§16§Ayurvedic traditional medicines meet the primary health care needs of India and also adopted by a cross section of people across the Globe. The treatment employs a variety of medicinal preparations like extractions, powders, infusions, decoctions, oils, arishtas, asavas, sublimates, etc. Among them, arishtas and asavas are the only fermented preparations obtained exploiting the potentials of microorganisms in addition to the use of herbal raw materials. They are alcoholic medicaments prepared by allowing the herbal juices (asava) or their decoctions (arishta) to undergo fermentation with the addition of sugars. The book is a unique compilation of 44 arishtas and 45 asavas in addition to the other alcoholic beverages cited in classical Ayurvedic literature. It provides composition of herbs in binomials, dosage, medical properties along with the traditional art of preparation and quality assessment. Additionally, review of literature on modern scientific investigations is added. The §16§ book is a link between traditional wisdom of medicine and the modern tools of science and shall pave the way for the development of futuristic medicines for human welfare exploiting microbes and herbals.
