Swarna bhasma, also called gold bhasma or gold ash, is gold that has been purified, ground with other substances and heated repeatedly in sealed clay crucibles until it becomes a fine powder. Laboratory analyses of finished samples find it is mostly metallic gold, in particles ranging from a few nanometres to tens of microns. It is a medicine of Ayurveda's rasa shastra tradition, not a food: follow your doctor's advice before taking it, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, on medication or have a long-term condition.
At a glance
- A 2021 analysis in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine of one manufacturer's swarnabhasma, made with 14 heating cycles reaching 900 °C, found 95 per cent gold, gold nanoparticles of 5 to 20 nm and no mercury.
- Paul and Sharma (2011) measured two batches bought in Chennai: gold crystallites of 28 nm, clumped into particles with mean diameters of 669 and 717 nm.
- A 2021 study of five manufacturers' products found 32 to 98 per cent gold by weight, and 5.4 per cent arsenic in one sample.
- India's Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 give svarna bhasma no expiry date, and Schedule T requires bhasma makers to keep shodhana, bhavana and puta registers and temperature records.
- A 90-day rat study published in 2020 at 3 to 30 mg/kg a day reported no treatment-related organ changes; the manufacturer co-authored it. The one randomised human trial we found, in 102 infants, reported no adverse drug reactions.
What is swarna bhasma?
Swarna bhasma is the calcined form of gold used in rasa shastra, the branch of Ayurveda that works with metals and minerals. "Bhasma" is usually translated as ash, but a finished bhasma is not burnt residue: X-ray diffraction shows the crystal structure of metallic gold, and the 2021 paper states that "XRD confirms that swarnabhasma comprises of pure gold". It is prescribed in small quantities by a physician.
Classical texts attribute many uses to it, but the 2021 authors write that "the exact mechanism of action of this drug is yet to be explored", and that its claimed safety rests on use since ancient times.
How is swarna bhasma made?
In outline: the gold is purified (shodhana), combined with other substances and ground (bhavana or mardana), then calcined (marana) in sealed earthen crucibles heated in a pit of cow-dung cakes (puta). The cycle is repeated until the powder passes the classical tests. Details and inputs depend on the text the maker follows.
The table follows the mercury-and-sulphur method one manufacturer described in the 2021 paper and a 2017 paper from the same group. A 2002 study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology followed a different recipe: realgar (arsenic sulphide), lead oxide, gold and Calotropis gigantea latex. The name on the jar is the same; the chemistry going in is not.
| Stage | What is done | What it is meant to achieve | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shodhana (purification) | Gold heated red hot and quenched in a Bauhinia variegata decoction three times; mercury and sulphur purified separately | Remove impurities | Patil-Bhole et al. 2021 |
| Bhavana or mardana (grinding) | Gold and mercury pounded with citron juice into an amalgam; each heated product ground with fresh sulphur | Break the metal down and bind it with sulphur | Patil-Bhole 2021; Thakur 2017 |
| Marana or puta (calcination) | Amalgam and an equal weight of sulphur sealed between two earthen crucibles; heated in a pit of about 30 cow-dung cakes to 800–900 °C; cooled; repeated 14 times | A fine powder that passes the classical tests | Patil-Bhole 2021; Thakur 2017 |
| Bhasma pariksha (classical tests) | Floats on water, fills the lines of the fingers, no smoke, no grit between the teeth, no metal recovered on heating with silver | Decide whether the batch is finished | Patil-Bhole 2021; Thakur 2017 |
| Records | Shodhana, bhavana and puta registers; temperatures attained | Required under Schedule T | Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 |
What do laboratory analyses find in finished swarna bhasma?
Mostly gold, as metal, in a wide range of particle sizes, with figures that vary by maker. The 2021, 2017 and 2011 analyses all matched their X-ray diffraction peaks to metallic gold.
The 2021 analysis found spherical gold nanoparticles of 5 to 20 nm, gathered into aggregates of 500 to 600 nm, and 95 per cent gold by gravimetric analysis; ICP-AES detected 14 other elements, silver, iron and zinc among them, and no mercury. The authors caution that the results "cannot be generalized for all samples of bhasma of gold"; several of them work for the company that supplied the drug. Paul and Sharma (2011) found 28 nm crystallites clumped into 669 and 717 nm particles in their two Chennai bottles, and read about 90 per cent gold.
The widest spread came from a 2021 study in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine that bought products from five manufacturers. Gold content ran from 32 to 98 per cent by weight; one sample contained 5.4 per cent arsenic, and mercury was below detection in all five. The authors called for stricter quality control. The 2002 study, made with arsenic sulphide and lead oxide, reported arsenic and lead among its product's trace elements. The recipe and the maker decide what is in the jar; only a certificate for the batch tells you.
What do India's rules say about swarna bhasma?
Bhasmas are Ayurvedic medicines under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Rules of 1945. Schedule T carries supplementary good manufacturing practice guidelines for rasaushadhies, and its certificate is issued only after inspection by a team including rasa shastra experts nominated by the Department of AYUSH. Temperatures attained during bhasmikaran must be recorded, along with registers of shodhana, the "type and number of puttas" and the in-process tests. Rule 161B gives svarna bhasma no expiry date; a note to its table says bhasmas in the general bhasma group "start solidifying after five years and they need one or two 'Puta' again before using in the dosage form".
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India also publishes monographs on metals and minerals; we could not open them online, so this article does not quote them. A 2022 paper in Toxicology Research reports the Ministry of AYUSH limits for Ayurvedic medicines as 10 µg/g for lead, 1 µg/g for mercury, 0.3 µg/g for cadmium and 3 µg/g for arsenic. Our guide to heavy-metal testing of shilajit covers how a batch report applies such limits.
Is swarna bhasma safe? What the studies actually show
The published safety data is thin: animal studies, laboratory work, and a few small human studies, several funded or co-authored by a manufacturer. We found no large, independent human safety trial. That is not evidence of harm, but it is a reason to take it only under a physician's care, and to ask your doctor before any product containing it.
- Animal studies. A 2020 study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology gave Holtzman rats 3 to 30 mg/kg a day for 90 days. Urea, creatinine and ALT shifted mainly at the higher doses but stayed within the normal range, and no treatment-related changes were seen in any organ examined. The manufacturer, Shree Dhootapapeshwar Limited, co-authored it.
- Laboratory work. Paul and Sharma (2011) found 100 per cent cell viability in fibroblasts, haemolysis of 0.05 and 0.3 per cent, and negligible complement or platelet activation; the particles also opened tight junctions in a gut-cell model.
- Human studies. A randomised, single-blind trial in Ayu (2021) gave 102 healthy infants swarna bhasma with honey and ghee, or honey and ghee alone, for 4 weeks with 8 weeks of follow-up; 81 completed it. No adverse drug reaction was reported and liver and kidney tests stayed normal, but the primary outcome, serum IgG, did not differ between groups. A 2012 single-arm study followed 43 patients with cancer for a year with no control group, and its authors call the sample too small for statistically significant results.
- Case reports. A 2019 report in Wellcome Open Research describes a 35-year-old woman with jaundice and nephrotic syndrome "possibly due to gold salt (swarnabhasma)". The powder was never analysed, and a peer reviewer disputed the link.
Nothing here is strong evidence of harm, and nothing here is strong enough to call swarna bhasma proven safe. Our guide to shilajit safety and interactions takes the same approach to the resin.
Why do "shilajit gold" products contain swarna bhasma?
Because rasa shastra combines metals with herbs and minerals in compound formulations, and a shilajit product sold as a gold variety follows that pattern: the gold is an ingredient, and the label should say in what form. We found no published study of swarna bhasma inside a shilajit product, so nothing can be said about what it adds.
What a buyer can check is that the label names the gold and the batch certificate covers it along with the four regulated metals. Himdhara's Shilajit Gold Resin lists Aurum (gold ash) among its ingredients. The manufacturer's own certificate for batch 2658, on the lab reports page, reports that the gold ash complied with the label and that lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium passed the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India limits. That is a statement about composition, not about effect. Our guide on how to identify pure shilajit covers what else a batch report should show; the full formulation is on the Shilajit Gold Resin page.
The short version
Swarna bhasma is gold purified, ground with substances such as mercury, sulphur or herbal juices, and calcined repeatedly in sealed clay crucibles until it passes the classical tests. Finished samples are metallic gold in particles from 5 nm to tens of microns, at 32 to 98 per cent gold depending on the maker, with arsenic or lead in some. The safety data is animal, laboratory and small-study evidence, much of it from a manufacturer, with no large independent human trial. It is a prescribed medicine: follow your doctor's advice before taking it or any product containing it.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- Patil-Bhole T, Wele A, Gudi R, Thakur K, Nadkarni S, Panmand R, Kale B (2021). Nanostructured gold in ancient Ayurvedic calcined drug 'swarnabhasma'. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine.
- Paul W, Sharma CP (2011). Blood compatibility studies of Swarna bhasma (gold bhasma), an Ayurvedic drug. International Journal of Ayurveda Research.
- Biswas S, Chawda M, Thakur K, Gudi R, Bellare J (2021). Physicochemical Variation in Nanogold-Based Ayurved Medicine Suvarna Bhasma Produced by Various Manufacturers Lead to Different In Vivo Bioaccumulation Profiles. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine.
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2016). The Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules (as amended up to the 31st December, 2016). Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.