Journal of Drug Research in Ayurvedic Sciences

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2020 | April-June | Volume 5 | Issue 2

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EDITORIAL

Pratinidhi dravya (Alternate medicinal resources): An exigency for a sustainable resource of raw herbal drugs

[Year:2020] [Month:April-June] [Volume:5] [Number:2] [Pages:1] [Pages No:00 - 00]

   DOI: 10.5005/jdras-5-2-iv  |  Open Access |  How to cite  | 

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Rama Rao Vendrapati, Shashidhar H Doddamani, Raghavendra Naik, Binod K Bharali, Chinmay Rath, Anupam K Mangal

Exploring the Medicinal Plant Diversity of Hassan District, Karnataka, India

[Year:2020] [Month:April-June] [Volume:5] [Number:2] [Pages:21] [Pages No:67 - 87]

   DOI: 10.5005/jdras-10059-0091  |  Open Access |  How to cite  | 

Abstract

Background: This study is about the importance of documenting locally available medicinal plants gaining attention worldwide. Locally available plant resources are the main sources of raw materials for the local primary healthcare system. Documentation of the local medicinal plant resources is very important to check the status and depletion situation of the existing resources. The worldwide scenario of increased activity in conservation and cultivation reflects the importance of documentation of medicinal plants. Objectives: Documentation of locally available medicinal plant diversity of Hassan District, Karnataka, India. Materials and methods: Team comprising a botanist, an Ayurvedic physician, and a field assistant conducted two medicoethno botanical survey tours of 7 days each during October 2017 and March 2018. The study was conducted in randomly selected forest sections/beats in Arsikere, Yeslur, Sakleshpur, Arakalagud, Hassan, Belur, Alur, Holenarasipura, and Channarayapatna forest ranges of Hassan district. Sampling was done by adopting the belt transact method at the randomly selected forest areas, and representative herbarium specimens were collected as reference samples at geographical location along with filed photographs. Observations: Medicinal plant wealth of Hassan district is rich due to its varied vegetation types such as wet evergreen tropical rain forest in western Malnad part and dry tropical scrub vegetation in plain lands in east, north, and southern regions of the district. During the survey tours, the survey team documented 317 plants from nine forest ranges in Hassan district. Of these 317 plant species, 106 species found with promising medicinal properties were presented with botanical name, family, Sanskrit and local names, habit, habitat, abundance, part used, medicinal uses, accession number, and GPS location. These plants are used in various diseases ranging from chronic diseases such as ulcers, arthritis, asthma, cardiovascular complaints, hepatitis, diabetes, skin diseases; general complaints such as digestive problems, urinary disorders, fever, headache, dysentery, diarrhea, cold, cough, hemorrhoids, inflammations, wounds, cuts, etc. Use of various parts such as root, tuber, leaf, fruit, seed, whole plant, bark (stem and root), resin, etc., have been mentioned for these plants. Among the dominant families, Leguminosae contributes 10 species, while Apocynaceae and Lamiaceae represent 7 and 5 species, respectively, and Malvaceae, Menispermaceae, and Rubiaceae 4 species each. Conclusion: Among the 106 medicinally important plants that spread in 55 families, about 61 species are distributed in dry deciduous forests while 40 are restricted to moist to wet forests of the district and rest of them are growing in open forest patches.

197

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Nagayya Shiddamallayya, Binod B Dora, Anjana Janardhanan, Gyati Anku, Tapashi Borah, Ashish K Tripathi, Chinmay Rath, Anupam K Mangal, Kartar S Dhiman

Ethnomedical Importance of Traditional Medicinal Plants among the Indigenous People of Kanchanpur Subdivision of North Tripura District

[Year:2020] [Month:April-June] [Volume:5] [Number:2] [Pages:10] [Pages No:88 - 97]

   DOI: 10.5005/jdras-10059-0093  |  Open Access |  How to cite  | 

Abstract

Aim: Documentation of local health traditions (LHT) during the Medico-ethno Botanical Survey (MEBS) by the Regional Ayurveda Research Institute (RARI), Itanagar, was conducted in the remote forests and rural areas of Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura. Rural and tribal populace residing in the nearby forest locality is dependent largely on the traditional system of medicine for the treatment and management of health disorders. Materials and methods: The MEBS team documented LHT claims from the tribal and rural populace living in natural forest by discussion and interview with traditional healers as per the provided LHT format, followed by recording of the global positioning system (GPS) location, digital photography of the healer and raw drugs used in formulations. The team also collected the raw drugs sample for identification. Results and discussion: The MEBS team documented a total of 21 folk claims with 4 polyherbal and 17 single herb formulations collected from the Kanchanpur subdivision, North Tripura, along with digital photography of traditional healers and plants used in formulation. The properties of all 17 single herbal formulations were compared and correlated with the Ayurvedic literature. Conclusion: The documented LHT of Kanchanpur subdivision, North Tripura, will benefit in treatment of health-related issues. Properties of plants enlisted in the documented LHT from the local healers are compared and correlated with claimed health conditions to derive significant clinical relevance. The enlisted traditional claims of single herb formulations are pertaining to diseases like udarashula, amlapitta, sutikasrava, mushkavriddhi, kasa, jwara, pratishaya, katishula, twak vikara, uccha raktachapa, vrana, and sarpa damstra can be proposed for clinical trials to achieve the conventional line of treatment. Further it is necessary to study the herbs used in LHT to understand and validate the novel biomolecule for its high potential in treatment and further utilization in Ayurvedic formulation for the benefit of mankind.

196

REVIEW ARTICLE

Rabinarayan Acharya, MM Buha, NH Sojitra

Guduchi [Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers]: A Comprehensive Review of its Internal Administration

[Year:2020] [Month:April-June] [Volume:5] [Number:2] [Pages:23] [Pages No:98 - 120]

   DOI: 10.5005/jdras-10059-0095  |  Open Access |  How to cite  | 

Abstract

Background: Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia), commonly known as an Amrita in the classical texts of Ayurveda, belongs to the family Menispermaceae and is one of the most frequently used drugs in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeias. In the recent past, this drug has attracted the attention of clinicians for its immunomodulatory activities. Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India recommends both external and internal applications of Guduchi for the management of different disease conditions. Aim: To prepare a comprehensive data of internal administration of Guduchi recorded in various Ayurvedic texts. Materials and methods: This review portrays the wide usage of Guduchi through internal administration, which comprises 56 various Samhita (treatise), Chikitsa grantha (compendia of Ayurveda), and Rasagrantha (compendia related to Rasashastra). Results: It is observed that about 1,526 formulations, having Guduchi as an ingredient, are used to combat almost 95 varied diseases. Among these diseased conditions, maximum are indicated for the management of Jwara (fever), followed by Vatarakta (gout, 102), Kushtha (integumentary diseases, 82), and Vatavyadhi (neuromuscular anomalies, 73). Conclusion: Present data may encourage researchers in pharmaceutical and clinical research to think over the use of easily available, simply propagated, and noncontroversial drug used to cure more than 95 disease conditions through internal administration, for the benefit of the society.

891

REVIEW ARTICLE

Bidhan Mahajon, Mukesh Chincholikar, Rakesh Narayanan, Sridevi Venigalla, Bhagwan S Sharma, Ashfaque Ahmad

Basis for the Use of Substitutes for Medicinal Flora and Harmonization of Rational Use: A Critical Appraisal Based on “Kitab al-Abdal”: A Classical Compendium of Unani Medicine

[Year:2020] [Month:April-June] [Volume:5] [Number:2] [Pages:11] [Pages No:121 - 131]

   DOI: 10.5005/jdras-10059-0102  |  Open Access |  How to cite  | 

Abstract

Background: Non-availability, indefinite identity, and adulteration of medicinal plants are key worrying areas in herbal or natural product-based industry/market. In this regard, the approach of ancient physicians does not seem to be hypothetical or haphazard. They had applied their mind and laid down certain principles and also evolved a methodology to identify and adopt substitutes. Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (Rhazes) (865–925 AD), a leading physician of Unani System of Medicine and Persian scholar of the early Islamic world compiled an exclusive monograph entitled as “Maqala Fi Abdal al-Adwiya al-Mustamala Fi al-Tibb wa al-Ilaj” popularly known as “Kitab al-Abdal” which is the first and foremost unique book on substitutes of Drugs in Unani Medicine. Aims and objective: This review aims to explore the rationality for substitution of the drugs mentioned by Rhazes in view of fundamental principles of Ayurveda. Materials and methods: All the 223 substitutes of 122 original drugs mentioned in the transcript of “Kitab al-Abdal” have been thoroughly scrutinized and categorized accordingly as per the adopted fixed criteria (i.e., Category I: Single substitutes for an original drug, Category II: Double substitutes for an original drug, Category III: Triple substitutes for an original drug, Category IV: Tetrad/four substitutes for an original drug). Any drugs or substitutes, which are not available in Ayurveda texts, were excluded from the analysis. Result and discussion: Analyzed data highlight that about 76% substitutions are having similarity with fundamentals of Ayurveda (Rasapañcaka) and Unani Medicine (Yaksaniyat-e-mizaj). Although the maximum substitutes mentioned in “Kitab al-Abdal” are not practiced or directly mentioned in the texts of Ayurveda as a source of substitute/alternative source of the particular original drug, but the rationales behind the substitution are often similar with the fundamental concept of Ayurveda (Rasapañcaka). The review may serve as ready references for the researcher, physicians, as well as industry of both Ayurveda and Unani system of medicine in order to find the appropriate substitution of a rare raw drug. This may also confess the scope of multidimensional research for harmonization of unique substitution and their inclusion in the National Pharmacopeia.

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BRIEF RESEARCH COMMUNICATION

Deepak J Londhe, Jagdish C Arya, Chinmay Rath, Anupam K Mangal

Folklore Practices of Medicinal Plants by the Local Community in Ukhimath Forest Area of Rudraprayag District, Uttarakhand, India: An Ethnobotanical Survey

[Year:2020] [Month:April-June] [Volume:5] [Number:2] [Pages:7] [Pages No:132 - 138]

   DOI: 10.5005/jdras-10059-0096  |  Open Access |  How to cite  | 

Abstract

Aim: Intent of this article is to describe the acclaimed use of medicinal plants by the people, including folklores of the Ukhimath Forest area of Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand Himalayan region, analyze their relative importance, and validation of their knowledge with Ayurvedic classics. Materials and methods: The survey of the Ukhimath forest area of Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand Himalayan region was conducted during June 2017 with a view to study medicinal trees and their ethnobotanical and medicinal importance. The information was collected with the help of semi-structured questionnaire from the local people. Results: Interview of a total of seven informants with an age range of 19–54 years comprising one female and six males were conducted in the study area. Total 21 medicinal plant species are reported for the management of 18 different afflictions. Conclusion: Most of the plant species used are known in the Ayurveda literature indicated for same illnesses as the folklores are using. Endeavors are required to moderate and ensure this traditional knowledge that will be supportive for the researcher and pharmaceutical industries to discover other uses of plant for the beneficence of healthcare system. Clinical significance: Folk claims reported in the study show reasonable conformity with Ayurvedic text regarding their medicinal use.

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