OA01.19. Standardization of jalnimanjjan purisha pariksha

PURPOSE: Ayurveda describes Agni dushti to be the root cause of all diseases in humans. The diagnosis of these diseases is mainly based on clinical features supported by clinical examination and ancillary investigations. For this several methods have been described in Ayurvedic texts, which can be broadly classified into Roga and Rogi pariksha. These examinations are mainly based on clinical observations. Examination based on laboratory investigations is rather a late development pertaining to medieval period. Mutra Pariksha and Purisha Pariksha were the main laboratory investigative tools in the past. Jalnimanjjan purisha pariksha, an old method of stool examination has been described in number of Ayurvedic texts of medieval period which was very popular in those times but now its use has become obsolete. Hence, it is important as a first step to revive this technique to standardize it. This study aimed at standardizing this technique of Jalnimanjjan purisha pariksha and observing for the normal variable range in 30 apparently healthy volunteers along with their Agni assessment and routine as well as microscopic examination of stool. METHOD: A water sample was standardised first to be used as media for nimanjjan and then different amount of stools were dropped. The height of dropping etc was standardized in random samples. After standardisation, test was performed in 30 normal healthy volunteers and the various observations were recorded. RESULT: Significant results were found in correlation with the various textual descriptions of Ayurveda regarding purisha and Agni pariksha. CONCLUSION: Similar study on a larger number of volunteers will further validate the data and can be used in future for the assessment of Agni by purisha pariksha.