What the formulary's ingredient names mean
The Ayurvedic Formulary of India names its ingredients in Sanskrit, and it does not use one name per drug. Across the 106 entries transcribed on this site, 2,144 ingredient rows use 660 distinct spellings. Abhaya and Pathya are both haritaki. Nagara is sunthi. Marica is black pepper. This resolves each name to a botanical identity where one could be established, and says plainly where one could not.
A label names its ingredients in Hindi or by binomial; the formulary names them in Sanskrit. Without a crosswalk between the two, the official standard for a classical preparation cannot be checked by anyone who does not already read Sanskrit pharmacognosy. That is what this is for.
| Ingredient rows covered | 2,144, across the 106 entries transcribed here |
|---|---|
| Distinct names | 660 |
| Resolved to a botanical identity | 479 names, 1,730 rows |
| Of the plant rows | 1,663 of 1,918 |
| Resolved by a gloss the book itself prints | 585 rows |
| Used for more than one drug | 18 names, marked ambiguous rather than collapsed |
| Unresolved | 163 names, published as unresolved rather than guessed |
How a name was resolved, and why that is stated on every row
The strongest evidence is the formulary's own: it prints a gloss against an ingredient on 722 rows, so where it says Abhaya (haritaki) that is the book telling you which drug it means. Those glosses are used per row and never chained, because a gloss is true of the row it is printed on: an early version of this work chained them and produced Madhuka = Madhu = Maksika resolved to arjuna, merging liquorice, honey and a mineral calcine across 47 rows.
Otherwise a name is matched against the herb monographs published here, which carry GBIF-resolved binomials. An exact name match wins outright and an approximate one is flagged: 700 rows rest on an approximate match. That distinction is not pedantry. Pippali is Piper longum and Pippala is Ficus religiosa, one vowel apart and unrelated, and a matcher built for product names called the most-used ingredient in the formulary a sacred fig across 40 rows before exact matches were made to win.
Names the formulary uses for more than one drug
Reported rather than resolved. These are facts about the vocabulary, and a crosswalk that silently picked one reading would be wrong a predictable share of the time while looking complete.
Every resolved name
Ordered by how often the formulary uses it, because the commonest names are the ones a reader checking a label will meet first.
What is still unresolved
163 names, 119 of them plant drugs this project holds no monograph for, and the rest vehicles, sweeteners, salts, fats and mineral preparations that have no botanical identity to resolve. They are listed so the gap is visible and someone can close it with a source.
Water for decoction (40) · Kustha (22) · Guda (18) · Ghrta (14) · Saindhava lavana (12) · Water (9) · Ajamoda (8) · Patola (8) · Sarpi (7) · Sita (7) · Ativisa (6) · Bharngi (6) · Laksa (6) · Sarkara (6) · Elavaluka (5) · Gairika (5) · Sarsapa (5) · Satahva (5) · Utpala (5) · Yasti (5) · Ksirakakoli (4) · Pauskara (4) · Sauvarcala lavana (4) · Yastyahva (4) · Aja ksira (3) · Balaka (3) · Coraka (3) · Duralabha (3) · Madhucchista (3) · Nilotpala (3) · Parpata (3) · Puskara (3) · Vida lavana (3) · Vrddhi (3) · Water for decoction reduced to (3) · Abhraka bhasma (2) · Bhadraila (2) · Dhanvayasa (2) · Gorocana (2) · Kunkuma (2) · Lauha-bhasma (2) · Madhuyasti (2) · Masa (2) · Nakha (2) · Pundrahva (2) · Saileyaka (2) · Samudra lavana (2) · Sarala (2) · Saurastri (2) · Siktha (2) · Trayanti (2) · Vrddhika (2) · Yavasaka (2) · Abhra (abhraka)-bhasma · Aja dugdha or Go dugdha · Aja paya · Ajadugdha · Ajaksira · Akika bhasma · Aksoda · Anistna · Aranala · Arimeda · Arimeda-valkala · Aruskara-Suddha · Audbhida lavana · Bhallataka-suddha · Brharti · Candrodaya · Chagamamsa rasa · Cimbilva · Ciñca rasa · Devahvaya · Dhatumaksika-bhasma · Dhenudbhava · Drugs 1 to 26 for kalka · Gandha - suddha · Gandhaka-suddha · Gavya ksira · Gomaya svarasa · Gomutra · Gudici · Gudtci · Havi · Havisa · Himambhasa · Hingupatri · Hribera · Jirna guda · Kaharuba pisti · Kakanasika · Kakatikta · Kalka of ingredients 1 to 20 · Kastdri · Khanda · Kopana · Krsnajiraka · Ksirasukla · Kulinjana · Kumari rasa · Madhusnuhi-sodhita · Mahisi ksira · Mandura-bhasma · Manikya bhasma · Matsyandika · Mrgandaja · Mrgaretasa · Mukta bhasma · Mura · Musali · Mutra · Nalika · Pakva Loha-bhasma · Pariisa · Parusaka · Pasugandha · Patola-patra · Payah · Prapaundarika · Prativisa · Pravala bhasma · Raktapuspaka · Rasa (parada)-suddha · Raupya (rajata) bhasma · Ritmimastagi · Sahacara · Saileya · Sangeyasaba bhasma · Sarpi (goghrta) · Saugandhika (gandhaka)-suddha · Sauviranjana · Siddhartha · Silaja · Silajatu · Silajatu-suddha · Sindhuttha · Sprk · Srngataka · Sruvavrksa · Sthauneya · Sthulaila · Suddha gandha · Sulva (tamra)-bhasma · Suska milaka · Suta - suddha · Svarji ksara · Svarjika ksara · Svarna bhasma · Tankana - suddha · Tripadi · Turuska · Tuttha · Tutthaka · Vahlika · Vanga-bhasma · Vida · Visamusti - Suddha · Visani · Vrddhadaruka · Vrscikali · Yamanika · Yastyahvaya · Yavaksara (Praksepa dravya)
Download
afi-crosswalk.json, afi-crosswalk.csv and afi-crosswalk.pdf, CC BY 4.0. The CSV is one row per ingredient row, 2,144 of them, carrying the formulation, the formulary entry number, the name as printed, the gloss the book printed beside it, what it resolves to and on what basis. That is the join anyone checking a label against the formulary actually needs.
The PDF is this same material, generated from the same file so the two cannot disagree, and it carries the canonical address, the DOI and the Wikidata entity on its first page so a copy that travels alone can still be traced back.