Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Control in Classical Ayurveda: A Textual Review

Abstract

Ayurveda, as documented in its classical treatises, presents detailed prescriptions on the materials, shapes, and uses of utensils and apparatus, recognizing their active role in preserving potency, preventing contamination, and enhancing therapeutic value. The choice of vessel, the process of storage, and the way in which food or medicine is finally dispensed all shape its safety and effectiveness. From everyday utensils made of clay or metal to specialized crucibles used in Rasashastra, the ancients described in remarkable detail how these supports could preserve potency, prevent decay, and even add therapeutic qualities of their own. This review examines passages from six authoritative treatises: Caraka-Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Ashtanga Sangraha, Ashtanga Hṛdaya, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, and Rasa Ratna Samuccaya. The analysis shows how copper, silver, gold, earthenware, and crystal were purposefully chosen for specific foods or drugs. Techniques such as shade-drying, filtration, and consecration reflect an early sense of quality control. The crucible, defined as a remover of impurities, illustrates a technological insight parallel to modern calcination. What emerges is a picture of Ayurveda as a system already alive to principles that we now call quality assurance, packaging science, and hygiene. These insights remain relevant as we look for sustainable and culturally rooted practices in contemporary pharmaceutics. Taken together, these textual insights underscore that Ayurveda anticipated several principles now embedded in good manufacturing practice, nutraceutical packaging, and public health standards. They also highlight the continuing relevance of traditional knowledge for developing safe, sustainable, and culturally grounded pharmaceutical practices today.