CLASSICAL REVIEW ON BHASMA AS HERBO-METALLIC NANOMEDICINE

Dr. Jyotsna Gulhane*, Dr. Dharamchand Ratanlal Gupta and Dr. Gajanan Sopanrao Wayal

ABSTRACT

Natural products have been used for healing purpose from ancient time of civilization. Ayurveda focuses on the utilization of metals, minerals, and herbs in the treatment of diseases. Bhasma is a specialized product processed from metals or minerals following purification. Incineration is used primarily to produce Bhasma, which acts as nano-medicine; in which toxic metals are converted into nontoxic, biocompatible forms through the various purification processes. Its therapeutic action and good pharmacokinetics owe a great deal to its extremely fine particle size, which makes target site delivery effective. Rasa Shastra mentions various steps of Bhasma preparation which imparts desirable qualities into the final formulations. Shodhana, Bhavana and Marana are some important processes which utilizes in the preparations of herbo-metallic nano-medicines. Bhasma Pariksha is employed to assess qualities of Bhasma formulations. Nischandratvam, Rekhapurnatvam, Varitaratvam, Nisvadutvam and Apunarabhavata, etc. are some important tests performed for the quality evaluation of Bhasma.

Keywords: Ayurveda, Bhasma, Nano-medicine, Herbo-metallic, Bhavana.