The Siddha Pharmacopoeia is a series of volumes that aim to lay down scientific/pharmacopoeial standards for the identity, purity and strength of traditional Indian medicines: Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani. Like Ayurveda, Siddha today is not just confined to the southern regions of India, but gaining increasing popularity all across the subcontinent and beyond.
As a part of the ongoing project, this Part I, Volume II of the Siddha Pharmacopoeia presents 66 monographs on single drugs of plant origin – its preceding volume, namely Part I, Volume I, comprised 73 monographs. In compiling the monographs, the title of each drug has been given in Tamil (as mentioned in the Siddha Formulary of India), followed by the definition of the drug giving its identity in scientific binomial nomenclature, with authority and brief notes about its source, occurrence, distribution, and precautions in collection, if any. List of synonyms of drugs has been provided in Tamil and also in other Indian languages.
The monographs record the detailed macroscopic and microscopic description of the drug, with individual features, each having a pharmacognostic value in highlighting diagnostic features for identification, even if the drug is in powdered form. Under “Identity, Purity and Strength”, each monograph shows certain physicochemical parameters, like limits for Foreign Matter, Moisture Content, Total Ash, Acid Insoluble Ash, Alcohol Soluble Extractive, Water Soluble Extractive, Volatile Oil content, and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). The names of important chemical constituents, which have been mentioned in the monographs, have an informative value, based on the published research work in phytochemistry.
Published by the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health, Government of India, the Siddha Pharmacopoeia of India-series will be very useful to botanists, medical professionals, and specially the medical researchers looking for alternative medicine.
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