An Ayurveda medicine manufacturing unit is busy packaging its Karkkidakam special — Karkkidaka kanji kits. Soothing aroma of an oily mixture of herbs simmering in large bronze vessels fills the air in its sooty ‘kitchen’, where the medicines are prepared at Bhaskara Vilasam Vaidyasala. But an adjacent room in the ‘medicine factory’ in Panayamuttom, Nedumangad, turns a depository for parcelling up the ingredients already wrapped and sealed for the therapeutic porridge. Some of the factory staff carefully, but deftly, pick up little silver packets from steel trays and sort them to be finally put into the kits before they are sent to pharmacies.
“This is an annual ritual here when the Karkkidaka maasam kicks off,” says Pradeep Kumar, the factory manager. “All the ingredients that go into the Karkkidaka kanji are sourced and tested for quality in our laboratory.”
The murmur of rice being winnowed accompany our conversation. “Navara rice, which has many health benefits, is used for the breakfast kanji alongside roasted payar and oushadakkoottu (medicinal mix),” says Pradeep.
Factory staff winnow navara rice for Karkidaka kanji kits
He says though the process of preparing the oushadakoottu takes about only two weeks, the work starts much earlier in the peak of summer when the various herbs are sourced. Bhaskara Vilasam sources most of the herbs from places such as Thenkasi and Theni in Tamil Nadu while the rest are bought locally. “Some herbs like Krishna Thulasi , Kurumthotti , Thottavadi or Navara leaf can be easily found in the region. They are normally grown in households or sometimes naturally thrive in the backyards,” points out Pradeep.
A navara plant at Bhaskara Vilasam Vaidyasala premises
Rarer herbs are sourced with the help of distributors from within and outside the state. If they have to get something in bulk, they get in touch with the distributors. However, some common herbs are cultivated in a small farm near the factory itself. The raw herbs, shoots and roots are then culled, cleaned, cut and classified at the ‘unprocessed store’ before tested for quality. Those that pass muster reach the ‘finished store’ before they are crushed or powdered accordingly in a mechanised ‘pulverisation room’.
Karkidaka kanji kits being readied
“Some of the items that go into the oushadakoottu would require a different preparation method and would be processed separately,” says Pradeep as he leads us to the pulverisation room where judders funnel-mouthed machines. Nearby is a heap of drying Kudangal , or Pennywort, freshly sourced from suburbian bushlands, that will soon go as part of the next batch of oushadakoottu .
Kudangal, or Pennywort, that is part of the oushadakoottu
In essence
The o ushadakoottu in powder form includes aashali, changalamparanda, njavara leaf, jeera, kudungal, erikku, thottavadi (touch-me-not), krishna thulasi, kurunthotti, karuvapatta (cinnamon), chittaratha, karimkurinji, devadaram, aavanakk, karinochi, fenugreek seeds, uzhinjam, thiapplli, bhrahmi, ramacham, mukkutty, poovamkurunthal, muyalcheviyan etc.
