वङ्ग
Metallic tin, Sn. A soft, silvery, low-melting metal. The texts distinguish two varieties, khuraka and mishraka, and prescribe only the first.
Parthiva · mineral origin · Shuddha Loha
SHODHANA — NO MINERAL DRAVYA IS USED RAW
Melted and poured into taila, takra, kanji, gomutra and kulattha kwatha in turn by the nirvapa method, seven times in each. Marana follows by repeated puta with the prescribed media until the bhasma passes the classical tests. Vanga melts at a low temperature, which the texts note and use.
TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS
Hindi name: Ranga
What the texts say Vanga 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
Tin itself is poorly absorbed and is among the less toxic metals. The documented hazard with Vanga bhasma is not the tin but the lead that comes with commercial tin, and analyses of marketed Vanga bhasma have found lead. That is a sourcing question the practitioner has to answer, not one the classical method answers. 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.
A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.
A Samhita can only be read forwards, from the group to its members. This is the same list read backwards.
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 metal.
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 | TiktaKatu |
| Guna | LaghuRukshaTikshna |
| Virya | Ushna |
| Vipaka | Katu |
| Prabhava | Vanga is the metal the texts name first for prameha and for the disorders of shukra, and it is the commonest of the minor metals in current practice. |
| Doshakarma | Kaphapittahara. |
Tikta and katu with ushna virya and katu vipaka.
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 | Vanga 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. |
Trapu is the name Sushruta's Trapvadi gana uses. Ranga is the market name and the one an invoice will carry.
| English | Tin |
| Hindi | Ranga |
| Kannada | Tavara |
| Tamil | Ranga |
| Telugu | Ranga |
| Malayalam | Ranga |
| Marathi | Ranga |
| Gujarati | Ranga |
| Bengali | Ranga |
| Odia | Ranga |
| Urdu | Ranga |
| Vanga Bhasma | The processed article itself. |
| Trivanga Bhasma | One of the three metals the preparation is named for, with Naga and Yashada. |
| Chandraprabha Vati | An ingredient in some recensions. |
Commercial tin is commonly alloyed with lead, and solder - which is tin and lead together - is cheap and is what a market supplies when asked for ranga. A Vanga bhasma made from solder is a lead preparation sold as a tin one. Lead contamination of Vanga bhasma is a documented finding in published analyses.
Metallic tin, Sn. A soft, silvery, low-melting metal. The texts distinguish two varieties, khuraka and mishraka, and prescribe only the first.
A WAY TO REMEMBER IT
Vanga is also the old name for Bengal, and the two are probably connected through the tin trade. Trapu is the older Vedic word. Stannum, which gives tin its symbol Sn, originally meant an alloy of silver and lead - which is a fair warning about what is sold as tin.
Vanga is among the shuddha loha of the Rasa Ratna Samuccaya, named there for prameha, and Trapu heads Sushruta's Trapvadi gana. That is what the tradition records and where.
Constituents. Metallic tin, Sn. A soft, silvery, low-melting metal. The texts distinguish two varieties, khuraka and mishraka, and prescribe only the first.
| 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. |
Tin itself is poorly absorbed and is among the less toxic metals. The documented hazard with Vanga bhasma is not the tin but the lead that comes with commercial tin, and analyses of marketed Vanga bhasma have found lead. That is a sourcing question the practitioner has to answer, not one the classical method answers. 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. |
| 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 the documented lead contamination makes this a particular concern in pregnancy. No mineral bhasma should be taken in pregnancy except on the decision of a qualified practitioner who has examined the person. |