- Tail: herbs cooked in edible oil according to rules laid down for
internal and external uses - Ghrat/Ghrit: herbs cooked in special butter
- Asav/Arista/Sura:a kind of light wine obtained after fermentation of
herbs - Arka: a distillation of herbs
- Rasausadhi/Kharliya rasayan: herbs mixed with metals, minerals and
animal ingredients - Bhasma: ashes
- Parpaty: combinations of metals, minerals, animal ingredients and
herbs - Kshar/Lavan/Salt/Drava: these are specially prepared medicaments
- Medicaments based on guggula(the Indian bdellium tree Commiphora
mukul Engl.) - Lauha bhasam: mandoor bhasam(iron)-based medicaments
- Avaleha/Modak/Paak/Prash: herbs cooked in jaggery (traditional
unrefined sugar) or sugar - Bati/Gutika/Goli: mixtures of medicines shaped in pills, pillules or
tablets for ease of administration - Pralep/Anjan/Varti/Dhoop: liniments, drops, paint, paste, etc. for
external uses.
Examples of common ayurvedic medicines
Some examples of herbal ingredients used in the preparation of common
ayurvedic medicines in the UK are provided in Table 7.3.^13
Examples of common applications of ayurvedic medicines^40
By the very nature of the philosophy surrounding the practice of ayurveda
it should not really be possible to treat conditions purely symptomatically.
However, Table 7.4 gives a brief list of treatments to illustrate the general
approach to treatment.
Figures 7.3 and 7.4 show examples of popular ayurvedic herbal products:
- Trikatuis a Sanskrit word meaning ‘three spices’. It is the main
stimulant compound used by ayurvedic doctors. Containing fruits of
black pepper (Piper nigrum), Indian long pepper (Piper longum) and
the rhizomes of ginger (Zingiber officinalis), it is a common
combination used to stimulate and maintain the digestive and
respiratory systems. This it does by reducing kaphaand increasing
pittathrough the rejuvenation of low agniand the burning away of
ama (toxins).
216 | Traditional medicine