Kameshwari modakaya
More actions
| Kind | Traditional medicine |
|---|---|
| Part of the plant | Seed Leaf |
| Also called | Kameshwari modaka |
Kameshwari modakaya (Kameshwari modaka) is a confection of Ayurveda in Sri Lanka, made from 22 plant drugs and rock salt with cannabis (bhaṅgā) seed and leaf fried in ghee, bound with sugar, honey and ghee. It is the eighth of the modaka preparations in the Sri Lankan Ayurveda pharmacopoeia, the Ayurveda Aushadha Sangrahaya, issued by the Department of Ayurveda in 1961. The pharmacopoeia names three actions for it: rejuvenative, relaxant and aphrodisiac. It is sold as Sanjeewani Kameshwari Rasayanaya, made to the pharmacopoeia's formula by the Sanjeewani Ayurveda Drug Company at Embilipitiya.[1]: 81, 84
Making kameshwari modakaya
The cannabis seeds and leaves are soaked in water for four to five hours, drained, dried naturally and fried in cow's ghee, the purification the pharmacopoeia prescribes before cannabis enters a medicine.[1]: 81 The other drugs are coriander seed, the three myrobalans, vacha, kushta, yawanika, ajamoda, liquorice, nigella, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, tejapatra, ginger, black pepper, long pepper, katphala, karkataka shrungi, shatee, thalisa patra and nagakeshara.[1]: 82–83
In the batches prepared for a 2025 study at the University of Colombo, the plant drugs and rock salt were powdered, roasted on a mild fire and mixed in equal amounts of 5 g each. The fried cannabis was powdered separately and added in a weight equal to the whole herbal mixture, 115 g. Sugar at twice the weight of the mixture (460 g) went in next, then honey and ghee to bring it to the consistency of a modaka. Fried sesame seed and camphor, 5 g of each, were added last.[1]: 84
Analysis
The study analysed three batches of the commercial product. They had a dark brown colour, a sweet taste and a paste-like consistency. No lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, aflatoxins or synthetic dyes were detected, and the microbial counts were within the permissible limits the study applied.[1]: 80, 89–91