Srotonjana

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Surma

What the texts say Srotonjana does

• Chakshushya — good for the eyes
• Raktastambhana — checks bleeding (haemostatic)
• Lekhana — scraping, reduces excess tissue and fat

What the evidence says. Lead content in traditional kohl and the resulting poisonings are well documented. No efficacy claim is established.

Side effects and limits

Antimony compounds are toxic and chemically resemble arsenic. The bigger practical hazard is the substitution: lead-based kohl has caused childhood lead poisoning in several countries and is restricted or banned in many.

Avoid or ask first: Internal use.; Use in infants and small children, given the substitution risk.; Any material of uncertain composition.

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

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

External only. Internal use is not classical and antimony is toxic.

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.

Srotonjana is classed among the Uparasa — as Anjana.

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.

Much commercial surma is lead sulphide (galena), not antimony sulphide, and lead poisoning from kohl is documented in children — this is one of the most consequential substitutions in the whole materia medica.

Antimony trisulphide, Sb2S3. The grey lustrous mineral of traditional kohl.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Srotonjana is srotas plus anjana — the anjana applied at the channel of the eye. Stibnite is from the Greek stibi, the same word that gives antimony its symbol Sb, and it meant this exact eye paint.

Srotonjana is the classical ocular anjana, used in netra roga and as a daily chakshushya in some regions.

Constituents. Antimony trisulphide, Sb2S3. The grey lustrous mineral of traditional kohl.

• 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.