ADHAKI (Seed)
Adhaki consists of dried seed of Cajanus cajan Linn. (Fam. Fabacem), an erect shrub 1.5 to 3 m high, cultivated nearly throughout the country as a pulse crop.
SYNONYMS
Sanskrit : Tuvari
Assamese : Ruharmah
Bengali : Arhar
English : Pigeon Pea
Gujrati : Tuver
Hindi : Arhar
Kannada : Togari
Kashmiri : —
Malayalam : Thuvara
Marathi : Toor
Oriya : Harada, Kandulagachha
Punjabi : Arhar
Tamil : Adagi Tuvari, Thuvarai, Tuvarai
Telugu : Kandulu
Urdu : Arhar
DESCRIPTION
a) Macroscopic
Seed rounded to oval, 0.4 to 0.7 cm dia., having a white hilum; varying in colour from yellow and red to brown; odour and taste not distinct.
b) Microscopic
Seed coat shows single layered, radially elongated, palisade-like, thin-walled cells, covered externally by striated cuticle and internally supported by a single layered bearer cells, followed by 8 to 10 layers of tangentially elongated, elliptical, thin-walled, parenchymatous cells; cotyledon composed of oval to polygonal, thin-walled, parenchymatous cells most of them containing groups of simple, rounded to oval starch grains, measuring 5 to 36 n in dia. Powder- Light brown; seed coat in surface view shows polygonal, thin-walled cells with intercellular spaces; groups of oval to polygonal, parenchymatous cells, and rounded to oval starch grains measuring 5 to 36 n in dia.
IDENTITY, PURITY AND STRENGTH
Foreign matter Not more than 2 per cent, Appendix 2.2.2.
Total Ash Not more than 4 per cent, Appendix 2.2.3.
Acid-insoluble ash Not more than 0.5 per cent, Appendix 2.2.4.
Protein content Not less than 20 per cent – (as determined by following method)
Method:
Determination of Total Nitrogen:-
Place an appropriate amount of the substance, accurately weighed, in a 500 ml Kjeldahl’s flask of hard glass. The material to be tested, if solid or semi-solid, may be wrapped in a sheet of nitrogen free filter paper for convenience in transferring it into the flask. Add 10 g of powdered potassium sulphate, 0.5 g of powdered copper sulphate and 30 ml of nitrogen free sulphuric acid. Incline the flask at an angle of about 45° and gently heat the mixture, keeping the temperature below the boiling point of the mixture until frothing has ceased. Increase the heat until the acid boils and continue the heating for four hrs until the solution acquires a clear greenish colour. Allow the mixture to cool, add 150 ml of water, thoroughly mix the contents of the flask and cool again. Add cautiously, so as to cause the solution to flow down inside the flask to form a layer under the acid solution, 100 ml of a 30 % w/v solution of sodium hydroxide in water. Add a few pieces of granulated zinc, and connect the flask by means of kjeldahl connecting bulb with a condenser, the delivery tube from which dips beneath the surface of a mixture of 30 ml of 0.5 N HCl or 0.5 N H2S04 and 25 ml of water contained in an Erlenmeyer flask or a wide mouthed bottle of about 500 ml capacity. Mix the contents of the flask by gentle rotation, and distil until about two thirds of the contents of the flask have distilled over. Add about 3 drops of solution of methyl red to the contents of the receiving vessel and determine the excess of acid by titration with 0.5 N sodium hydroxide. Repeat the experiment with the same quantities of reagents and in the same manner, but omitting the substance under test. The difference between the two titrations represent the acid required to neutralize the ammonia. Each ml of 0.5 N hydrochloric acid or 0.5 N Sulphuric acid is equivalent to 0.007004 g of N. When the nitrogen content of the substance under test is known to be low, 0.5 N hydrochloric or 0.5 N sulphuric acid may be replaced by 0.1N hydrochloric acid or 0.1 N sulphuric acid and 0.1 N sodium hydroxide should then be used in titrating the excess acid. Each ml of 0.1 N hydrochloric acid or 0.1 N sulphuric acid is equivalent to 0.001401 g of N
Total Protein =Total Nitrogen X 6.25.
T.L.C.
T.L.C. of alcoholic extract of the drug on Silica gel ‘G’ using Toluene: Ethyl acetate (90: 10) shows under U.V. (366 nm) four fluorescent zones at Rf. 0.11, 0.23, 0.30 and 0.40 (all blue). On exposure to Iodine vapour three spots appear at Rf. 0.23, 0.30 and 0.96 (all yellow).
PROPERTIES AND ACTION
Rasa : Madhura, Kasaya
Guna : Laghu, Ruksa
Virya : Sita
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Kaphahara, Medohara, Pittakara, Sangrahi, Vatakara, Varnya, Visapaha, Stanyavrddhi
IMPORTANT FORMULATIONS – Kankayana Gutika
THERAPEUTIC USES – Kana Atisthaulya, Raktavikara, Raktapitta, Visaroga, Sthaulya, Medoroga, Arsa
DOSE – As directed by the physician
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