Panchakshari Patil

Snehana Therapy: Expecting Proper Panchakarma Panchakshari Patil

Panchakarma is the main treatment modality which is widely used in all the eight branches of Ayurveda. The shodhana therapy is more admired by virtue of its capability of complete elimination of doshas. On the other hand it has major disadvantages too. If this therapy is not done with proper indication and purvakarma, it may cause hazardous unwanted effects like shock, hemorrhage and death also. To avoid these unwanted effects, Acharyas have instructed to do proper purvakarma. Before adopting shodhana it is necessary to do snehana and swedana properly. Snehapana is a major preparatory procedure because of its multifaceted action. Shodhananga abhyantara snehapana is advised before vamana and virechana. Samyak snigdha lakshanas which are described in all texts are different in milieu. Some Acharyas have mentioned it in the context of shodhanarth snehapana whereas Acharya like Kashyapa have mentioned it in the context of shamana snehapana. So there is no clarification regarding the samyak snigdha lakshana according the type of snehapana.