Abhraka

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

What the texts say Abhraka does

• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Balya — strengthening
• Vrishya — aphrodisiac, supports reproductive vigour
• Yogavahi — carries the properties of what it is combined with
• Medhya — supports intellect and memory

What the evidence says. Characterisation studies of abhraka bhasma exist. Clinical evidence for efficacy is not established.

Side effects and limits

A properly made bhasma is the claim; whether commercial material is properly made is the question. Mica dust is a documented occupational lung hazard, which is a manufacturing risk rather than a dosing one.

Avoid or ask first: Unmarana'd or poorly made bhasma, in any circumstance.; Pregnancy, in the absence of safety data.

A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

The puta count is not decoration: a low-puta bhasma has not lost its sheet structure and is a different material from a shataputi one.

Reported from Sharangadhara Samhita and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Laisha states what the texts prescribe; it does not recommend. No quantity here is adjusted for a particular person — not for agni, koshtha, bala, age, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything already being taken.

Abhraka is classed among the Maharasa — the first of the eight.

Rasa, guna, virya, vipaka and karma are recorded as the classical texts give them, with the text and section named so a student can open the book and check.

Raw mica powder is not abhraka bhasma and the difference is the entire preparation. Unmarana'd mica is inert at best and is a lung hazard as dust.

A sheet silicate, chiefly biotite — potassium magnesium iron aluminium silicate. Splits into thin elastic sheets.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Abhraka is from abhra, a cloud — for the way the sheets separate like layered cloud. Mica is from the Latin micare, to glitter.

Abhraka is the first of the maharasa and abhraka bhasma is among the most used mineral preparations in Ayurveda, in rasayana and in kshaya.

Constituents. A sheet silicate, chiefly biotite — potassium magnesium iron aluminium silicate. Splits into thin elastic sheets.

• This is a study and clinical reference for practitioners and students. The matra and anupana it records are what the classical texts and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India PRESCRIBE — Laisha reports them, it does not recommend them. They are not a prescription for any particular person, and they are not adjusted for your age, agni, koshtha, bala, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything else you are already taking. Only a qualified practitioner who has examined you can do that.
• Traditional classification is recorded as what the classical texts say, with the text and the place in it named. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.