कपर्द
Calcium carbonate, CaCO3, as the shell of the cowrie sea snail, chiefly Monetaria moneta. Chemically it is the same carbonate as Godanti and Mukta shukti, and the texts group it with the rasa dravya rather than with the jangama because it is used as a mineral.
Parthiva · mineral origin · Sadharana Rasa
SHODHANA — NO MINERAL DRAVYA IS USED RAW
Swedana in nimbu swarasa or kanji by the dola yantra for three hours, washed and dried. Marana follows by puta in a closed crucible until the bhasma is white and floats on water.
TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS
Hindi name: Kaudi
What the texts say Kaparda 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
Avoid or ask first: Not used where there is hypercalcaemia or a condition that raises calcium.; Not used in the raw, uncalcined state.
A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.
AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE
| Bhasma | 125–250 mg |
| Anupana | Madhu · Ghrita · Ushnodaka |
| Kala | Adhobhakta |
As bhasma, within a yoga.
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.
| Rasa | Katu |
| Guna | LaghuRuksha |
| Virya | Ushna |
| Vipaka | Katu |
| Prabhava | Named in the texts particularly for amlapitta and parinama shula, which is the use the modern antacid preparations continue. |
| Doshakarma | Kaphavatahara. |
Katu with ushna virya and katu vipaka, the profile the texts give the calcined shells.
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 | Kaparda bhasma |
| Why it matters | The processed article, never the raw mineral. A lot received raw is a different material from the one the formula names. |
Varatika is the commoner name in the market, and is the word for the shell used as currency.
| English | Cowrie shell |
| Hindi | Kaudi |
| Kannada | Kavade |
| Tamil | Kaudi |
| Telugu | Kaudi |
| Malayalam | Kaudi |
| Marathi | Kaudi |
| Gujarati | Kaudi |
| Bengali | Kaudi |
| Odia | Kaudi |
| Urdu | Kaudi |
| Kapardika Bhasma | The processed article itself. |
| Shankha Vati | An ingredient. |
| Amlapittantaka Yoga | An ingredient. |
Ordinary limestone and chalk are sold as Kaparda bhasma, and since the finished bhasma is a white calcium carbonate powder, the chemistry alone will not distinguish them - both assay as calcium carbonate. The classical tests are that the bhasma floats on water and passes the varitara test, and a sample that sinks was not properly calcined whatever it was made from.
Calcium carbonate, CaCO3, as the shell of the cowrie sea snail, chiefly Monetaria moneta. Chemically it is the same carbonate as Godanti and Mukta shukti, and the texts group it with the rasa dravya rather than with the jangama because it is used as a mineral.
A WAY TO REMEMBER IT
Kaparda is the Sanskrit for the cowrie shell, and the same word names the knot of matted hair on Shiva's head, which the shell was thought to resemble. Monetaria moneta carries its own history: these shells were money across the Indian Ocean for a thousand years.
Kaparda is among the sadharana rasa of the Rasa Ratna Samuccaya, named there for amlapitta and shula. That is what the tradition records and where.
Constituents. Calcium carbonate, CaCO3, as the shell of the cowrie sea snail, chiefly Monetaria moneta. Chemically it is the same carbonate as Godanti and Mukta shukti, and the texts group it with the rasa dravya rather than with the jangama because it is used as a mineral.
| 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. |
Calcium carbonate, which is the commonest antacid in the world and is very well tolerated. The concerns are the ordinary ones for calcium carbonate: it reduces the absorption of several drug classes taken at the same time, and in very large sustained quantity it can cause hypercalcaemia. Anyone pregnant, on medication or managing a diagnosed condition should speak to a doctor or a qualified practitioner first.
| Side effects | Constipation Rebound gastric acidity with prolonged use |
| Contraindications | Not used where there is hypercalcaemia or a condition that raises calcium. Not used in the raw, uncalcined state. |
| Interactions | Calcium carbonate reduces the absorption of tetracycline and quinolone antibiotics, of levothyroxine, of bisphosphonates and of iron when taken at the same time. Separating the doses by two hours avoids it. In very large sustained quantity with milk or alkali it can produce the milk-alkali syndrome - hypercalcaemia with kidney injury. |
| Pregnancy and breastfeeding | Calcium carbonate is widely used as an antacid in pregnancy and no specific harm is documented. The bhasma has not been formally assessed, and the caution that applies to any bhasma applies here. |