Appraisal of tipu sultan's contributions toward development of unani medicine: a critical analysis

Unani system of medicine has enjoyed the status of being royal since antiquity, and various rulers and governments have paid special attention toward its growth and development. In India, Tipu Sultan, a highly cultured intellectual, academician, physician, scholar, and a great scientist, was one of those who played an important role in the advancement of Unani medicine. He had an imperial library located at Srirangapatna housing more than 2000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, and Hindi, dealing with medicine, military science, music, Hadith, law, Sufism, history, philosophy, grammar, astrology, poetry, and mathematics, of which 62 books were related to medicine. He also possessed vast expertise in treating various diseases, which is inferred from his personal letters and communications. He not only showed interest in preserving Unani manuscripts but also mentioned about 45 books on the subject of medicine in his memoirs. The health system was highly sophisticated in his territory among his contemporary kingdoms. Moreover, physicians and surgeons were regularly inducted to serve the injured and wounded soldiers in every battalion. The present study judiciously inspected the contributions of Tipu Sultan toward the patronage and promotion of Unani medicine, especially in the southern part of India in the 18[th] century

Therapeutic potential of silver in Unani system of medicine: an overview

Metals play important roles in human body, the deficiency of which may lead to various disorders. Earlier there was a perception that metals are not compatible with human body at all, but now it has been reported that number of metallic compounds are essential for body and some are in the category of essential elements. Metals are present in human body in different concentration and combination at various sites and help the respective body tissues to perform their required activities. Perfect health is attributed to the state of equilibrium of these metals in body tissues. Any imbalance in their concentration or inactive states disturbs the body metabolism. Silver is one of the metals known since antiquity. It was used for medicinal purpose since time immemorial. The first recorded use of silver for medicinal purposes dates back to 8th century A.D. where Ibn Sina used silver filings for palpitation of the heart. In Unani system of medicine it is used in the form of kushta [calcined-oxidized herbo-metallic form] and warq [thin foils]. It is highly recommended in fever, chest affections, impotency, seminal weakness, painful and irritable conditions of the stomach, heart burn, chronic diarrhoea and nervous affections. This review is an effort to summarize the detailed prospects of ancient literature on silver along with recent pharmacological studies