Role of Dhatura according to Agad Tantra in Ayurveda

Abstract

Ayurveda is considered as one of the ancient health care systems. The antique Vedic texts have scattered references of Ayurvedic Remedies and allied aspects of medicine and health. Atharvaveda mainly deals with extensive Ayurvedic information. Agad Tantra is one of the eight branches of Ayurveda dealing with identification of poison, types of poison from minerals, plant and animal kingdoms as well as artificial poisons prepared from poisonous drugs and their treatment. Dhatura is one of the Upvisha. It is a wildly growing plant from the Solanaceae family, used in many Ayurvedic formulations. This plant has contributed various pharmacological actions in the scientific field of Indian systems of medicine like analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-asthmatic, hypoglycemic, anti-rheumatoid, and wound healing activities. It contains a variety of toxic tropane alkaloids such as atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine, etc. every part of the plant is toxic, but the highest number of alkaloids is contained in the seed. Dhatura poisoning is common in India. The administration of improper amounts of Dhatura affects the central nervous system with symptoms such as dysphagia, dementia, confusion, convulsions, delirium, and hallucination.