Arka Kalpana is one among various kalpanas in Ayurveda. Arka kalpana is one of the most special and important kalpana. In contemporary science, Arka kalpana is generally defined as distilled water of herbal medicines. Ravana is believed to be the inventor of Arka Kalpana. He has authored a book named Arkaprakasha¹. This book is dedicated towards the various arka preparations and its uses. The exact time period for the composition of this book is not clear. But these Arka preparations are proving to be effective even in todays practice both for the sadhya and the asadhya vyadhis both in Ayurveda as well as the Unani medical systems. The acceptability of these Arka preparations increases in the patients owing to its low cost, ease of production, ease of use and rapid absorption. Arka can be formulated in many different ways. Ancestors prepared arka in mud pot initially and later adopted the loha patra for its preparation. Now a days even the pressure cooker is used for preparation of Arka.

However, standardization of the arka prepared using these methods are very important and have proven need of the hour. Keeping this picture in mind this work was taken up and Ajamoda Arka was prepared using three different methods and standardization and analytical study was also performed. Just to provide more support to the directives of our sages we have plan one research-oriented study to evaluate the hidden theme of “Bahukalpam” and to explore the hidden pharmaceutical wisdom of “Arka Kalpana”, this study was planned. This study discusses about the standardization, advantages & disadvantages of all the three methods used for preparation of Ajamoda Arka.

Key word: Ajamoda arka