Dravyaguna Vigyana द्रव्यगुण विज्ञान

Ayurvedic materia medica and pharmacology · Second Professional (Dwitiya Varsha) · AyUG-DG

Papers

• Paper I — Dravyaguna (Maulik siddhanta: rasa, guna, virya, vipaka, prabhava)
• Paper II — Dravyaguna (individual dravya and varga)

Units in this subject

Study notes

Dravyaguna is the study of what a substance is and what it does. Everything in it rests on five things — rasa, guna, virya, vipaka and prabhava — and the discipline of the subject is being able to say which of the five explains a given action, and being honest when the answer is prabhava, which means the texts could not explain it either.

Dravya — what counts as one

• A dravya is the substrate in which guna and karma inhere. It is the noun; guna and karma are what can be said about it.
• Classified by origin into Audbhida (plant), Jangama (animal) and Parthiva (mineral). Plant dravya are further divided into Vanaspati (fruit without visible flower), Vanaspatya (both flower and fruit), Virudha (creepers) and Oshadhi (annuals that die after fruiting).
• Classified by action into Samshamana (pacifying), Samshodhana (purifying) and Swasthahita (that which maintains health).
• The examinable trap: a dravya is not its part. Bilva unripe fruit and Bilva ripe fruit have opposite actions; Pomegranate fruit is food and its root bark has caused poisoning. Always answer for the part named.

Rasa — the six tastes

• Madhura, Amla, Lavana, Katu, Tikta, Kashaya — in that order. Along it, the capacity to INCREASE vata rises (kashaya increases it most) while the brimhana and balya capacity falls.
• Each rasa arises from two mahabhuta: madhura from prithvi and jala; amla from prithvi and agni; lavana from jala and agni; katu from vayu and agni; tikta from vayu and akasha; kashaya from vayu and prithvi.
• Madhura, amla and lavana pacify vata. Tikta, katu and kashaya increase it. Madhura, tikta and kashaya pacify pitta. Katu, tikta and kashaya pacify kapha.
• Anurasa is the secondary taste, felt after the primary one. It is examinable and is easy to lose a mark on.
• Amalaki is the standard illustration: it carries five of the six rasa, lacking only lavana.

Guna — the twenty qualities

• The Gurvadi gunas are twenty, in ten opposed pairs: guru–laghu, sheeta–ushna, snigdha–ruksha, manda–tikshna, sthira–sara, mridu–kathina, vishada–picchila, shlakshna–khara, sthula–sukshma, sandra–drava.
• Beyond these, Paradi gunas (TEN — para, apara, yukti, sankhya, samyoga, vibhaga, prithaktva, parimana, samskara, abhyasa — used in pharmacy and therapeutics) and Adhyatmika gunas.
• Guna explains why two dravya of the same rasa behave differently. Two madhura dravya, one guru and one laghu, do not act alike.

Virya — the potency

• Two-fold: Sheeta and Ushna. Eight-fold: sheeta, ushna, snigdha, ruksha, guru, laghu, mridu, tikshna.
• Virya is what actually acts. Where rasa and virya conflict, virya generally prevails.
• The questions that catch students out: Lavanga is katu in rasa and SHEETA in virya. Ela is katu and sheeta. Pippali is katu but anushna-sheeta with madhura vipaka. Pungent does not mean heating.
• Maricha, by contrast, is katu, ushna and katu vipaka — the clean case, which is why it is the textbook example.

Vipaka — what the taste becomes

• Three vipaka: Madhura, Amla and Katu. Vipaka is the taste after digestion, not before.
• Madhura and lavana rasa generally give madhura vipaka; amla gives amla; katu, tikta and kashaya give katu.
• Exceptions are where the marks are. Dhanyaka is ushna in virya but MADHURA in vipaka, which is why it does not aggravate pitta the way other ushna dravya do. Eranda taila is a purgative with madhura vipaka, which is why it purges without drying.

Prabhava — what nothing else explains

• Prabhava is a specific action not derivable from rasa, guna, virya or vipaka. It is the tradition admitting the limits of its own model.
• Danti and Chitraka share rasapanchaka; Danti purges and Chitraka does not. That difference is prabhava.
• Madanaphala is emetic by prabhava. Vatsanabha is yogavahi by prabhava. Arjuna is hridya by prabhava.
• In a written answer, say prabhava only when the rasapanchaka genuinely does not account for the action. Reaching for it first is the commonest weak answer in this subject.

Karma and the karma groups

• Charaka's Sutrasthana chapter 4, Shadvirechanashatashritiya, gives fifty groups of ten dravya each, organised by action — Jivaniya, Brimhaniya, Lekhaniya, Deepaniya, Shirovirechana and so on.
• Sushruta's Sutrasthana chapter 38 gives thirty-seven ganas organised differently. A question that asks for a gana should be answered with the text it belongs to.
• Know which dravya HEADS a group: Pippali heads Deepaniya (chitraka is fourth in it), Khadira heads Kushthaghna (aragvadha is seventh), Jivanti heads Jivaniya, Musta heads Lekhaniya. Vidanga is the krimighna agrya in Sutrasthana 25 and Apamarga's shirovirechana link is Sutrasthana 2, the chapter named for it — both are right facts often cited to the wrong chapter.

Mishraka varga — the named groups

• Triphala: Haritaki, Bibhitaki, Amalaki. Tridoshahara, and the standard rasayana.
• Trikatu: Shunthi, Maricha, Pippali. Deepana and kaphahara.
• Trimada, Trijataka, Chaturjata (Ela, Twak, Patra, Nagakeshara).
• Dashamoola = Brihat Panchamoola (Bilva, Agnimantha, Shyonaka, Gambhari, Patala) + Laghu Panchamoola (Shalaparni, Prishniparni, Brihati, Kantakari, Gokshura).
• Kshiri Vriksha: Vata, Udumbara, Ashvattha, Plaksha — the four milky trees, all kashaya and sheeta.
• Panchakola, Panchatikta, Panchagavya are also examinable as lists.

Adulteration and substitution — the clinical part

• A name is not a plant. Brahmi is Bacopa monnieri in the north and the pharmacopoeia, Centella asiatica across the south and Sri Lanka. Shankhapushpi covers four unrelated species in three families. Rasna covers four. Parpata covers three. Prishniparni and Agnimantha differ between north and south, so a Dashamoola made in Kerala is not the one made in Uttar Pradesh — and nobody in that chain is lying.
• The substitutions that can kill: Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana) sold as Talisapatra, in a churna given to children for cough. A poisonous Aconitum sold as Ativisha, which is chosen precisely because it is NOT poisonous. Helleborus sold as Katuki.
• The adulterant that is not a plant at all: Haridra is adulterated with lead chromate, a heavy metal, to brighten the colour.
• Practical tests worth knowing: genuine Kampillaka powder floats and burns clean while brick dust sinks and leaves ash; a sound clove sinks or floats head-up while a spent one lies flat; true cinnamon is thin and papery in many layers while cassia is one thick curl.

Collection, preservation and shelf life

• Grahana kala matters: roots before the plant flowers or after the leaves fall, leaves when the plant is in growth, flowers and fruit at maturity, bark in autumn, whole herbs at flowering.
• Saveerya avadhi — the period a dravya keeps its potency — is generally given as one year for churna, kwatha to be used fresh, and longer for asava, arishta, avaleha and taila, which improve.
• Shodhana is not optional for visha and upavisha. Vatsanabha, Bhallataka, Gunja, Langali, Karavira and Snuhi all require it, and the difference between a medicine and a poison is that process.

Nighantu literature

• The nighantus are the dictionaries of dravya, arranged in varga. Knowing which varga a dravya sits in is a standard question.
• Dhanwantari Nighantu (c. 10th century) — the earliest surviving. Raja Nighantu (Narahari, 13th c.) — 23 varga. Kaiyadeva Nighantu (15th c.) — the largest. Bhavaprakasha Nighantu (16th c.) — the most used in teaching. Madanapala Nighantu, Sodhala (Shodhala) Nighantu.
• Bhavaprakasha varga to know: Haritakyadi, Karpuradi, Guduchyadi, Pushpa, Vatadi, Amradi Phala, Dhanya, Shaka, Mamsa, Dhatu.
• Which varga a dravya belongs to is examinable: Amalaki in Haritakyadi, Musta in Karpuradi, Guduchi in Guduchyadi, Arjuna in Vatadi, Draksha in Amradi Phala, Methika in Shaka.

Dravya classification

• By origin: Audbhida (plant), Jangama (animal), Parthiva (mineral).
• Audbhida subdivided: Vanaspati (fruit without visible flower), Vriksha (flower and fruit), Virudha (creepers and spreading), Oshadhi (annual, dying after fruiting).
• By action: Samshamana, Samshodhana, Swasthahita.
• By prabhava: Vyavayi, Vikasi, Yogavahi, Sukshma.

Anupana and sahapana — the vehicle

• Anupana is what is drunk AFTER the medicine. Sahapana is what is taken WITH it, in the same mouthful. The two are constantly used as if they were one word and they are not, and the distinction is asked directly.
• The anupana is chosen to carry the drug where it is wanted and to soften what it would otherwise do: ushna jala for a kapha condition, ksheera for a vata one, madhu as the anupana that carries a drug to the deeper dhatu.
• Sahapana is the common vehicle of a churna or a bhasma — madhu, ghrita, ksheera or a kwatha — and it is stated in the formula, not chosen freely.
• Madhu and ghrita in equal quantity by weight is a classical viruddha combination and must never be used as a vehicle together. Unequal quantities are the usual pairing.
• The anupana is part of the prescription. Changing it changes what the medicine does, which is why a text names it beside the matra and not as an afterthought.
• Ushnodaka is the default anupana where none is stated, and it is a real answer in a paper, not a hedge.

The karma, one by one

• Deepana kindles agni without digesting ama — chitraka, misreya. Pachana digests ama without kindling agni — musta, nagara. A dravya can do both, and shunthi is the standard example of one that does.
• Anulomana moves vata and the mala downward along their natural course without irritating — haritaki is the type dravya. Sransana loosens and brings down the accumulated mala with a little more force — aragvadha.
• Bhedana breaks up the bound mala and expels it — katuki, trivrit. Rechana liquefies and evacuates — trivrit, danti. The four are a graded series of increasing force: anulomana, sransana, bhedana, rechana, and getting the order right is the whole question.
• Vamaka induces vamana — madanaphala, the foremost; also vacha, nimba, kutaja. Madanaphala is called the best because it is the least harmful, not the most powerful.
• Chhedana cuts away the adherent dosha — maricha, shigru. Lekhana scrapes and reduces, used in medoroga and in the lekhana basti — vacha, musta, madhu.
• Grahi absorbs the fluid and kindles agni at once, so it is used in atisara — shunthi, jiraka. Stambhana simply arrests, without kindling, and the two are not interchangeable.
• Vyavayi spreads through the whole body before it is digested — bhanga, ahiphena. Vikasi loosens the joints by depleting ojas — kodrava, ahiphena. Yogavahi takes on the property of what it is combined with — madhu is the classic, and guggulu is the other.

Where the texts disagree

• Groupings: Charaka gives fifty mahakashaya of ten each, grouped by action. Sushruta gives thirty-seven ganas of unequal size, grouped by nature. A dravya may be in both, in neither, or in many.
• Virya: the twofold virya (ushna and sheeta) is the working answer; the eightfold virya is also described and is asked for separately.
• Brahmi: Bacopa monnieri in most of India, Centella asiatica in the south and Kerala. Both are in current use and both are defensible; name which you mean.
• Rasna, Murva, Amlavetasa, Shankhapushpi and Ativisha all have unsettled botanical identity, and a question about the source of any of them is a question about a real disagreement.
• Dashamula is not a thirty-eighth gana. It is Laghu and Brihat Panchamula together, which is why Sushruta's groups count thirty-seven.

Commonly confused

• Pippali, Pippalimula and Chavya - three articles from two Piperaceae species.
• Shatapushpa and Mishreya - swapped between north and south Indian practice.
• Brahmi and Mandukaparni - two unrelated plants, both called Brahmi.
• Meda and Mahameda, Riddhi and Vriddhi - paired dravya, separated by characters that do not survive drying.
• Madhuka - Yashtimadhu in most contexts, Madhuca longifolia in a group of trees.
• Kharpara (the ore) and Yashada (the metal).

Practise it, and prove it