Department of Dravyaguna

DEPARTMENTAL PROFILE:
अनेनोपदेशेन नानौषिधभूतं जगत िकिǠद्ūʩमुपलɷतेतां तां यु̚ततमथōतंतमभŮेȑ||१२||
[Charak Sutrasthan 26/12]
According to Acharya Charaka there is nothing on the earth which is not medicine. That’s why
Ayurveda considers all substances as medicine, if used for specific purposes in an appropriate
way.
Dravyaguna vigyan deals with the principles, qualities, action and therapeutic profiles of the drugs and food substances in Ayurveda. It is an important branch of Ayurved, as herbal drug is
the main tool of Ayurvedic treatment. Along with theoretical lectures, applied knowledge is
given to students through live demonstration of medicinal plants in the herbal garden and
museum of raw samples of drugs.
This department also includes modern pharmacology, Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutics of plants
and other materials related to medicine.

 

MUSEUM:
Most valuable asset of our department is the departmental museum. More than 300 genuine raw
material specimens are preserved and classified in different manners in the museum. It contains
Himalayan plants and rare species like Astavarga (Kaloki, Jivak etc.) and other rare plants –
Pashanbheda, Shati, daruharidra, Chirayata etc. specimens collected from different regions of
the country. More than 500 Herbarium sheets are also preserved. A reference museum
consisting of useful part of the plants with all details is also available in department. And many
more informative and attractive charts, models, posters and flex are present. And also,
department related articles are present those are very helpful to plant identification and
knowledge purpose.

Herbal Garden:
We have 307 species and more than 3200 medicinal plants in our herbal garden. the students
are motivated to take benefit of departmental herbal garden to identify the species and to
understand the morphological characterization of medicinal plants.

DEPARTMENTAL STRENGTH:
 All faculty members are well qualified with good experience of teaching at UG level and
PG level.
 Departmental library is a rich source of reading material containing many rare and out of
print books like Nighantus.
 UG students from different college/ institutes, school students and common people
regularly visit departmental herbal garden to enrich their knowledge of various plants
species. Some of the plant products from herbal garden are also used regularly for
preparation of herbal medicines in college pharmacy.

UNIQUE FEATURES:
 The department often participates and exhibits medicinal plants in various
exhibitions.
 Free consultancy regarding Cultivation, Plantation of medicinal plants for
interested people is offered by the department.
 The well-planned herbal garden that includes several extinct and rare species of
flora is unique feature of department.
 Total no. of species is more than 307 whereas total no. of medicinal plants is more
than 3200. Departmental faculty actively participates in lectures regarding
awareness and cultivated of Medicinal plants.

Deals with principles of Ayurvedic pharmacognosy and pharmacology with a special focus on identification of controversial drugs, adulterants and substitutes used in Ayurvedic practice. Ayurveda has developed a unique approach to understand pharmacology of natural substances through meticulous analysis of taste, physico-chemical properties, potency and bio-transformation of the drug. Ayurveda traces the pathway of drug action right from the point of its ingestion through various stages of its digestion and metabolism to the point of its excretion from the body. Ayurveda understands drug action as the net result what happens when the drug acts on the body and the body acts on the drug. Dravyaguna deals knowledge of nomenclature (namajnana), pharmacognosy (rupajnana), pharmacology (gunajnana) and pharmacotherapeutics (yuktijnana). The hallmark of Ayurvedic pharmacology is its theoretical framework that attempts to understand complex interactions between various ingredients in a formulation that work in synergestic manner to produce a pharmacotherapeutic action that initiates the process of healing.The department has a herbal garden consisting of about 307 plant species which includes herbs, shrubs, climbers, trees and aquatic plants. It is used to train scholars through proper identification and their therapeutic uses. The herbs of the garden are used to prepare fresh medicine and cater to the indoor patients admitted in the hospital. Each and every plant has a name plate displaying their sanskrit name, latin name, family, classification, used part and their  therapeutic uses.