Metallographic Study of Ayurvedic Bhasmas- An Analytical Study of Swarna Makshika (Chalcopyrite)
Sudhaldev Mohapatra* and C. B. JhaDepartment of Rasa Shastra, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221 005 India. Corresponding Author E-mail:ras_dev@rediffmail.com
Abstract: Swarna Makshika [SM] an Ayurvedic raw material is a mineral that contains Cu, Fe & S as main ingredient. It is processed by following Ayurvedic ancient methodology and bhasma is obtained after confirming Ayurvedic quality control parameters like nischandratva, varitara, rekhapurna, niswadu, amlaparikshya etc. Then metallographic features of raw SM and Bhasma of SM with intermediary process are analyzed to know about the physicochemical nature. The raw SM shows the crystallinity, conchoidal structure and larger size of the grain, where as in bhasma crystalinity was not found and grain size reduced significantly. Also raw material shows similar pattern of darkness and brightness in the metallographic microscope where as in bhasma many different color and patterns are observed that may be due to presence of different compounds formed due to process effect. The observations are documented for its validation following same pharmaceutical procedure. The data generated could be the fingerprint for its standardization.
Keywords: Ayurvedic bhasmas; Swarna Makshika Back to TOC