Published Paper Details:

Kapardika is a mineral drug of Sadharana rasa varga. It is the outer shell of molluscs. It is known as Marine shell, cowrie or cowry. The shells are smooth, shiny, resembling egg shape with a flat under surface having a slit-like long, narrow-toothed aperture. They have a porcelain-like shine. The length ranges from 5 mm to 19 cm for some species. Kapardika is Katu in Rasa, Katu in Vipaka and Ushna in Virya. It is Alkaline in nature hence is used in many diseases like APD (Acid Peptic disease), Ajirna, Adhmana, Anaha etc. There are many methods in the texts to convert Kapardika in Kapardika Bhasma with different types of Puta. Rasa Chandanshu mentioned a very easy method for making Kapardika Bhasma.This method is easy to perform and prepares good quality Kapardika Bhasma. An effort was made here to standardise the procedure of preparation of Kapardika Bhasma according to the method described in Rasachandanshu. Also, the prepared Bhasma was tested with the modern methods and equipment like XRF etc. It shows increase in calcium content and decrease in other contents and the mean loss in the process was 16%. The results help in scientifically establishing the findings according to the principle of Ayurveda.