वर्तलोह
An alloy of five metals - classically Naga (lead), Vanga (tin), Tamra (copper), Loha (iron) and one of Swarna or Rajata, though the recensions differ on the fifth. It is the most compound of the mishra loha.
Parthiva · mineral origin · Mishra 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. Each constituent metal is classically shodhita separately before the alloy is made, which is why this is among the longest preparations in the literature.
TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS
Hindi name: Panchdhatu
What the texts say Varta Loha 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
This alloy contains lead by design, not by contamination. Everything said about Naga applies here: lead has no established safe level of exposure, lead poisoning from Ayurvedic preparations is documented by the CDC, and no processing makes lead not be lead. It also carries copper, with the accumulation risk that brings. This entry records what the classical texts prescribe and what the alloy is made of; it is not a recommendation that anyone take it. Anyone pregnant, on medication or managing a diagnosed condition should speak to a doctor or a qualified practitioner first.
Avoid or ask first: Absolutely not used in the raw, unprocessed state.; Not used in children.; Not used where there is kidney disease or a disorder of copper metabolism.; and more below.
A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.
AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE
| Bhasma | 15–30 mg, within a yoga, specialist use only |
| Anupana | Madhu · Ghrita |
| Kala | As the yoga directs |
A quantity for the processed article inside a compound preparation, prescribed by a practitioner trained in Rasashastra. Never the raw alloy.
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 | TiktaKashaya |
| Guna | GuruRuksha |
| Virya | Ushna |
| Vipaka | Katu |
| Prabhava | The texts hold that the five metals together do what none does alone, and name it for the chronic and obstinate conditions - which is also, honestly read, the register into which a preparation is placed when nothing simpler has worked. |
| Doshakarma | Tridoshahara. |
Tikta and kashaya 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 | Varta loha 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. |
Panchaloha is the name in commonest use and is also the alloy temple images are cast from, which is a different article made to a different standard.
| English | Five-metal alloy |
| Hindi | Panchdhatu |
| Kannada | Panchaloha |
| Tamil | Panchdhatu |
| Telugu | Panchdhatu |
| Malayalam | Panchdhatu |
| Marathi | Panchdhatu |
| Gujarati | Panchdhatu |
| Bengali | Panchdhatu |
| Odia | Panchdhatu |
| Urdu | Panchdhatu |
| Varta Loha Bhasma | The processed article itself. |
| Classical rasayana yogas | An ingredient in some recensions. |
Panchaloha cast for temple images is made to a metallurgical standard and not a pharmaceutical one, and scrap from that trade is what is commonly offered. Since the alloy already contains lead by design, a practitioner cannot treat lead contamination here as an accident to be excluded - it is a constituent, and the entry says so rather than implying the processing removes it.
An alloy of five metals - classically Naga (lead), Vanga (tin), Tamra (copper), Loha (iron) and one of Swarna or Rajata, though the recensions differ on the fifth. It is the most compound of the mishra loha.
A WAY TO REMEMBER IT
Varta is read as that which turns or is made - a metal produced rather than found. Panchaloha, the five metals, is the name most people know, and it is better known from temple bronzes than from medicine.
Varta loha is among the mishra loha of the Rasa Ratna Samuccaya, with the constituent metals and the order of their processing given. Which metal is the fifth is not settled between recensions.
Constituents. An alloy of five metals - classically Naga (lead), Vanga (tin), Tamra (copper), Loha (iron) and one of Swarna or Rajata, though the recensions differ on the fifth. It is the most compound of the mishra loha.
| 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. |
This alloy contains lead by design, not by contamination. Everything said about Naga applies here: lead has no established safe level of exposure, lead poisoning from Ayurvedic preparations is documented by the CDC, and no processing makes lead not be lead. It also carries copper, with the accumulation risk that brings. This entry records what the classical texts prescribe and what the alloy is made of; it is not a recommendation that anyone take it. Anyone pregnant, on medication or managing a diagnosed condition should speak to a doctor or a qualified practitioner first.
| Contraindications | Absolutely not used in the raw, unprocessed state. Not used in children. Not used where there is kidney disease or a disorder of copper metabolism. Not used outside specialist Rasashastra practice. |
| 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 | Absolutely contraindicated in pregnancy and in breastfeeding, because lead is a constituent of the alloy rather than a contaminant that might be absent. |