Importance of Media in Shodhana (Purification / Processing) of Poisonous Herbal Drugs

In Ayurveda, a series of pharmaceutical procedures which converts a poisonous drug into a therapeutically very effective medicine for various ailments is termed as Shodhana. Various medias are being used for processing the herbal poisonous drugs, are quite interesting to understand with modern scientific technology. The analysis of media before and after Shodhana (purification /processing) will give clear rationale behind the selection of the particular media for the particular drug. The change that takes place during the Shodhana process can be explored by modern analytical methods. Researchers have proved the presence of strychnine and brucine in milk after Shodhana of Nux-vomica highlighting the role media for Shodhana. Importance of Shodhana, the role of media used for Shodhana process of few poisonous drugs is dealt briefly with scientific view.