Pravala

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Moonga

What the texts say Pravala does

• Daha prashamana — relieves burning
• Raktastambhana — checks bleeding (haemostatic)
• Balya — strengthening
• Chakshushya — good for the eyes
• Rasayana — rejuvenative

What the evidence says. No clinical evidence establishes an effect beyond its calcium content.

Side effects and limits

Calcium carbonate, chiefly. The considerations are calcium load and sourcing legality rather than toxicity.

Avoid or ask first: Hypercalcaemia.; Material of uncertain or illegal origin.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

Pravala pishti is the levigated form and is the common one. Used with mukta in a number of pitta yogas.

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.

Pravala is classed among the jangama dravya.

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.

Dyed bone, glass and reconstituted powder are widely sold as moonga. Corallium species are also under harvest restriction in several jurisdictions and CITES lists some.

From Corallium rubrum and related species — the calcareous skeleton of a colonial marine animal. The skeleton.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Pravala means a young shoot or sprout, for the branching form. Coral is from the Greek korallion, itself probably a borrowing from a Semitic word.

Pravala is used in raktapitta, daha, kasa and in paediatric practice, and appears with mukta in several classical yogas.

Constituents. A product of Corallium rubrum and related species — the calcareous skeleton of a colonial marine animal.

• 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.