Madana modaka
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| Kind | Traditional medicine |
|---|---|
| Part of the plant | Leaf Flower Seed |
| Language | Sanskrit |
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| Recorded in | The Materia Medica of the Hindus (1877) |
| First recorded | 1877[1]: 240–241 |
| Still made | Not known |
Madana modaka is a confection of Ayurveda, made into boluses, in which bhang leaves, flowers and seeds fried in ghee are mixed with an equal weight of 20 other ingredients and sweetened with sugar and honey. In 1877 Uday Chandra Dutt set out its composition as an example of the many bhang confections he found described in books. It was used for cough, chronic bowel complaints and impotence.[1]: 240–241 Swagata Tavhare and Rabinarayan Acharya list two formulations of the name among the Ayurvedic formulations in which bhaṅgā is a major ingredient.[2]: 62
Making madana modaka
Dutt's recipe takes the three myrobalans, ginger, long pepper, black pepper, sringi, pāchak root, coriander, rock salt, zedoary root, leaves of tālīsa, bark of katphala, flowers of nāgakesara, ajowan, the seeds of vanayamānī, liquorice root, fenugreek, cumin and nigella seeds, in equal parts. The bhang is "hemp leaves with flowers and seeds fried in clarified butter, equal in weight to all the other ingredients". Sugar equal in weight to the hemp is added.[1]: 241
The sugar is made into a syrup, the other ingredients are added as a fine powder, and the mass is worked into a confection. Ghee, honey, powdered sesame, cardamom, cinnamon, tejapatra leaves and camphor, two tolās of each, are added last, and the confection is made into boluses of about 80 grains each.[1]: 241
Sources
Dutt names madana modaka with kāmeśvara modaka and bālyasakrāsana modaka among the "numerous confections of bhāng" described in books, considered aphrodisiac and used in chronic bowel complaints and nervous debility, and gives its recipe as "an illustration" of them. He thought majoon "would ... be a neater substitute for these complicated preparations".[1]: 240–241 His Materia Medica of the Hindus prints the Sanskrit text in a footnote.[1]: 241 In 1894 Abhilas Chandra Mukerjee, a Bengal excise officer, repeated the recipe almost word for word in his evidence to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, citing the Sāra Kaumudī.[3]
Tavhare and Acharya give one Madana Modaka for vājīkaraṇa and rasāyana in a dose of two tolās, citing the Rasarājamahodadhi, and another for grahaṇī, taken with warm milk, citing the Rasaratnasamuccaya and the Bharata Bhaiṣajya Ratnākara.[2]: 62, 74–75 In the texts they survey, Madana Modaka uses the leaves of bhaṅgā, fried in ghee.[2]: 73 Madananda Modaka, from the Bharata Bhaiṣajya Ratnākara, is a separate entry in their tables.[2]: 62
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Dutt, Udoy Chand (1877). The Materia Medica of the Hindus. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink. pp. 235–241 – via Wellcome Collection.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tavhare, S.D.; Acharya, R. (2017). "Exploring the pharmaco-clinical view on Bhanga (Cannabis sativa Linn.): a classical unfamiliar portrayal". International Journal of Pharmaceutical & Biological Archives. 8 (6): 59–78.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Babu Abhilas Chandra Mukerjee, Brahmin, Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, on deputation as 2nd Inspector of Excise, Bengal". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. p. 169 – via Internet Archive.