वैक्रान्त
A silicate mineral of the tourmaline group, usually given as a complex boro-silicate of aluminium with iron, magnesium, lithium or sodium. The classical description is of a hard, many-coloured crystal resembling a diamond.
Parthiva · mineral origin · Maharasa
SHODHANA — NO MINERAL DRAVYA IS USED RAW
Heated red hot and quenched repeatedly in kanji, kulattha kwatha, gomutra, takra and tila taila, seven times in each, by the standard nirvapa method. Marana follows with gandhaka or with herbal media as the yoga requires.
TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS
What the texts say Vaikranta 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 silicate mineral, and silicates are not absorbed in the way the heavy-metal dravya are, so the toxicological concern here is smaller than for the arsenic and mercury minerals. The real risk is what is sold under the name: coloured glass and quartz pass every visual test. 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. This is written deliberately rather than left blank.
A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.
AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE
| Bhasma | 30–125 mg |
| Anupana | Madhu · Ghrita |
| Kala | Adhobhakta |
As bhasma, within a yoga. Never the raw mineral.
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 | MadhuraKashaya |
| Guna | Guru |
| Virya | Sheeta |
| Vipaka | Madhura |
| Prabhava | The texts name Vaikranta as the substitute for Vajra (diamond), which is the reason it appears in the maharasa at all - it is the affordable article where a formula calls for the unaffordable one. |
| Doshakarma | Tridoshahara. |
Madhura and kashaya with sheeta virya and madhura vipaka, the profile the texts give the diamond-like minerals.
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 | Vaikranta 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. |
Ashtasrika, eight-angled, is the recognition character the texts give: an eight-faced crystal.
| English | Tourmaline |
| Hindi | Vaikrant |
| Kannada | Vaikranta |
| Tamil | Vaikrant |
| Telugu | Vaikrant |
| Malayalam | Vaikrant |
| Marathi | Vaikrant |
| Gujarati | Vaikrant |
| Bengali | Vaikrant |
| Odia | Vaikrant |
| Urdu | Vaikrant |
| Vaikranta Bhasma | The processed article itself. |
| Vrihat Vata Chintamani Rasa | An ingredient in some recensions, in place of Vajra. |
Coloured glass and quartz are sold as Vaikranta, and because the classical description is of a many-coloured crystal, colour alone is no test at all. The hardness and the eight-faced habit are the classical checks; an X-ray diffraction pattern is the modern one, and a supplier who cannot say which tourmaline species was used has not identified the mineral.
A silicate mineral of the tourmaline group, usually given as a complex boro-silicate of aluminium with iron, magnesium, lithium or sodium. The classical description is of a hard, many-coloured crystal resembling a diamond.
A WAY TO REMEMBER IT
Vaikranta is from vi-kranta, that which has stepped beyond - the mineral that stands in the place of the diamond. Tourmaline is from the Sinhala turamali, a name for mixed gem gravels.
Vaikranta heads the maharasa varga in the Rasa Ratna Samuccaya and is named there as the substitute for Vajra. That is what the tradition records and where it is set down.
Constituents. A silicate mineral of the tourmaline group, usually given as a complex boro-silicate of aluminium with iron, magnesium, lithium or sodium. The classical description is of a hard, many-coloured crystal resembling a diamond.
| 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 silicate mineral, and silicates are not absorbed in the way the heavy-metal dravya are, so the toxicological concern here is smaller than for the arsenic and mercury minerals. The real risk is what is sold under the name: coloured glass and quartz pass every visual test. 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. This is written deliberately rather than left blank. |
| 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 no mineral bhasma should be taken in pregnancy except on the decision of a qualified practitioner who has examined the person. |