A Review on concept of Vishaghna dravya (anti-toxic drugs) in ayurveda.

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Poison (visha) are of plant, animal and mineral origin which produce deleterious effect to the body. Agada Tantra is the branch of Ayurveda. There is requirement of antidotes and antitoxic drugs to arrest the effect of visha. There are such drugs called vishaghna (antipoisonous/ anti-toxic) mentioned in ayurveda samhitas and textbooks. Materials and Methods: major Ayurveda samhitas viz. Charak samhita, Sushruta samhita, Astang Hridyum were looked into for references regarding vishaghna drugs. Observation and results: there are huge number of plants, animal products and minerals mentioned under various categories and groups. These drugs with similar properties and actions are grouped together, e.g. Vishaghnagana in Charak samhita, aragvadhadigana, patoladigana, anjanadigana, trapuadigana etc in Sushruta samhita. Similarly Astanga hridyum also contains similar groups. Conclusion: There is abundancy of poison in environment in various forms manifested as pollution, epidemics etc. we have such huge resources of anti-toxic drugs naturally occurring that can be utilized to address the biggest issues of the planet today. These drugs needs to be considered for experimental studies.

Keywords: Poison, Visha, Vishaghna, Anti-toxic, Agada.