Management of snake bite: An ayurvedic overview

Ayurveda has its own unique way of approach towards the management of visha, and is discussed with the concepts of current science. Snake bite remains an underestimated cause of accidental death in India. Estimates of snakebite mortality in India vary from approximately 1,300 to 50,000 annually. Considering this, World Health Organization added snake bite to their list of neglected hot diseases and designed an exclusive protocol for its management. Acharya Charaka has given 24 Upakramas to counter the cases of poisoning, including Mantras. These can be categorized into different sets of sub divisions for easy and scientific understanding. In the current attempt, efforts were made to provide certain justifications to these classical remedial measures with special emphasis on the measures that restrict the entry of poison into systemic circulation.