Plants of dhanwatari nighantu- a review

Dhanvantari Nighantu is one of the oldest Ayurvedic lexicon placed between 8th -10th AD. The original name of this lexicon is Drvayavali Samucchaya. This lexicon has seven Vargas(Groups) viz; Guduchadi Varga, Shatapushpadi Varga, Chandanadi Varga, Karaviradi Varga, Amradi Varga, Suvarnadi Varga, and Mishrakadi Varga, and the total numbers of drugs are 527. The materia medica of the drugs can be grouped on the basis of Rasa, Guna, Virya, Vipaka, and Prabhava. The lexicon starts with salutation to Lord Dhanvantari. The peculiar of this lexicon is the Varga(Group) starts with the name of the first drug e.g, Guduchi as Guduchadi Varga. Acharya Hemadri the commentator of Astangahridaya (One of the great triad text) mentioned this Nighantu(Lexicon) in the name of Dravyavali. The Dravyavali contains only the synonyms of the drugs; later on the properties of the drugs were added in this book. Therefore the Dhanvantari Nighantu is the compiled book. The author of this book is still unknown, but it is claimed that Mahendra Bhogika, son of Krishna Bhogika of Sthaneshwara now a days is called as Thane of Maharasthra India. Ksheeraswami the commentator of the Amarakosha has quoted the Dhanwantari Nighantu. The date of Ksheeraswami is 11th century AD. Hence the Dhanwantari Nighantu can be placed in 10th century AD. The present review work highlight only the medicinal plants and tried to resolve the controversial aspects with their exact botanical sources.