अग्निजार
Given in the texts as a waxy substance found floating on the sea or cast up on the shore. It is most often identified with ambergris, the biliary concretion of the sperm whale, and some authorities read it instead as a mineral bitumen.
Parthiva · mineral origin · Sadharana Rasa
SHODHANA — NO MINERAL DRAVYA IS USED RAW
Bhavana with godugdha or with the juice of kumari, dried gently. The texts are brief, and the article is among the rarest in the whole literature.
TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS
What the texts say Agnijara does
What the evidence says. Traditional use is documented in the Rasashastra texts. Modern evidence about this dravya is largely toxicological rather than therapeutic.
Side effects and limits
A rare article of unsettled identity that is almost never genuinely supplied. If it is ambergris, it is a whale product and its trade is restricted or prohibited under wildlife law in many countries, which is a legal question before it is a medical one. The safety of what is actually sold under the name cannot be stated at all. Anyone pregnant, on medication or managing a diagnosed condition should speak to a doctor or a qualified practitioner first.
Avoid or ask first: Not used in the raw, unprocessed state.; Not used where the material supplied has not been identified.; Not sourced without establishing the legal position on trade in whale products.
A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.
| Rasa | MadhuraTikta |
| Guna | SnigdhaLaghu |
| Virya | Ushna |
| Vipaka | Madhura |
| Prabhava | Named in the texts as a vrishya and a rasayana, in the register of the rare and costly dravya rather than the everyday ones. |
| Doshakarma | Kaphavatahara. |
Madhura and tikta with ushna virya and madhura vipaka.
These are the actions the classical texts record. They are statements about what the tradition holds, and this library does not restate them as findings about a human body.
| Upayukta anga | Shuddha agnijara |
| Why it matters | The processed article, never the raw mineral. A lot received raw is a different material from the one the formula names. |
| English | Ambergris |
| Hindi | Agnijar |
| Kannada | Agnijara |
| Tamil | Agnijar |
| Telugu | Agnijar |
| Malayalam | Agnijar |
| Marathi | Agnijar |
| Gujarati | Agnijar |
| Bengali | Agnijar |
| Odia | Agnijar |
| Urdu | Agnijar |
| Classical vrishya yogas | Named in some recensions among the costly ingredients. |
Almost nothing sold as Agnijara is ambergris. Wax, resin and scented compounds are supplied under the name, and genuine ambergris is among the most valuable natural substances in the world, which makes honest supply improbable at any ordinary price. Trade in sperm whale products is also restricted or prohibited in many countries, so a practitioner should establish the legal position before sourcing it at all.
Given in the texts as a waxy substance found floating on the sea or cast up on the shore. It is most often identified with ambergris, the biliary concretion of the sperm whale, and some authorities read it instead as a mineral bitumen.
A WAY TO REMEMBER IT
Agnijara reads as agni, fire, and jara, one that ages or digests - the texts hold it to kindle. Ambergris is the French ambre gris, grey amber, distinguishing it from the yellow fossil resin that carries the same name.
Agnijara is listed among the sadharana rasa of the Rasa Ratna Samuccaya. Which substance the texts meant is not settled, and the article is among the rarest in the literature.
Constituents. Given in the texts as a waxy substance found floating on the sea or cast up on the shore. It is most often identified with ambergris, the biliary concretion of the sperm whale, and some authorities read it instead as a mineral bitumen.
| Status | Traditional use is documented in the Rasashastra texts. Modern evidence about this dravya is largely toxicological rather than therapeutic. |
| Suggested | The dravya has a defined place and a defined shodhana in the classical Rasashastra literature, and the processed form has a pharmacopoeial standing in India. That is a standard for the material, not evidence of an effect in a body. |
| Not established | There is not enough good clinical evidence to establish an effect on any named health condition. Long traditional use is not a substitute for that evidence, and this library does not present it as one. |
| The honest gap | Published analyses of preparations containing this dravya rarely record whether shodhana was performed or how, so a result cannot be attributed to the processed article rather than the raw mineral. |
A rare article of unsettled identity that is almost never genuinely supplied. If it is ambergris, it is a whale product and its trade is restricted or prohibited under wildlife law in many countries, which is a legal question before it is a medical one. The safety of what is actually sold under the name cannot be stated at all. Anyone pregnant, on medication or managing a diagnosed condition should speak to a doctor or a qualified practitioner first.
| Contraindications | Not used in the raw, unprocessed state. Not used where the material supplied has not been identified. Not sourced without establishing the legal position on trade in whale products. |
| Interactions | No specific drug interaction is documented for this dravya. That is the honest state of the evidence, not a statement that none exists - the mineral dravya have almost never been studied for interaction with modern medicines. |
| Pregnancy and breastfeeding | Safety in pregnancy has not been established and cannot be assessed for a substance whose identity is unsettled. |