Your pep-up tonic

Chyawanprash nourishes and strengthens the body. The key ingredient that
goes into the product is amla, says Shekher Phadnis

Chyawanprash is a traditional poly herbal formulation, which, prepared according to an ancient ayurvedic formula, is widely used as a tonic, rejuvenator anabolic and memory enhancer. It is believed that the formula of chyawanprash was discovered by the sage Chyawan. He was the first to prepare this tonic, and used it to regain his own youth and longevity. Charak Samhita, the ancient ayurvedic treatise written by sage Charak in the 4th century BC, contains the first historically documented formula for chyawanprash.

This excellent potion nourishes and strengthens the body, providing energy and vitality. In ayurvedic terms, after nourishing the seven dhatus of the body — rasa, including lymph, rakta or the haemoglobin fraction of the blood, mamsa or muscle tissue, medas or fat tissue, asthi or bone tissue, majja or bone marrow and shukra or the sperm in male and ovum in female — it promotes strength, virility, energy, lustre and intellect.

It has to be taken twice every day on an empty stomach, and milk should be had after half an hour. Each 15 gm serving has the antioxidant power equal to 500 mg of vitamin C and a calorific value of 45 or roughly 3 per gram.

The key ingredient among the 49 plants, fruits, roots, herbs and minerals that go into chyawanprash is amla (Indian gooseberry), now famous as the world’s richest source of vitamin C. Amla also has a generous helping of calcium, phosphorous, iron, carotene, carbohydrates, thiamine and riboflavin. If a recipe is faithful to the original Charka Samhita, the bible of Ayurveda , amla should form at least 30 per cent of chyawanprash.

In Vedic times, the ripest lemon-sized fruits were fried in ghee and made into a dark paste. This was combined with honey, boiled herbs (like bala, mudgaparni, mashapami, karkatshringi, bhumiamlaki, jivanti, pushkarmool, agarkashta, haritaki, guruchi, katchur, mustak, punarnava, neelkamal, vasak, kakanasa, yashtimadhu, varahikand, ashwagandha and satavari) as well as dried, fragrant powders like elachi (cardamom), lavang (clove) and dalchini (cinnamon).

There are umpteen brands of chyawanaprash in the market, and each preparation claims more ayurvedic herbs than the original prescription. Chyawanprash represents a major breakthrough in research and development in this product category. Rigorous laboratory tests have established the potency of these ingredients in enhancing the efficacy of chyawanprash.

Experts of the Western medical system of allopathy concede that daily consumption of ayurvedic`A0health supplements like chyawanprash can deliver several benefits to its consumers.`A0But, they point out, that making chyawanprash as the universal tonic for all goes even against the ayurveda’s basic principle of tridosha. Tridosha means three humoral factors — pitta, vadha and kapha (air, fire and water), which are responsible for performing all activities in the body. — MF

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