The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c4.s3.17

c4.s3.17

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 The ball should now be withdrawn from the fire and broken, and the juice of the roasted drug expressed and administered, with the addition of honey or such other adjuncts as may be directed.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.