Abstract

Unani tibb is a non-conventional system of medicine based on a holistic approach towards promotion of health and prevention of disease. In ancient literature, the preparation of salt through lixiviation has been mentioned as an art and a profession too. Later on, this procedure was refined and became a pharmaceutical process as amal-e-iqla by the medieval al-chemist and therapeutically used by the physicians. Amal-e-iqla, a pharmaceutical term means process of salt production. Its equivalent term is lixiviation that is a physico-chemical process by which a soluble substance, i.e., salt, is extracted through dissolution (solution) in water. The soluble substance is subsequently recovered from the solution through evaporation. The recovered substance is known as salt or khar or namak. Thus, it is obtained from a number of plants e.g. barley (Hordeum vulgare) known as jaokhar, musk melon (Cucumis melo) known as namak-e-kharpaza, radish (Raphanus sativus) known as namak-e-turb etc. A pharmaceutical strategy was made to prepare khar-e-chirchita as per Unani Pharmacopoeia of India (UPI) and standardize it. The standardization was done by evaluation of its organo-leptic characters, composition and fingerprinting. The composition and fingerprinting were detected by using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), flame photometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. For the purpose of composition, it was analyzed for the presence of sodium, chloride, phosphorus and magnesium by AAS and flame photometry. The fingerprinting was done by using FTIR in fingerprinting range i.e. from 400-1500cm -1. This study was the first attempt to standardize it.