Literature Study on Opium Containing Drug Preparations Mentioned in “Vatika Prakaranaya”

Background: Vatika prakaranaya is one of the most important indigenous medical pharmacopoeia named “Vatika prakaranaya hewath Beheth guli kalka potha”. It was written by Dr. Illeperuma Arachchige Don Sadiris De Alwis Illeperuma in 1879 which contained different kinds of traditional drug preparations. It included various traditional formulae with its indications including opium containing drug preparations. Opium is considered as narcotic drug which acts on central nervous system. The most common active ingredients of opium are morphine, codeine and thibeine. In traditional drug preparation methods opium is taken after special purification.

Aims and Objectives

General Objective: To find out opium containing drug preparations mentioned in “Vatika Prakaranaya”.

Specific Objectives: To find out the indications mentioned in opium containing drug formulae.

To analyze the amount of opium in drug formulations.

Methods: The literary review was done by the principle investigator from Vatika Prakaranaya; from May to August 2017 in the library, Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The observations were recorded accordingly and the data were analyzed by SPSS and presented in percentage.

Results: 120 opium contained formulae were identified. Out of these 120 preparations 70.83% were pills (Guli) and 4% were pastes (Kalka) and 30 formulae were found as fluid vehicles in medicine (Anupana). Majority of them were prescribed for diseases in GIT (92.2%) and CNS (87.8%) disorders. When considering the amount of opium in these formulae majority of them (61%) had less than 5% of opium.

Conclusion: Most of the opium contained drug preparations mentioned in Vatika prakaranaya were used for GIT and CNS disorders and the amount of opium present in these formulae were less than 5%.