschus moschatus* (*latákasturi*), etc.

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∗ This nakhi according to Rumphius who describes ten kinds of the odoriferous onyx which serve as the basis of the principal perfumes in the Indian islands, (*Herb. Amb*, ii. c. 17) is the operculum or lid of the shells of *Purpura* and *Murex*, This being flat and something like a nail explains the origin of its name.—Royle's Antiquity of Hindu Medicine, page 144.

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For four seers of oil, one tola of each of the above ingredients should be taken, with the exception of camphor which should be four tolas. These ingredients, with the exceptions noticed below, are reduced to a paste with water and added to the oil, which is then boiled with an equal quantity of water till the latter is evaporated, and lastly strained. Camphor, musk, storax and the substance called *nakhi* should be added after the process of boiling is finished, and the oil strained. Oils for rheumatism and nervous diseases, are sometimes rendered fragrant by the addition of camphor alone.

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Castor oil and mustard oil are sometimes used in the preparation of medicated oils. The proportions of oil, medicinal substances and fluids are the same as with sesamum oil, but the preliminary preparation of these oils is different. Mustard oil is purified by being boiled with the following ingredients, namely, emblic myrobalan, turmeric, tubers of *Cyperus rotundus* (*mustaka*), root-bark of *Ægle Marmelos* (*vilva*), pomegranate bark, flowers of *Mesua ferrea* (*nágakesara*), Nigella seeds, root of *Pavonia odorata* (*bálá*), the bark called *naliká*, and belleric myrobalan, two tolás each, and madder sixteen tolás, for four seers of oil. These should be boiled together with sixteen seers of water, till the latter is all evaporated, and the oil should then be strained. It is now fit for being boiled with medicinal substances, the process for which is the same as for sesamum oil above described.

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For purifying castor oil, the following ingredients are used, namely, madder, tubers of *Cyperus rotundus* (*mustaka*), coriander, the three myrobalans, leaves of *Sesbania aculeata* (*vaijayanti*), *Pavonia odorata* (*hrivera*), wild dates, tender red buds of *Ficus Bengalensis* (*vaṭasunga*), turmeric, wood of *Berberis Asiatica* (*dáruharidrá*), the bark called *naliká*, ginger and the shoots of *Pandanus odoratissimus* (*ketaki*), each half a tolá for four seers of oil. Castor oil should be boiled with equal parts of whey and *kánjika* (fermented paddy water) along with the above ingredients.∗

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∗ The processes above described, for the preliminary purification of oils before being boiled with medicinal substances are not adopted by the physicians of upper India. They are not mentioned by the ancient writers and are the inventions of recent Bengali authors.