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A comparative analytical study of Pravala bhasma and Pisti w.s.r. to Moola and Shakha
Authors: Kaushal Arushi, Arora Ravinder
Number of views: 918
Of various gems, Pravala is widely used by the Ayurvedic physicians in their day to day practice
of life. The use of Pravala for internal purposes and for preparing various formulations can be
observed. Internally as medicine, it is administered in the form of Bhasma and Pisti for curing
ailments such as Amlapitta, Netra Roga and Hridaya Roga etc. The drug is being manufactured
by various industries and hence the product is widely available in the market. But
pharmaceutically it greatly varies from industry to industry and physician to physician with
respect to its quality. Moreover, in the market, it is available in two forms viz. Pravala shakha
and Pravala moola. The former is costlier than the moola. Some of the clinicians claim that
Pravala shakha is more efficacious as compared to Praval moola, for which there is no rationale
explained in the classical texts. The quality and standard for this drug therefore, is a question in
this scientific and advanced era. The parameters like organoleptic, physical, chemical, qualitative
and quantitative etc. place key role, by which quality of any dosage form can be determined.
In the present study, the Pravala pisti is prepared by triturating with rose water whereas the
Pravala bhasma is generally prepared by bhavna with ghritkumari and subjected to puta. Both
moola and shakha bhasma and pisti are prepared by same methods and analysed on parameters
like organoleptic, physical, chemical which include loss on drying, total ash, acid insoluble ash,
water soluble extractive, alcohol soluble extractive, pH etc, qualitative and quantitative tests. The
results show that there was no significant difference between moola and shakha. However, the
percentage of calcium, phosphorous, iron and magnesium etc. elements are more in Praval
moola.