Abstract

Dr. Satish V. Dudhe*

ABSTRACT

Rasashastra deals with parade that is mercury and other rasadi dravya, which are classified under dhatu, ratna, upratna etc. All these drugs have high therapeutic value over the herbal drugs. All these drugs which come under parthiva varga have to be purified and converted into suitable dosage forms for the therapeutic use. If these drugs are not purified and the active principles are not modified, they may have deleterious effect over the body. So purification is an important step towards their safe and effective administration. Each of these drugs needs to be purified by various methods. To overcome these adverse effects and to make the drugs suitable for administration the drugs are subjected initially to a process known as shodhana. Shodhana can be broadly classified into samanya and vishesha shodhana and also saagni and Niragni methods.