Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India– A Review

Abstract

Pharmacopoeia is a book of standards of identity, purity and strength of the medicine. With the publication of Ayurveda Formularies and Pharmacopoeias, the testing methods and protocols are available for single as well as multiple ingredients formulations. Two parts of Ayurvedic Formulary of India have been published in Hindi and English separately. The Pharmacopoeial standards of 540 single drugs have been published in seven volumes of Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Part-I. Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Part-II (formulations) contains the Standard Manufacturing Procedures (SMP) of 101formulations as well as their Quality Standards (botanical and phyto-chemical) in two volumes. The Pharmacopoeia consists of detailed description of monographs in alphabetical order for medicinal plants of prime importance used in Ayurveda. The monographs consist of pharmacognostical, chemical and Ayurvedic standards of the plant drugs. The data has been finalized after confirmation of various samples obtained from different agro-climatic zones by the cross-section of experienced scientists in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia Committee and after careful scientific scrutiny. The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India is more user friendly for scientists, manufacturers, students involved in quality testing of Ayurvedic medicines, research scholars, physicians of Ayurveda and many others who have interest in the quality standards of Ayurvedic medicines.