Poisonous (Visa) Plants in Ayurveda

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I enjoyed the opportunity of going through the monograph "Poisonous (Visa) plants in Ayurveda" written by Dr. L. B. Singh, a noted scholar and activist in the field of Rasa Shastra. This monograph is an invaluable publication on the important subject of poisons and Visas of Ayurveda which forms the most important component of Ayurvediya Rasa Shastra.

The monograph exhibits a rare blend of Shastra and Science. It discusses the concept of Visa in Ayurveda and its therapeutic potential. It presents a vivid and comprehensive glossary of 160 poisonous plants of Ayurvedic materia medica giving the nomenclature and textual references The most interesting part of this monograph is the detailed scientific study of the process of purification and pharmaceutical study of the most important Visa drug of Ayurveda, Vatsanabha (Aconite). Vatsanabha is considered the poison gem of Ayurveda and is the important ingredient of large number of classical formulations used in clinical practice.

The author has described various phases of different methods of purification with chemical and pharmacological standards with standard scientific methods and techniques.

The single example of purification of Vatsanabha and its scientific standardisation as presented in the monograph produces a model of study on this line and opens newer Vistas for research and development in the context of Ayurvedic pharmaceutics. It is amaging to observe how traditional methods of purification of poisonous materials in Ayurveda bring about desired changes and almost transform the Visa into Amrita. The so occurring changes are supported with chemical, pharmacological and therapeutic observations. The entire study presented in this monograph is really a right model of needed research in Ayurvediya Rasa Shastra. In general, an average Ayurvedic drug acts through its Rasa, Guna, Vīrya, Vipaka and Prabhava. In principles the drugs acting through Rasa, Guna, Vīrya and Vipaka help in restoring the homoeostasis or Dhatu-Samya following the principle of Samanya and Visesa. As such, all drugs and remedies of this particular category possibly act more on nutritional dynamics than on actual pharmacodynamics. Most of such drugs act as micro nutrients at molecular level with varying degrees of specificity for specific Dhatus and tissues. Such a drug response is essentially a nutritional response. This concept is specially vivid in case of Rasayana drugs which promote the nutritional status of the patient through a variety of modes viz through direct enrichment of Rasa; or through promoting Agni and hence indirectly accelerating the formation of Rasa; or through cleansing the Srotamsi and in turn promoting microcirculation and tissue perfusion with improved bioavailability of nutrients.