PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISATION OF SAMAGUNA BALIJAARITA KAJJALI AT DIFFERENT DURATIONS OF GRINDING

Abstract

Kajjali is a khalweeya rasayana that can be used as a medicine and also is a base for many mercurial preparations. It is an example of sagandha niragni murchana of parada. Shodhita parada and any other dhatus like gandhaka are taken in the prescribed ratio and ground together till they attain specific characteristics like fineness and jet-black colour like collyrium. In this paper, the work done on pharmaceutical and analytical aspects of samaguna balijaarita kajjali at different grinding durations is detailed. The pharmaceutical study included shodhana of parada and gandhaka and grinding them together for 100 hours. Vareetaratvam was attained by 20 hours, rekhapoornata by 40 hours, and nishchandratvam by 70 hours. 5 samples were collected 20 hourly and were subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Particle size analysis (PSA), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). All 5 samples were identified as a mixture of sulphur and metacinnabar in XRD. PSA showed decreased particle size with an increase in the duration of grinding and reached 480nm after 100 hours of grinding. TGA of Kajjali implied that thermal stability improves with the duration of grinding. From the study, it can be concluded that as the duration of grinding increases, the particle size of Kajjali decreases, and thermal stability improves. These properties contribute to a better therapeutic action of the Kajjali as medicine itself or as an intermediate product of any mercurial formulation.

Keywords- samaguna balijaarita kajjali, metacinnabar, parada, gandhaka, XRD, PSA, TGA