Though the poisons are harmful and dangerous to life, Ayurveda has mentioned their uses therapeutically as medicine after shodhana. This particular process affects the morphological as well as active part of the crude drug. These processes are being used since a very long time. Hence it becomes necessary to study these changes systematically and scientifically with the help of modern methods, so as to give a scientific base to these processes. Abrin, the toxic principle of Gunja (Abrus precatorius Linn), exerts its toxic action by attaching itself to the cell membrane. Its toxic effect is due to its direct action on the parenchymal cells and RBCs. The unpurified Gunja beeja extract if administered into the vein, it causes agglutination of blood. Hence in the present study, shodhana of both red and white variety of Gunja beeja was done in different media (Godugdhha, Kanji and distilled water) by swedana in Dolayanytra. Agglutination process was studied before and after shodhana of Gunja beeja by mixing a drop of Gunja beeja extract into a drop of blood sample of healthy individual of different blood groups on a glass slide. Agglutination was observed in ashodhit samples of both type where as it was absent in all shodhit samples. This explains that after shodhana, the toxic principle has been destroyed
Key words: Shodhana, Abrus precatorius, Agglutination.
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