Traditionally fermented biomedicines, arishtas and asavas from Ayurveda

Ayurveda comprises of various types of medicines including the fermented forms namely arishtas (fermented decoctions) and asavas (fermented infusions). These are regarded as valuable therapeutics due to their efficacy and desirable features. The bulk of knowledge on these fermented medicines remains undocumented, unrecognized and invalidated. In the paper, the fundamental concepts in the designing of arishtas and asavas with representative examples have been highlighted. It further focuses on the art of preparation, fermentation, storage and usage of these products. The trends in commercial utilization are also investigated. The entire group of these fermented medicines comprising of 79 products are analyzed based on their utility in treating various illness of humans and a comprehensive grouping is evolved. The possible avenues of further investigations using the tools of modern science for the characterization, validation and improvement of these traditional products are indicated. IPC Int. Cl. 8 : A61K36/00, A61P1/02, A61P1/04, A61P1/06, A61P1/14, A61P13/00