Traditional practices
Dr. Vinayaka B. Shet
Assistant professor
Department of Biotechnology Engineering
NMAMIT, Nitte
Email: vinayakabshet@[Link]
Website: [Link]
Use of silver
✔ Ornament
✔ Dinner set
✔ Cutlery
✔ Holly water
✔ Preservation of milk with silver coin
✔ Place honey in silver container
• Silver ions are believed to impact on bacteria in a
number of ways, including:
✔ extracellular binding or precipitation of silver to
bacterial cell walls (Bellatone et al., 2002);
✔ the inhibition of essential enzymatic functions via
interaction of the ions with the thiol-group
(sulfhydryl group) of L-cysteine (Liau et al., 1997);
✔ the production of ROS (Park et al., 2009);
✔ interaction with DNA (Thurman & Gerba, 1989).
Use of gold
✔ Ornament
✔ Swarna bindu prashana
Composition: Honey, ghee, herbs, and it helps
the gold particles to form into various size,
shape, charges, and composition.
Ancient immunization technique with no
adverse effect
Age: 1-5 years
Up to 16 years
Dose: 30 minimum
Time gap: 28 days
Empty stomach
Early morning
Benefit
Immunity (cellular and humoral)-Non specific
Anti-inflammatory properties
Antimicrobial
Intelligence
Digestive power
Tones up the skin
Preparation of kajal (Organic)
Other materials:
Dry turmeric, Badam
Use of kajal
✔ Cosmetic
✔ Babies
Benefit
✔ Filtration
✔ Ward off evil eye
✔ Give freshness to the eyes.
✔ Nourishes tired, dry, rough and injured eye.
✔ Strengthens nerves and muscles of eye.
✔ Increase circulation thus provide better
nutrition to cells.
Ayurvedic bhasma
• Ayurveda and other Indian system of
medicine use metals
• Bhasma are unique ayurvedic metallic/
minerals preparation, treated with herbal
juice or decoction
• Animal's derivative such as horns, shells,
feathers, metallic, nonmetallic and herbals
are normally administered as Bhasma.
• A Bhasma means an ash obtained through
incineration.
• The starter material undergoes an elaborate
process of purification (shodhana), followed by
the reaction phase, which involves incorporation
of some other mineral and herbal extracts.
• Then the material in pellet form is incinerated in
a furnace.
• The end product is expected to be a nontoxic
material.
• Bhasma are claimed to be biologically
produced nanoparticles, which are prescribed
with several other medicines of Ayurveda.
• Gold in tradition Indian ayurvedic medicine
as Swarna Bhasma (gold ash) has been
characterized as globular particles of gold
(56-57 nm).
• The general preparation of Swarna
Bhasma involves the three processes
of shodhana, dravana, and marana. The leaves of
gold are heated over fire and dipped in sesa
(Sesamum indicum) oil when its red hot, process
is continued seven times separately.
• The soft leaves are processed with buttermilk/
cow's urine and the decoction
of kulattha (Dolichous biflorus), kanji (sour gruel
processed from rice [Oryza sativa]), and radish
(Raphanus sativus).
• Finally, the leaves are dried by heat. The
mixture is triturated and the paste thus
obtained is dried under sunlight. The process
of triturating and drying under sunlight is
repeated 7 to 14 times.
• Varatika is identified as the external shell of
sea animal Cypraea moneta Linn. It occurs in
the coastal areas of the sea. Cypraea moneta
is commonly known as the money cowry.
Chemically it is carbonate of calcium.
Its kashaya (decoction) was prepared for the
purification process.
• Fresh Aloe-vera was collected and its juice
was used for making cakrikas or pellets to be
used in the incineration process of Varatika.
• Ingredients are the raw Varatika,
Kulattha kashaya (Horse gram decoction for
purification), Kumari svarasa (Aloe-vera juice)
for grinding during incineration.
Performing homa/havan
• Agnihotra/Yagya/ homa/havan is a part of
Indian rituals, and one of the ancient therapy
of healing recommended by Ayurveda.
• An agnihotra is a simple form of homa
• This is performed according to the procedure
described in the Vedas and other Vedic
literature to reap the benefit in the form of
good health and ecological balance.
• As Ayurveda is associated with Atharvaveda,
it contains applied knowledge of medicine, so
it also recommended the Agnihotra, i.e.
Homa therapy.
• Communicable,or infectious diseases, are
caused by microorganisms—one billion
people affected by natural calamities due to
contagious or communicable diseases in the
last two decades.
• Communicable diseases are also considered
disasters because which can cause epidemics
and pandemics.
• The references in ancient literature for
microorganisms and infectious diseases are
found on the name of Kurumi and Krumirogas
or Aupasargikrogas, respectively.
Microorganisms (Krumi) are thought to be the
causative factors of infectious diseases.
• Epidemic or pandemic (Janapadodhwansa)
occurs due to vitiation of Vayu (air), Jala
(water), Desh (area), and Kala (season).
• For this reason, Ayurveda advocated
sterilization of water, air, soil and atmosphere
with the help of Agnihotra, i.e. Homa, Yagya,
Dhupana.
• They reduced the microbial load to non-
pathogenic levels and helpful for the prevention
and control of epidemic conditions.
• Homa is a technical term of bio-energy from the
Vedic science. It indicating the purification and
removing the toxic conditions of the atmosphere
through the constituent electrons of the
substances fumigated in the Homa is an obvious
effect of this process.
• Various materials are used in this therapy like
cow dung cake, rice, ghee and medicinal
plants either as a firewood or Samidha, which
are helpful for purification of the atmosphere
resulting in prevention and control of various
communicable diseases.
• Agnihotra/Homa performed in copper
pyramid shape vessel with cow dung cakes, or
medicinal plants stem and ghee, rice as
offerings to the fire with whisper of
mantras at sunrise and sunset.
• The nano-sized-medicinal molecules
produced by processing under fire as smokes
of hawan.
• [Link]
rituals_and_practices/significance-of-havan-
homam/
• Recently, Korea tested turmeric smoke,
characterized its carbon nanomaterial.
• The sizes of these nanoforms varied from
5 nm to 500 nm.
[Link]
Sambrani dhoop
• The term Sambrani is coined by Ayurveda (an
ancient system of medicine) for the yellow
resin, a gum-like substance that comes from
perfumed bark of Sal tree. The sap
is extracted from the tree by making an
incision in the bark of the tree.
Storage of water in copper vessel
✔ Water has the arrangement of molecules
✔ Due to hydrogen bonding
✔ Distributed positive and negative charges of
the molecule leads to solubility
✔ Internal polarization, even though water is
neutral
✔ During the flow, kinetic energy retains the
structure of water
✔ The structure of stagnant water gets
disturbed depending on the components
dissolved and becomes unstructured
Why structured water?
✔ Required to remove toxin substance from the
body.
How to make structured water?
✔ Place copper plat or store water in copper
container for 8-10hours
What happens in copper vessel?
✔ When water is stored in a copper vessel or
bottle, for eight hours more, copper releases
some of its ions in the water, through a
process called the Oligodynamic effect.
✔ Copper surface has the free moving electrons,
that makes water structured again.(Delta
negative and delta positive)
Benefit?
✔ Structured water (use for cooking,
consumption)
✔ Also kills microorganism
✔ Maintains Total Dissolved Solid (TDS)
✔ Clean the container with tamarind daily to
remove deposited material, killled
microorganism
Homeopathic medicine
✔ Homeopathy, also known as homeopathic
medicine
✔ Developed in Germany 1784 by Dr. Samuel
Hahnemann
✔ Based on two unconventional theories
❖ “Like cures like”—the notion that a disease
can be cured by a substance that produces
similar symptoms in healthy people.
❖ “Law of minimum dose”—the notion that
the lower the dose of the medication,
the greater its effectiveness. Many
homeopathic products are so diluted that no
molecules of the original substance remain.
✔ Homeopathic products come from plants:
such as red onion, arnica [mountain herb],
poison ivy, belladonna [deadly nightshade],
and stinging nettle
✔ Minerals (such as white arsenic), or
✔ Animals (such as crushed whole bees).
✔ Homeopathic products are often made as
sugar pellets and available as liquid.
How it is prepared?
✔ Homeopathic medicines are prepared
through a characteristic process known as
potentization.
✔ Potentization involves serial dilution and
agitation (by means of strong strokes) or
trituration at each stage.
✔ Trituration consists in the fine grinding of a
starting-substance with lactose, which is used
when the starting-substance is not soluble in
water or alcohol.
✔ Potency levels are designated as “x‟ (or ”d‟) and
“c‟ when they are diluted 1:9 and 1:99
respectively at each stage. Without agitation (or
trituration), a dilution is thought to be devoid of
any therapeutic effect and should not be termed
potency.
Example
✔ Potency 12cH was diluted 1:99 12 times with
strong strokes at each dilution level; “H‟ here
stands for Hahnemann‟s method.
✔ According to Avogadro‟s number, there
should be no molecule of the starting-
substance in potencies above 12cH.
✔ Nevertheless, much higher centesimal
potencies, such as 200, 1,000, 10,000 cH, etc.
are routinely used in homeopathic clinical
practice with satisfactory results.
• Arsenic album
Traditional paan
✔ Betel leaf (Piper betle)
✔ Areca nut (Areca catechu)
✔ Slaked lime (chuna; calcium hydroxide)
✔ Heating shells quick lime is produced
✔ Hydrated lime is the reaction of this quick
lime with water
Preparation of henna
Burning agricultural waste
✔ Minerals (Eg: silica, potash, Ca,Mg and Fe and
anions of phosphate,chloride and sulphate)
✔ Carbon nanoparticle
✔ Nanofertilizer
Use of rusted nail in agriculture
✔ Arecanut tree
✔ Fruit rot disease or Koleroga (Phytophthora)
✔ Rotting and heavy shedding of fruits are the
characteristic symptoms during south-west
monsoon (June-September).
✔ Bordeaux mixture [copper(II) sulphate
(CuSO4) and quicklime (CaO)used as a
fungicide]
[Link]
kerala_farmer_saves_arecanut_trees_fungus_rusted_nails.html