Ayurvedic Drugs and their Plant Sources

by V.V. Sivarajan

A wholesome and uniform `Materia Medica` has been a fond dream, but an elusive goal, for men of Ayurveda since long, largely due to the widespread disagreement over the choice of herbal sources of various drugs and also due to the persistent indifference of practitioners towards this problem.

Even those people, who are highly concerned about the rot, have been groping in the dark as to the ways and means of getting out of the present quagmire. It should, however, be obvious, even to the most naive among men of Ayurveda that such a unified Materia Medica is not going to be served to them on a platter and that they have to strive hard to realise this cherished goal. Also, it should be kept in mind that in countries with various cultures, traditions and different flora and fauna, this is something which cannot be imposed by an ombudsman agency.

On the contrary, efforts for this objective have to start from the grass-root level. The foremost requirement is to compile a state-of-art report on this matter for the entire country. This should serve as a basis for further careful comparative studies, which would finally help in arriving at the right choice. Such an intensive survey and reinvestigation demands the active involvement of local teams including both men of Ayurveda and botanists. It is with this view that this treatise has been compiled after more than a decade`s work in Kerala.

Quite fittingly, the work has been supported by the renowned Ayurvedic Institution, the Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal. It deals with the plant sources of a little more than 170 Ayurvedic drugs which are scientifically identified and described here.

The text is enhanced by excellent illustrations, which could be highly useful for men of Ayurveda and other non-botanist users of the book for correctly identifying the medicinal plants they use in practice.

More importantly, it is hoped that this pioneering work would be instrumental in inspiring more and more people to come forward and undertake similar work so that finally there can be available, a complete picture of the medicinal plant resource base, as it exists at present, in the Ayurvedic scenario.

About the Author:

V.V. Sivarajan is Professor of Botany, University of Calicut. His books include Flora of Calicut and Introduction to Principles of Plant Taxonomy.