<span style="mso-bidi-language:HI">Chemical perspective of <i>Tagar‒</i>An<i> </i>Ayurvedic drug </span>

Abstract

<i><span style="mso-bidi-language:HI">Valeriana wallichii </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-language:HI">DC., commonly known as <i>Tagar </i>is an important ingredient of Ayurvedic recipes for the treatment of nervous unrest and emotional problems. Besides, roots provide commercially important essential oil used in perfumery.

<span style="mso-bidi-language:HI">Morphologically it is a single species and is common in the Himalayan region (1220-2134 m) with no subspecies or varieties. The investigations, however, revealed the existence of chemically different forms (chemical races) within <i>V. wallichii </i>DC on the basis of chemical analysis of root extracts (essential oils and valepotriates) responsible for the activity. Chemotype-I is represented by maaliol (64.3%) while the type-II possesses patchouli alcohol (40.2%) in their essential oils. Interestingly, <i>Charak </i>and <i>Sushruta Samhita </i>have also documented the existence of two types of <i>Tagar </i>known as <i>Pindtagar </i>and <i>Nata </i>having medicinal properties.

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