Abstract

Rasayana chikitsa is said to be one amongst Astanga Ayurveda and is considered to be a boon to mankind. Rasayana drugs are useful for the maintenance of the age, improvement of intelligence and strength and also said to be beneficial for the elimination of diseases. Due to urbanization and heavy pollution prevailing in the environment, human beings succumb to different diseases which can only be handled through rasayana. Rasayana becomes a part and parcel of daily regimen and also a modality of treatment in chronic lingering diseases which tend to recur repeatedly. It is a well known fact that rasayana also can enhance immunity of an individual so that the person can be free from any variety of diseases. As there are innumerable rasayana dravya explained in the classics, Bhargava prokta rasayana is selected and undertaken for the present study amongst those populations who are exposed to environmental health hazards such as fly ash from thermal power plants. The present study which was carried out is a double blind placebo controlled clinical study conducted amongst 60 apparently healthy volunteers. Those included for the study were randomly divided into 30 each for the test as well as placebo group respectively. Before administration of the rasayana treatment, koshta shuddhi was performed for a single day in both groups which was followed by administration of Bhargava prokta rasayana/Placebo medicine 48 gms per day for 48 days in empty stomach during morning hours. The total duration of the study conducted was 49 days. The outcome of the study revealed that TNF alpha which is one of the cell signaling protein involved in systemic inflammation was significantly reduced thereby proving Bhargava prokta rasayana group in improving health status of all those individuals residing near thermal power plant exposed to fly ash.

Key words: Rasayana, Koshta shuddhi, Bhargavaprokta rasayana, TNF alpha