Care Keralam Team Finds Traditional Ayurvedic Medicines are Free from Heavy Metals

Ayurveda medical system makes use of herbs to prepare several classes of medicines like kvātha, cūrṇa, āsava, ariṣṭa, lēhya, taila, ghṛta and gulika for treating diseases. As medicinal herbs are the raw materials, these medicines do not have any kind of toxicity. Another kind of medicinal preparations is also described in some texts. These are called rasauṣadhi and are prepared from inorganic materials like mercury, arsenic, sulphur etc. Mainstream Sanskrit texts like Caraka Samhita, Suśruta Samhita, Aṣṭāṅgasamgraha and Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya do not describe rasauṣadhi. Some historians of medicine opine that rasauṣadhi made their appearance in Ayurveda on account of its contact with Islamic medicine. Whatever it may be, considering the poisonous nature of the ingredients, rasaśastra was treated as an occult science in olden days. However, in modern times rasaśastra has become popular, especially in northern India.