Vida lavana is one of the salts mentioned in the texts of Ayurveda, chemically known as Ammonium chloride. It is considered as an artificial salt (Kritrima lavana) by certain Rasashastra texts of Ayurveda and the method of preparation is also explained. In the present study, Vida lavana was prepared as per Rasa Tarangini, a Rasashastra text of 20th century AD. It was prepared by incinerating the mixture of Romaka lavana and powder of Amalaki (Phyllanthus emblica Linn.) in a closed chamber in an intense heat for six hours and allowed to self cool. After self cooling, the product greyish white crystalline salt, Vida Lavana was collected. Its elemental analysis was done in Energy Dispersive X ray Spectroscopy (EDX/EDAX). There was a large amount of loss in terms of yield during the preparation. EDAX analysis revealed that it predominantly contains chlorine and sodium followed by carbon. Though Vida lavana is commonly considered to be Ammonium chloriode, the product obtained out of artificial preparation in this study was sodium chloride itself.
Key words: Ammonium salt, EDAX analysis, Lavana panchaka, Rasa Tarangini, Salts
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