Ramandeep Kaur Romana
Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, India
Title: Is there any scientific basis of Hawan to be used in anxiety prevention/cure?
Biography
Biography: Ramandeep Kaur Romana
Abstract
Anxiety is a psychiatric disorder with unknown neurobiology however neurotransmitters like gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), nor epinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT) play crucial roles in mediating the affective circuitry underlying the clinical disorders of anxiety. Present anti-anxiety drugs pose a lot of dependence risk to the patient. There is a great need to develop complementary therapies to fight this disorder. Hawan has been a common religious practice and has been recommended for mental peace and well being by our ancient scholars and physicians. Hawan is a scientific experiment in which special herbs (Hawan Samagri) are offered in the fire of medicinal woods ignited in a specially designed fire pit called agni-kunda. Aromatherapy has also been employed in ancient times for a number of mental disorders. Mahamrituanjay Mantra the part of veda enlightens that sughandhim (aroma, fragrance) puushtivardhanam (gives rise to good health), Om triambkum yajamahe, sughandhim puushtivardhanam, urvarukmev vandhanaat and mrityu mokshay mamritaat. Present analysis of the hypothesis is based on action of Hawan components on anxiety through integration of modern and ancient concepts. Analysis of literature demonstrates that the components of Hawan are having a number of volatile oils that are specifically useful for prevention and treatment of anxiety through one or the other mechanism of action. Due to high temperature of fire the vapors of these oils from herbs enter into the central nervous system through nasal route. As per modern science and ancient texts on medicine, nasal drug delivery systems are the best for the diseases related to brain and head. The routine of performing Hawan might keep the threshold value of the therapeutic components in the body and help in preventing anxiety. In the present manuscript authors highlight and integrate the modern and ancient concepts for treatment and prevention of anxiety through scientific evidences.