AUTHENTICATION OF MANDOORA COLLECTED FROM DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL ZONES IN INDIA

Abstract

Mandoora is a commonly used mineral raw drug in the field of Ayurveda. As per the Ayurveda Pharmacopoeia of India (API), mandoora is an iron-cum-silicate compound having the composition of fayalite. According to the classics, mandoora is quite difficult to obtain because most authors recommend that 100-year-old mandoora should be utilised in pharmacological processes. Nowadays most of the pharmacies are using old rust, wrought iron, ferric oxides etc in the place of mandoora. Hence the study was conducted to find out the authenticity of mandoora available in the Indian market. For this study twelve samples of mandoora were collected from different geographical zones in India, like the north, east, west, and south. The classical and mineralogical characters of Mandoora mentioned in API were analysed using sophisticated instruments like XRD and EDXRF. In the XRD study Most of the samples detected a higher concentration of anorthite and wustite than the required fayalite. The fayalite quantity in some samples was found to be lower than the reference range as in the API.  None of the samples detected the required quantity of silica in the ED-XRF analysis The Pune sample was found to be authentic due to its >80% fayalite content in the XRD and its more than 30% Fe content in the geochemical analysis (ED-XRF).

Keywords- Authentic mandoora, Iron-cum-silicate, fayalite, XRD, ED-XRF