Rasa Shastra Caldecott

Formulation in Ayurveda Todd Caldecott Rasa Shastra: Herbal Alchemy of the Nepali Bajracharya Tradition: An Exploration of Simple and Complex Ayurvedic Formulas with Case Studies by Todd Caldecott About 16 years ago, my fellow AHG colleague Alan Tillotson asked if I might be interested to working on a project and sent a manuscript written by his Nepalese teacher of Ayurveda, Vaidya Mana Bajra Bajracharya, aka “Dr. Mana.” Honored by Alan’s request, I readily agreed, fascinated by this opportunity to connect with a tradition of Ayurveda that was totally new to me. As I learned more about the heritage of Dr. Mana and the indigenous Newar people of Kathmandu, it became clear that Nepal is a treasure-trove of ancient Indian culture, home to perhaps the oldest continuously practiced lineage of Ayurveda in the world. Protected by the foothills of the Himalayas, for more than 2500 years the Kathmandu Valley has served as a safe haven for peoples fleeing persecution and war. Immigrants from the south brought with them the language of Sanskrit and their unique cultural practices, integrating with the indigenous Tibeto-Burmese population to create a cosmopolitan synthesis that is reflected in traditional Newar society. For many years, most of the authentic Sanskrit texts being discovered have been found in the Kathmandu Valley, where they have been preserved by different Newar families for centuries. Dr. Mana’s family alone has a huge library of ancient palm leaf manuscripts on Ayurveda and Buddhism that have never been seen or catalogued by Journal of the American Herbalists Guild (November 2016) Formulation in Ayurveda Todd Caldecott academic researchers. The Bajracharya lineage can be traced back to the fall of the ancient Nalanda University, which was sacked in the 13th century by the Turkic general, Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji. By this time, Nalanda had become a center of Vajrayana Buddhism, a syncretic form of Buddhist practice that incorporates elements of Saivite philosophy and the elevation of the feminine principle (i.e. Shakti). In contradistinction to the earlier celibate tradition of Buddhism, Vajrayana led to the development of a householder tradition of Buddhist priests (vajracharya) and their married “consorts,” who passed along their knowledge in a hereditary fashion. After the destruction of Nalanda, and because Bakhtiyar Khilji ordered the death of anyone with a shaved head, it was this householder tradition, with its emphasis upon ritualism and secrecy, that kept the teachings of Nalanda alive. Rasa Shastra Among the important medical contributions associated with Nalanda are those of Siddha Nagarjuna (c. 10th century), an abbot at Nalanda who was also a specialist in medicine and rasa shastra (iatrochemistry). As part of its spiritual heritage, Vajrayana claims the lineage of 84 different Mahasiddhas – many of whom might be described today as “crazy saints” – a collection of spiritual personages that lived on the fringes of society, challenging the normative socio-cultural values of the day in their search for the ultimate truth. Some of these Mahasiddhas sought to extend their lives Journal of the American Herbalists Guild (November 2016) Formulation in Ayurveda Todd Caldecott through the creation of powerful elixirs, developing complicated and sophisticated techniques, such as the use of specially purified minerals including gold, mercury, and arsenic. Siddha Nagarajuna is notable for many developments in the field of rasa shastra and Ayurveda, and through an unbroken lineage of Vajrayana hereditary priests, this medical tradition has been maintained by the Bajracharya medical tradition ever since. The use of heavy metals in Ayurveda is a subject that has understandingly attracted a lot of negative attention. Partly the issue relates to contaminants and adulterants found in cheap commercial Ayurvedic products produced in India, reflecting all the typical problems you might find in a poor, overpopulated, and polluted country. Some of these products, however, are a product of the rasa shastra tradition, and intentionally contain heavy metals. While this ancient tradition is much vaunted in India, it doesn’t mean that all rasa shastra products are necessarily safe. As a secret tradition, the techniques of rasa shastra were never meant to be widely disseminated, and it was only a select few over the centuries that had a grasp of the advanced techniques required to prepare these remedies properly. Since the 20th century, however, many esoteric texts on rasa shastra have been published, and are part of the curricula for Ayurveda training in Indian Government- approved colleges. The spread of this information has led to the widespread availability of alchemical products in the marketplace. Most of these products can be Journal of the American Herbalists Guild (November 2016) Formulation in Ayurveda Todd Caldecott obtained easily without prescription, often manufactured in such a way to make the traditional process more “efficient.” The problem is, however, that remedies prepared in this fashion aren’t authentic, and because of their improper manufacture and common use, are linked to several cases of documented toxicity. Despite the valid concerns raised by researchers, these same remedies have been safely used for hundreds of years by the Bajracharya lineage, and for the last 50 years with patients from all over the world. While there remains a lack of human clinical research on preparations made under traditional methods of processing in Ayurveda, experimental research on the purification of aconite and lead demonstrate that these techniques yield a profound difference between the crude (raw) drug and its purified form. In 2006, I first began to use some of the authentic, hand-made remedies prepared at Dr. Mana’s ancestral clinic, Piyushavarshi Aushadhalaya. Due to shipping costs, most of the remedies I use are compact, hand-rolled pills called vati, usually prepared in a base of Commiphora wightii (guggulu) resin as an excipient. Today I have these medications sent to patients all over the world, and I use them specifically in more complex conditions. Using these remedies has provided some insight into the nature of formulation in Ayurveda. Anyone familiar with Ayurveda, if not baffled by the Sanskrit names, is usually confused by what appear to be impossibly complicated formulas that suggest an ‘everything-but-the-kitchen-sink’ approach. In some cases, it’s not uncommon for a single herbal formula in Ayurveda to contain upwards of 50 Journal of the American Herbalists Guild (November 2016) Formulation in Ayurveda Todd Caldecott ingredients or more. This has led to the belief among some critics that Ayurveda is disconnected from its roots, preferring elaborate and complicated remedies to simple, honest herbal extracts. The reality is, however, that Ayurveda maintains a spectrum of remedies that can be applied in different contexts for different purposes, from simple ‘grandma’ medicine, to the highly complex polyherbal formulations of rasa shastra. To fully understand the art of formulation in Ayurveda requires a nuanced appreciation of its principles and practices, including the basic concepts of tridosha (three doshas), agni (digestive fire), and ama (toxin). Some formulas are very specific to certain doshas or combinations of doshas or used in specific disease states, whereas others have more general benefits. In almost every formula, however, there are herbs to ensure the proper function of digestion, even if to ensure the proper absorption and delivery of the formula ingredients themselves. Thus, the now- popular practice of mixing turmeric with Piper nigrum (black pepper, maricha) or P. longum (pippali), considered an imperative by some, is simply based on the general principle of dipana-pachana (stoking the digestive fire). This is particularly important when using bitter-tasting herbs such as turmeric, which can exert a suppressive influence on appetite and digestion. Simple Formulas Beyond the use of one or two herbs, Ayurveda maintains a collection of simple Journal of the American Herbalists Guild (November 2016) Formulation in Ayurveda Todd Caldecott formulas or samyoga aushadha (combinations of medicines). Each formula is denoted by a prefix, indicating how many herbs are in it, followed by a descriptive term. Thus the common formula Triphala is the “three fruits” formula (i.e., Terminalia chebula, T. belerica, Phyllanthus emblica), and Trikatu refers to the “three pungents” combination of Zingiber offcinalis (shunthi) rhizome, maricha fruit, and pippali fruit. Likewise, Trijataka refers to the “three aromatics” of Cinnamomum zeylanicum (twak) bark, C. tamala (patra) leaf, and Elettaria cardamomum (ela) seed, whereas Trihima refers to the “three refrigerants” of Santalum album (chandana) wood, Pterocarpus santalinus (raktachandana) wood, and Berberis nepalensis (daruharidra) root bark. Similarly there are combinations of four ingredients (e.g., Chaturjataka, the “four aromatics”), five ingredients (e.g., Mahatpanchamula, the “great combination of five roots”), six ingredients (e.g., Shaddharana, the “six supports”), eight ingredients (e.g., Ashtavarga, the “group of eight”), and ten ingredients (e.g., Dashamula, the “ten roots”). Once one becomes familiar with samyoga aushadha, rather than being a long disjointed list of ingredients, complex formulations in Ayurveda can be seen to be built upon a solid foundation of these sub-formulas. Complex Formula 1: Chandraprabha vati Among the more commonly

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