SEMINAR ON AVARTANA
TECHNOLOGY IN
PHARMACEUTICAL
PREPARATIONS
By
Dr. Priyanka Patil
MD(Ayu)
Dept of RS & BK

INTRODUCTION
Avartana means repeating the process several
times in order to
 Potentiate the final product.
 To achieve the maximum result of the
drug.
 To reduce the dosage.

AVARTANA : AN OVERVIEW
 The word kalpana refers to Samskara or
yojana.
 kalpana is a method or process or kind of
modification of preparation of medicines
using either a single drug or several drugs.
 In Ayurveda we find a number of kalpanas
or various methods of preparation of
medicines.

 Avartana is such a process which
modifies the preparation and its
therapeutic properties.
 It is mainly explored in the context of
sneha kalpanas,Taila kalpana and Ghrita
kalpana.

DEFINITION
The Avartana technology is the
method in which repeated processing
of a Sneha is done with prescribed
Kalka and Drava dravya and heating
it to a specific number of times.

LITERARY REVIEW OF
AVARTANA
Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Astanga
Hridaya : avartana of ghrita and taila.
Ratnaprabha Teeka on Chakradatta: classical
book which explains the pharmaceutical
process of avarthy in the context of Dasha
Paka Bala Taila.

OBJECTIVES
• Obtain the maximum concentration of phyto-
constituents of the drug into the lipid
extractive media.
• Reduce the oleaginous medicaments into
small dosage form
• Increasing its potency.
• Easy administration and usage.

METHOD OF PREPARATION
• The basic ingredients are Kalka, Sneha, Drava Dravya
• Ratio 1:4:16 resp.
• The procedures are similar to Sneha Kalpana in case of
Ghrita Kalpana or Taila Kalpana.
• After Sneha paka, the Sneha is filtered and measured.

Cont.
• Then, the quantity of Kalka and Drava Dravya
for second Avarthy is calculated .
• This is added to the above filtered Sneha and
paka is done.
• Likewise continuously the Sneha paka is done
by adding the calculated Kalka and Drava
Dravya every time and paka should be
continued.

Cont.
• After each Sneha paka the quantity of Sneha
obtained will be less i.e. there will be loss in
each paka.
• It is seen that the consistency, the colour and
odour of the product changes in each Avarthy.

DIFFERENT OPINIONS REGARDING THE
METHOD OF PREPARATION OF AVARTANA
1. ACHARYA GAYADAS’S OPINION :
• In the 4th chapter of Sushruta Samhita chikitsa
sthana - Sahasrapaka Bala Taila.
• Method of preparation
 is similar to the general method of Sneha Kalpana
 process should be repeated every time by adding the
Drava Dravya.

2.ACHARYA JEJJATA’S OPINION:
On commenting Acharya Gayadas opinion,
Acharya Jejjata says if the process is
• repeated for 100/1000 times the loss will be
more and the final yield will be very less.
• So the process should be done by adding
100/1000 parts of Drava Dravya at a single
stretch.

• Acharya Gayadas substantiates,
• Ksheera which is added during the process of
Avartana will compensate the loss to some
extent.
• So the process is repeated for 100/1000 times.

3. ACHARYA NISCHALAKARA’S
OPINION
In ‘RatnaPrabha’ Teeka on Chakradatta, Acharya
Nishchalakara mentions the
• Dashapaka Bala Taila.
 ratio of ingredients is - 1:4:16
 method - similar to Sneha Kalpana.
• This process is repeated for 10 times then it is
called as Dashapaka Bala Taila.

• If pharmaceutical process of Sneha Kalpana is
repeated for 100 times, then it is said to be
Shatapaka Bala Taila .
• If this Taila is processed for further 1000 times
it is called Sahasrapaka Bala Taila.

REFERENCES REGARDING THE
NUMBER OF AVARTANA
• Name of the product No. of Avarthy
• Amalaka ghrita7 100
• Amalaka ghrita8 1000
• Ksheera bala thaila9 100
• Ksheera bala thaila10 1000
• Bala thaila11 10
• Bala thaila12 100
• Bala thaila13 1000
• Trivrut sneha14 100
• Yashtimadhuka taila15 100

TABLE SHOWING NO OF AVARTY’S IN
PRESENT PRACTICE
Sl no Name of the product No.of avarty
1 Ksheerabala taila 7,14,21,41,101
2 Sahacharadi taila 7
3 Dhanwantaram taila 7, 21, 41, 101

DISCUSSION
• Avartana is a technique of potentiating the
formulation. It is not mentioned as a basic concept but
the process may be extended to other formulations
apart from Sneha Kalpana.
• In Samhitas, we find the process being mentioned in
the context of Sneha Kalpana and particularly indicated
for Vataja disorders.
• The reason behind this may be because the property of
ghrita to obtain increase in efficiency by the repeated
processing as in ‘samskarasya anuvartanat”.
• Also Avartana may facilitate easy and proper
administration with reduced dose.

• The technique of Avartana is mainly told for Vata
disorders, may be because other dosage forms for Vata
like kwatha may become more Also the vatahara
properties of the sneha kalpas get enhanced by the
repeated processing and the simultaneous addition of
the kalka dravya may further result in obtaining the
maximum concentration of phyto constituents of the
drug into the lipid extractive media making the
formulation more efficaceous.
• The contemporary dosage form like soft gel,capsules
are based on this concept.
• There is mentioning of dasapaka , shatapaka and
sahasrapaka ie,10, 100 and 1000 times in the
Samhitas.
• But practically we come across 7,14, 21, 41 avarthy
preparations. rooksha by repeated processing.

CONCLUSION
Avartana technology in Ayurveda provides a
greater dimension to the specific formulation
concerned.
Obtain the maximum concentration of phyto-
constituents of the drug into the lipid extractive
media.
Here the constituent particles of the drugs are
imbibed into the medium at the microscopic level,
there by augmenting the therapeutic efficacy
Reduction of dosage.