Asava and Arishta are medicated spirituous liquors. These are prepared from honey and treacle, with the addition of various medicinal substances. Asava and Arishta are very important dosage forms of medicine. They contain naturally generated alcohol. This alcohol acts as the medium for active ingredients of the herbs to dissolve in it. They are all steeped in water and laid aside in earthen jars for vinous fermentation.
These preparations combine the properties of spirituous drinks and those of the drugs used in preparing them. They are heating, stimulant, easily digested and stomachic. The proportion of the different ingredients, as a general rule, is as follows:
Water 32 seers, treacle 12 seers and a half, honey 6 seers and a quarter, medicinal substances 1 seer and a quarter, in powder or decoction. When raw vegetables are used for fermentation, the resulting fluid is called "Asava". When the decoction of drugs only is added, the fermented liquor is called "Arishta".
The preparation called "Draksharishta" is made with honey, sugar and decoction of raisins, with the addition of a few aromatics. Its action must be analogous to that of wines. It is used as a stimulant in exhausting diseases.
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