A LITERARY REVIEW ON THE PREPARATORY METHODS OF KSHARA ACCORDING TO VARIOUS AYURVEDIC TEXTS

Dr. Shraddha Siddheshwar Mule*, Dr. Parshuram D. Dongare, Dr. Prasad V. Kulkarni and Dr. Gajanan Uttamrao Vaidya

ABSTRACT

Ayurveda aims to maintain the health of healthy person and healing of the diseased one. The above scenario is achieved by applying different ayurvedic fundamentals, one of the promising methods is to use the effective ayurvedic medicines. Acharyas made these prepation various effective formulation Kshara is one of the important ayurvedic formulation which is used in various diseases. The preparation of kshara is obtained from the burn out ashes of drugs of animals (Shankha, Kapardika, Pravala etc.), minerals (Tankan, Surya Kshara, SarjiKashara etc.) And plant origin (Mulaka; Raphenus sativus Linn., Snuhi; Euphorbia nerifolia Linn., Arka; Calotropis gigantean Linn. Etc. where alkaline portion is extracted from the ashes of these substances. The method of drug preparation and its use in a particular disease has its own importance. Acharya mentioned various standard methods of drug preparation in ayurvedic texts. We can prepare one drug by many methods which are mention in ayurvedic text. Acharya also explain the qualities of the prepared drug by giving examples and given some test to test the prepared drug. But in current era the preparation of the ayurvedic formulation are not much effective as mentioned in ayurvedic text. The reason behind is lack of standard operating procedure as mentioned in Samhita. Today demand of the ayurvedic medicine gradually increases so standard of drug preparation must be raised. This variation of water, ash content and filtering methods during preparation of kshara may shown changes in terms of guna and Prabhava. This study intends to gather information related to preparation of kshara according to different authors as mentioned in different classics.

Keywords: Herbal drugs, Kshara, ayurveda formulation, Ayurvedic texts.