ABSTRACT
Ayurveda employs drugs as medicinal preparations extensively in many forms and Caraka Samhita classifies them in the very first chapter into those of vegetable, animal, and earthy origin. The action of a drug is not limited to its bhuta lineage or its taste experienced in the mouth. The drug is prepared in different forms to suit the patient who may be a child, adult, edentulous, apprehensive, weak, and so on. The preparation of drugs in ancient India was often done in the physician’s home or Gurukula or in the house of affluent patients. Indigent patients were often supplied medicines free by the physician as compassion was a fundamental requirement for the practice of Ayurveda. However, the stagnation and decline in Ayurveda for centuries prior to and during the British rule in India bore witness to the collapse of many traditions in the training of physicians, service to patients especially surgery, and the development and practice of pharmacy.
