PURIFICATION (SHODHANA) PROCEDURES IN AYURVEDIC PHARMACEUTICS

Ayurveda encounters various types of raw materials such as herbs, minerals, animal products, synthetic chemicals etc. for manufacturing of medicines and pharmaceutics. In ayurvedic pharmaceutics, shodhana (purification/processing) is a pre pharmaceutical procedure either to nullify the toxic effect or to enhance the positive attributes of the drug. Herbs aswell as minerals bear with toxicity either due to specific nature of ingredients or by the specific stage of existence in some phytochemical parameters. So, it is essential to convert them into nontoxic pharmacologically active ingredient or to nullify the adverse actions.