Table Of ContentDR. K. M. NADKARNI'S
I N D I AN
M A T E R IA
MEDICA
With Ayurvedic, Unani-Tibhi, Siddha, Allopathic,
Homeopathic, Naturopathic & Home Rem,edieS)
Appendices & Indexes
<Originally edited by the late Dr. K. M. NADKARNI, F.S.SC,
L.A., (Lond.): M.C.S. (Paris) M.BR.PH.C. (Lond.) etc.)
Third Edition
Revised & Enlarged by
A. K. NADKARNI
IN TWO VOLUMES • VOLUME TWO
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CONTENTS
VOLUME TWO
Part II
MINERAL KINGDOM .. • • 1-13S
Part III
ANIMAL KINGDOM .. .. •• 135-234
APPENDIXES
I, Drugs (officinal and non-officinal) ac-
<L'aKdxa.<|, ta t,b5ala.^Q^Jl^.ca.l. and. vhjjslQlQ?-ical
actions .. .. .. • • 235-274
II. Drugs, preparations and their Specifit^ ^^^
more important uses in diseases • • 274-313
IIL Equivalents and substitutes for impoftant »
foreign etc. drugs .. .. • • 313-326
Therapeutic Index of diseases and ^^^
ments (with their equivalents in Sans
krit) and their remedies .. • • 327-400
IV, Approximate percentage, composition,
and calories etc. in foods and dietetic
articles .. .. •• 401-415
V. Vitamins in foods and dietetic articles;
(vitamin requirements of man) • • 415-526
Vitamins in Fruits .. .. • • 426-435
Addendum to above table of vitamins etc.
incl'dding Fish Food-value chart • • 436-487
VI. Principal forms of Ayurvedic medication
and methods of their preparation and uses
in brief •• 487-506
Vn. Therapeutic Agents, with their defini
tions, brief explanations and a few
examples .. .. .. .. 506-528
INDEXES
Index List of Plants in this book arranged according
to their Natural Orders .. .. .. 529-615
Index List of Natural Orders, Genera and Families,
appearing in this book, with their respective
alternatives, English and Indian equivalent
^ names .. .. .. .. 616-622
T Index List of Indian Plants and Drugs from which
Mother-tinctures and Extracts etc., are pre
pared according to the Homoeopathic system of
medicine .. .. .. .. 623-637
Index of Preparations, Combinations, Substances
and allied products of all kinds .. .. 638-664
Index of Chemical Constituents (Mjijor and minor;
significant and insignificant) .. .. 665-714
General Index—Cross Index of SJ^nonyms (in all
languages, dialects, etc.) .. .. 715-968
"To be a Physician is to my mind the
grandest thing in the world. A good -physician
is a God-serid in any comnnunity and a bless
ing in the consulting room.''
—Dr. Jones, M.D., D.Sc, Ph.D.
"There is neither East nor West, nor Border,
nor Breed, nor Birth, when too strong Forces
of Civilisations and Cultures stand face to
face, tho' they come from the ends of the
earth".
—Dr. Walter Eugene Clark, Ph.D.,
Prof, of Sanskrit in the University of Chicago
"We live in tirmes of a New Renaissance. Old
values, ancient traditions and out-dated con
cepts are crumbling fast under the impact of
a changing world. Thinkers exhort all to
think and act in terms of a greater humanity,
to raise above the mean limitations that crip
ple our growth and retard our progress, to
consider everything and being as our brothers,
irrespective of all accidents of birth and con
spiracies of circumstances. And, in all things
that affect us to gaze at new horizons and
'hitch our wagons to the stars'. Humanity is
one! Truth is real! Culture is our food
and drink—Unity and Progress through
Culture!!!".
THE
INDIAN MATERIA MEDICA
PART II
(MINERAL KINGDOM)
1. ADAMAS
Sans;—Heeraka; Hirakam; Vajra. Eng.—Diamond. Fr.
Diamant. Pers.—Almas. Hind. Ben. & Mah.—Heera. Tel.—
—Bajar. Mai. & Tarn.—Vairam; Vayaram. Can. & Kon.—
Vajra.
Source.—Obtained from mines, formerly from Grol-
conda (Deccan); now mostly from Johannesburg in South
Africa.
Characters.—^A gem of the most valuable kind con
sisting of pure carbon and remarkable for its hardness and
clear transparency and brilUance.
Classification.—It is divided into classes according to
its colour and form:—^The white coloured; the red coloured;
the yellow variety; the black variety. The round sized one
with high gloss and line or spot is termed male.
Purification & Preparation.—Diamond is purified by
being enclosed within a lemon and boiled in the juice of
the leaves of Agati grahdiflora. It is reduced to powder thus.
—A paste is made of the root of a cotton plant with the juice
of some betel leaves, both the vegetables being not less than
three years old. The diamond is then enclosed within this
paste and roasted in a pit of fire. This process is repeated
seven times, when the stone is easily reduced to a fine powder.
Another process consists in roasting the diamond enclosed in
a paste made of horn-shavings for three times in succession-
2 THE INDIAN MATERIA ADEDICA
it can also be purified after having it beaten with horse's
urine land then cooking it in the putapaka process.
Action.—Diamond thus prepared is a powerful alterat
ive, tonic, stimulant, improves nutrition, increases the strength
and firmness of^the body and removes all sorts of diseases.
Dose is about 1 grain. It generates the secretion of semen
and is always preferred for medicinal purposes. For internal
administration prepared or purified white diamond is pre
ferred, the red-colored is beneficial in various diseases and
prevents premature death. -The yellow Variety gives strength.
The black variety is also beneficial in several ailments.
Uses.—Diamond forms an ingredient of several alterat
ive and tonic medicines such as Trailokya Chintatnani Rasa,
Ratnagiri Rasa, Sarvangasundara Rasa etc, which contain be
sides diamond, pearls^ gold, iron, talc, mercury, etc., in vary
ing proportions and are used in similar cases. Trailokya
Chintamani Rasa contains diamond, gold and pearls one part
each and iron, talc and Rasa Sindura 4 parts each, rubbed
together with the juice of Aloe indica and jnade into two grain
pills. Another preparation called by the same name contains
the above ingredients minus iron and also prepared coral,
orpiment, realgar and aconite. It is useful in gastric dis
orders, general debility, asthma, phthisis, diarrhoea, colic,
anaemia, sexual debility etc. Dose is 1 to 3 pills of one grain
each, three times a day.
2. ALUMEN
Sans.—Sphatikari; Surashtraja; Kamakshi; Tuvari. Eng.—
Alum; Sulphate of Alumina and Potash or of Aluminium and
Ammonium; Aluminous sulphate. Pers.—Shab-i-yemeni; Zake
bilor; Zake-safed. Arab.—Shabb-Zaje-abyaz; Zaj. Hind.—
Phitikhari; Phitkari. Ben.—Phatkiri. Bom.—Sambe-mani.
Guj. & Dufc.—Phatkari. Mah-.-^Turati; Phatki. Tarn.—Pati-
karam; Padikharam; Shinacarum. Tel.—Pattikaramu; Padi-
kharam. Can.—^Phatikara. Sink.—Shina-karan. Bwrm.—
Khiii; Kyouh-kyen; Keo-khin, Malay.—^Tawas.
WITH AYURVEDIC; UNANI •& HOME REMEDIES S
Source.—Chiefly found with peroxide of iron in Silajit
or in Alum earths of Nepal or prepared from the alvun shales
in the Punjab, Rajputana, Bihar and Cutch States. As
found in the bazaars, it is often mixed with impurities; it may
be rendered fit for medicinal purposes by dissolving it in boil
ing water, straining the solution and evaporating it- so as to
obtain crystals, which should be preservied for use. Alum is
a general name for a class of double sulphates containing
aluminium and such anetals as potassium, ammonium, iron,
etc.
Characters.—Colourless, transparent crystals, with acid^
sweetish astringent taste.,
Action.—Astringent, caustic, haemostatic, antispasmodic
and antiseptic; irxitant and purgative in large doses; emetic in
repeated doses. It constringes small vessels and organic fibres
and thus acts in diminishing the exhalations, secretions and
supply of blood to a part.
Uses.—It is useful in leucorrhoea, haematuria, haemop
tysis, menorrhagia, gastric and intestinal catarrh and other
haemorrhages; in fluxes of the respiratory passages with pro
fuse ropy mucous phlegm; in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery
and in atonic discharges generally. In chroiiic diarrhoeas, a
mixture containing 10 grains of alum, 5 drops of laudanum and
I2 ounces of infusion of acorus root, given thrice daily is
useful. In the diarrhoea preceding cholera and in the diar
rhoea of phthisis, a compound powder of alum, catechu and
cinnamon each 10 grains mixed with honey is given in repeated
doses. It is useful also in strangury and vomiting in small
doses i.e., 2 to 10 grains. Ten grains of it arrests the spasms
of asthma. In narcotic poisoning in children it is a good and
efficient antidote. In whooping cough, after the first or acute
stage has passed, alum in doses of 2 to 4 grains according to
age of the child, given twice or thrice a day, in the form of
powder or in solution in Omum water (1 in 60) in doses of a
teaspoonful to a dessertspoonful for a child from 1 to 4 years
old, given thrice a day is most beneficial. For asthma and
cough alum 5 grains in half an ounce of rose water is given-
twice a day. Persons bitten by serpents are made to drink
buttermilk or water mixed with 6 mashas (72 grains) of good
