Studies on <i style="">sodhana prakriya</i> of <i style="">Gunja</i> (<i style="">Abrus precatorius</i> Linn.) seeds

Abstract

Ayurveda ‘the Science of life’ is a system of traditional medicine, native to Indian subcontinent and practiced in other parts of the world as alternate system of medicine. Ayurveda is currently followed by millions of people in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka along with many of their counterparts in the western countries. While most of the drugs referred in Ayurveda are found to be safe, there are few which contain toxic constituents in them necessitating detoxification process of ‘<i style="">sodhana</i>’ prior to their use as a drug. The process of <i style="">sodhana</i> leads to detoxification of the drug without interfering in its therapeutic properties (<i>gunas</i>). The current paper deals with the <i style="">sodhana prakriya</i> for <i style="">Gunja</i> (<i>Abrus precatorius</i> Linn.) seeds. The study aims at evaluating the underlying principle and thereafter, to find out if any alternate process can be substituted for the conventional <i>sodhana prakriya</i>.