Keywords
smoke
antimicrobial activity
mantra chanting
Herbal smoke
How to Cite
Abstract
Yagya (known as a fire-ritual) is an ancient Vedic Indian method of herbal inhalation therapy. It is also described as an excellent mode of environmental purification. Here, a comparative study of antimicrobial activity of smoke extract of Yagya and non-Yagya has been performed. ‘Yagya’ in this text, refers to the burning of wood, specific types of dried medicinal plant materials (hawan samagri) along with ghee with the citation of mantras, whereas the term Non-Yagya implies burning of wood, hawan samagri, along with ghee. In non-Yagya the mantra citation has not been done. An apparatus was designed to simulate the burning process, and the smoke fraction was captured for antimicrobial activity on human pathogens i.e Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Salmonella typh. Antimicrobial activity was performed using disc diffusion method. Antimicrobial data revealed that the ‘smoke-extract’ obtained from Yagya experiments with mantra chanting had higher zone of inhibition values compared to that of same experiment conditions except presence of mantra chanting suggesting an important role of the mantra chanting in Yagya for medicinal applications
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