Background: Arsenic containing drugs Rasamanikya (RM) and Haratal Bhasma (HB) are used in Ayurveda for the treatment of several ailments. They are prepared from raw Haratal (RH) by the distinct Ayurvedic procedure. Hence, proper scientific validation by physico-chemical studies is needed for their acceptability to the modern scientific community. Methods: RM and HB were prepared from RH. Namburi Phased spot test (NST) study was done to check the quality of prepared drugs. Loss on drying, extractive values, ash values was performed over the said two arsenic containing drugs. Sophisticated instrumental analysis like XRD, TEM, TGA, DTA, EDAX, AAS, etc. were studied to understand the crystal profiles, particle size, thermo stability, chemical microanalysis, trace elemental analysis of the drugs respectively. Results: XRD analysis of both RM and RH showed that they were comparatively amorphous in their structure. RH contains trace amount of lead which was confirmed by AAS analysis. TEM Image of HB showed that average particle size is 100nm. It is highly irregular in shape and is homogeneously distributed. While in the case of RM, images revealed that it is highly agglomerated to form small globules. Particles size is about 200nm. EDAX analysis revealed that RH contains Arsenic and Sulphur with wt% of Arsenic is 72.04% and sulphur is 27.96%. In HB wt % of Arsenic is 58.69% and sulphur is 11.69%. RM contains 41.77% wt % of Arsenic and 15.81% of sulphur. Both RM and HB also contain oxygen, carbon, silicon, etc. The DTA plot showed two endothermic peaks in the range of 300 to 600oc in the three samples of RH, HB and RM. Conclusion: Thus an attempt has been made for creating a comparative database of two such drugs by the incorporating modern analytical methods. It can be concluded that there were minimal comparative differences found in the HB and RM but HB showed better results from the standardization point of view.

Background: Drug standardization is the need of the era for proper validation of Ayurvedic medicines, specially the Ayurvedic bhasmas due to their herbo-mineral nature. There are several poisonous drugs used in Ayurveda which are used in practice without proper documentation. Haratal Bhasma is an important arsenic containing Ayurvedic drug used in Ayurveda for the treatment of several ailments. They are prepared from raw Haratal by the distinct Ayurvedic procedure. Objective: The raw Haratal is purified and converted to its bhasma form and was subjected to histopathological and toxicological study to evaluate the safety of this arsenic containing Ayurvedic medicine. Materials and Methods: 40 Adult Charles Foster Albino Rats of either sex, among them are grouped (Haratal, Haratal Bhasma) for the whole study. Toxicological and histo-pathological study of brain, liver, kidney etc were performed after 28 days in a maintained dose. Results: Haratal Bhasma and Raw Haratal exhibited nearly non toxicological profile, when administered in the dose of 60-65 mg of the drug/kg body wt. of the rats except minute inflammation and tubular dilatation in the vital organs. Conclusion: Haratal Bhasma is non toxic and safe, which may be attributed to compound form of arsenic in Haratal which is insoluble in nature in human body.