The Concept of Madya (Alcohol) in Ayurveda: A Comprehensive Review of Classical Ayurveda Literature

Abstract

The consumption of Madya (alcohol) is an integral part of daily life and relevant description of Ayurveda Madya can be found since Vedic literature. According to Ayurveda Medicine, it is considered as a food as well as a drug. The term Madya refers to all alcoholic beverages in general. When it is used in a proper manner, it acts like nectar to the body while the improper use can even cause death to the individual. Many authentic texts in Ayurveda has mentioned about the usage of Madya and this research was conducted with the aim of identifying the types, properties, therapeutic uses and pharmacological actions of Madya by using the Ayurveda texts such as Vriddha Thraya, Laghu Thraya, Nighantus and published articles in Web. Madya possess sour taste in prominent with sweet, pungent, bitter tastes as well. It is non-unctuous, penetrates deep, light, enter into minute pores, acts and spreads quickly in its qualities while hot in potency. Basically, there were five varieties of Madya and Arishta is the superior among them. The properties of Madya are similar to poison and opposite to Ojas (essence of vitality) and therefore it should be used by concerning about its useful effects as well as harmful effects too. Madya has the therapeutic actions such as, it improves the taste, helps digestion, laxative, cardiac tonic, cleanses the bladder, stimulates the sense organs and eliminates faeces and urine while relieving many diseases such as piles, hiccup, dyspnea, cough, anorexia, constipation etc. Mainly it gives Kapha and Vata dosha shamaka actions while aggravating the Pitta dosha. The important fact is, Ayurveda has described about the proper way of taking Madya, its beneficial effects and also it has been mentioned that improper usage of Madya gives rise to a disease condition called “Madathya”, and remedies to get rid from it has also been mentioned in Ayurveda texts. Therefore, it can be concluded that, Madya has numerous beneficial effects on human health and it should be used accordingly otherwise it will create unexpected harmful effects.