Abstract
Effect of traditional metal pots made up of copper and brass along with clay pot are used for water storage in India in routine use as well as in rituals and Yagya. During Yagya herbal fumes are exposed to water stored in copper and clay pot. To understand the utility of the copper and clay container during Yagya, in the present study, the pH of water in copper, brass, clay and glass containers were recorded in the presence and absence of herbal fumes exposure. The study used only mango wood fumes in one set of experiments and in other set of experiment herbal mixture plus mango wood fumes in Gayatri Yagya was used. The herbal fumes plus mango wood fumes and mango wood fumes both significantly made water pH alkaline in nature. Specifically, herbal fumes during Gayatri Yagya caused significant increase in water pH in copper (mean difference 0.42; n=3; p= 0.0032) and clay pot (mean difference 0.46; n=3; p=0.0013) compared to control. Interestingly, poring of water in brass pot (7.44 + 0.06; n=6; p<0.0001), clay pot (7.24+0.02; n=6; p=0.0013) and copper pot (7.26+0.06<0.0001) significantly increased water pH instantly it was added compared to control glass pot (7.13+0.04; n=6). Alkaline water utility has been well documented for human health and this study supports the scientific reasons behind traditional knowledge of Indian culture about storing drinking water in brass and copper vessels in daily routine as well during rituals.
Highlights
In India different metal containers such as copper, brass, etc. are used for water storage
The evaluation of effects of mango wood herbal fumes on pH of water The pH of water kept in different metal container along with the control had been recorded after 10 minutes of exposure to mango wood fumes in the closed Yagya room (Figure 1, Table 1)
The pH of water kept in different metal container along with the control had been recorded after 10 minutes of exposure to hawan samagri and mango wood fumes in the closed Yagya room (Figure 2, Table 2) during Gayatri Yagya keeping exposure of fumes for the same duration to that of only mango wood fume experiment
Summary
In India different metal containers such as copper, brass, etc. are used for water storage. In India different metal containers such as copper, brass, etc. During traditional rituals like Yagya these water pots of copper, clay are used and kept for specific purpose. The Ayurvedic system of Indian medicine has great antiquity, dating back to about 5000 years B.C. Its Materia Medica state the use of different metals, and contain resources in the form of drugs derived from metals, herbs, animal, and other mineral sources, (1), the use of which have been advocated in overall improvement of health and various different pathological manifestations. Pittala (brass) is an important metal known as MisraLoha, it is an alloy of Copper and Zinc, known since the period of ancient times of Samhita Kala. Rishi Charaka used this metal (brass) to prepare medicine Vastinetra. According to the descriptions available in Rasa RatnaSamuchaya, there are two varieties of brass which are Ritika and Kakatundi (2)
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