Godanti

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

What the texts say Godanti does

• Jwaraghna — used in fever
• Shirashoolahara — relieves headache
• Raktastambhana — checks bleeding (haemostatic)
• Daha prashamana — relieves burning

What the evidence says. Characterisation studies exist. Clinical efficacy is not established.

Side effects and limits

Calcium sulphate is poorly absorbed and among the least toxic mineral dravya. The risk is hypercalcaemia only in unusual circumstances.

Avoid or ask first: Hypercalcaemia.; Sarcoidosis and other granulomatous disease.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

The classical mineral of jwara with shirashoola, and one of the better tolerated bhasma.

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.

Godanti is classed among the Sadharana rasa.

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.

Commercial plaster of Paris is the same mineral calcined and is not godanti bhasma.

Calcium sulphate dihydrate, CaSO4·2H2O. Godanti bhasma is the calcined anhydrite or hemihydrate.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Go-danti is cow's tooth, for the shape and colour of the crystals. Gypsum is from the Greek gypsos, chalk — and gives us plaster of Paris, which is the same mineral calcined.

Godanti bhasma is used in jwara, shirashoola and raktapitta and is one of the mineral preparations a vaidya reaches for most often.

Constituents. Calcium sulphate dihydrate, CaSO4·2H2O. Godanti bhasma is the calcined anhydrite or hemihydrate.

• 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.