Dhanwantharam 101 Avarti

Dhanwantharam 101 Avarti is one of the most refined preparations in the Ayurvedic repertoire, the classical Dhanwantharam oil that has been cooked and re-cooked one hundred and one times over. The name carries its whole story: Dhanwantharam, the famed Vata-settling formula named after Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, and 101 Avarti, the one hundred and one rounds of processing it has passed through. This repeated cooking makes a highly concentrated, deeply refined oil, and the tradition reserves it for its more demanding uses, above all in the care of the nervous system, the joints, and the mother and newborn after childbirth.

What Avarti means

To understand this oil, one must understand Avarti. The word means a round, a cycle, a repetition of the cooking process. When a medicated oil is prepared, the classical sneha-paka is carried out: a fresh herbal decoction (kashaya) and paste (kalka) are cooked with the oil until the water has gone and only the oil remains, now carrying the herbs’ virtues. In a repeated-Avarti oil, this whole process is done again, and again, each time with a fresh batch of decoction cooked over the same oil base. Thus a “101 Avarti” oil has gone through the paka one hundred and one times, taking up the qualities of the herbs on every round.

The classical texts and the tradition of Bhaishajya Kalpana, Ayurvedic pharmaceutics, hold that repeated processing deepens both the potency and the refinement of an oil. With each round the oil is understood to become more thoroughly saturated with the herbal dravyaguna, finer, and more powerful in action. This is why Avarti is counted and named, and why higher-Avarti oils such as the 21, 41 and 101 versions are progressively more concentrated and more prized. A 101 Avarti oil represents the fullest expression of this method for Dhanwantharam.

What Dhanwantharam is

Dhanwantharam Taila itself is one of the great Vata-settling oils, named in the Ashtanga Hridayam and the Sahasrayogam and carried through the classical tradition for the disorders of Vata, the Vatavyadhi. Its formula gathers a large company of Vata-shamaka and strengthening herbs, headed classically by bala, the herb Sida cordifolia long associated with strength, cooked with sesame oil and processed with milk. The base is warming, unctuous and nourishing, exactly the profile the tradition directs against the dry, light, cold, mobile qualities of aggravated Vata.

The classical source

The Dhanwantharam formula and its use for Vata disorders are set out in the Ashtanga Hridayam, and the Sahasrayogam carries the oil and describes the repeated processing that yields the higher-Avarti grades. The method of taila-paka and of repeated paka follows the general rules of the Sharangadhara Samhita, and the oil appears among the Vatavyadhi preparations of the Bhaishajya Ratnavali. The care of the mother after childbirth (Sutika) and of the newborn, in which gentle oiling has an honoured place, is described across the classical texts.

The formula and the place of bala

At the heart of Dhanwantharam stands bala, Sida cordifolia, whose very name means “strength” and which the classical tradition counts among its foremost balya and Vata-shamaka herbs, those that build strength and settle the wind. A decoction of bala forms the leading kashaya over which the oil is cooked, and it is this herb above all that gives the preparation its nourishing, strengthening character. Around it the classical formula gathers a large company of dravyas, warming, unctuous and Vata-settling roots and herbs, together with aromatic and nourishing substances, cooked in a sesame-oil base and processed with milk (ksheera), which lends its own nourishing quality. The result is an oil whose whole direction is to nourish and strengthen while settling the dry, cold, mobile nature of Vata. When this already potent formula is carried through a hundred rounds of processing, its nourishing and settling character is understood to be deepened accordingly, which is the reasoning behind reserving the 101 Avarti grade for the more demanding Vata pictures and for the tender work of the postnatal and newborn care.

The graded Avarti: 10, 21, 41 and 101

It helps to see the 101 Avarti oil within the ladder of grades the tradition prepares. Dhanwantharam is made not only in its plain form but in graded Avarti versions, commonly the 21, 41 and 101, and sometimes others, each processed the stated number of times. The principle is consistent: the higher the Avarti, the more concentrated and refined the oil and the more demanding the uses for which it is reserved. Lower grades and the plain oil serve as general external massage oils for Vata; the higher grades, and the 101 above all, are kept for the more serious Vata conditions, for the postnatal and newborn care, and for internal use under a practitioner’s direction. Choosing among the grades is itself part of the practitioner’s judgement, matching the potency of the oil to the person and the purpose. The 101 Avarti sits at the summit of this ladder, the fullest expression of the method.

How the 101 Avarti oil is made

The making is laborious, which is part of what the higher Avarti signifies. The base begins as ordinary Dhanwantharam Taila, cooked by sneha-paka. Then a fresh herbal decoction is prepared and the oil is cooked with it again, completing one further Avarti. This is repeated, batch after batch of fresh decoction, until one hundred and one rounds have been completed. Each round demands its own decoction, its own careful cooking to the classical end-point, and its own straining. The result is an oil far more concentrated and refined than the plain preparation, produced only by trained hands over considerable time. This effort, and the resulting potency, are why the 101 Avarti grade is treated as a specialised medicine rather than an everyday oil.

The classical uses

Vata disorders (Vatavyadhi). The central use is for the disorders of Vata, the nourishing and strengthening of the nervous system, the joints and the muscles. The oil is directed at the dryness, stiffness, tremor and depletion the tradition reads as aggravated Vata, and its concentrated, nourishing nature suits the more demanding of these pictures.

Care after childbirth. Dhanwantharam oil has a long and honoured place in the Sutika care of the mother after childbirth, when Vata is understood to be naturally high. Gentle massage with the oil is a classical part of the mother’s recovery and strengthening. For this tender period a concentrated preparation is used only on a practitioner’s advice.

Care of the newborn. Gentle oiling of the newborn is a traditional practice, and Dhanwantharam is among the oils named for the strengthening of the infant’s body. Given how concentrated the 101 Avarti grade is, its use for infants is a matter for qualified guidance.

Strengthening and nourishing. More broadly, as a bala-rich Vata-settling oil, it is used in the traditional strengthening of a depleted, dry, weakened body, applied as massage.

Internal use, under strict guidance. The higher-Avarti grades are also used internally in the classical tradition, in small doses within specific regimens, but this is reserved for a practitioner’s direction and is never a matter for self-use.

Which dosha it suits

Dhanwantharam 101 Avarti is directed above all at Vata. Its warming, unctuous, nourishing base and its bala-led company of strengthening herbs answer the dry, cold, light, mobile and depleting nature of aggravated Vata directly. It suits the stiffness, weakness, dryness and unsettledness of a Vata picture, and the Vata-high state after childbirth. Being warming and heavy, it is used more carefully where there is marked heat or a heavy, congested Kapha state, and a practitioner adjusts accordingly.

Cautions and who should guide its use

Because it is so concentrated, this oil is treated as a specialised medicine. Gentle external application of Dhanwantharam oil is a long-standing tradition for mothers and infants, but a 101 Avarti preparation should be used, especially for infants, in pregnancy, and for any internal purpose, only on the advice of a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner. Internal use in particular is never self-directed; the dose, the vehicle and the regimen belong entirely to a practitioner. Suitability varies with the person and the state, and anyone who is pregnant, caring for a newborn, taking medication or managing a health condition should confirm both suitability and method with a registered Ayurvedic practitioner and keep their doctor informed.

Its place in the tradition

Dhanwantharam 101 Avarti stands at the refined end of Ayurvedic pharmacy, where a classical formula is carried through its process a hundred times over to reach its fullest potency. It joins one of the tradition’s most respected Vata formulas to one of its most demanding methods, the repeated Avarti, and reserves the result for the care of the nervous system, the joints, and the tender period around childbirth. Its value lies exactly in this concentration and refinement, and, for the same reason, in the care with which the tradition insists it be used.

This article describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding of Dhanwantharam 101 Avarti and is offered for education, not as medical advice. This is a potent, specialised preparation; use it, and any internal Ayurvedic medicine, only under the guidance of a qualified doctor or registered Ayurvedic practitioner, especially in pregnancy or for infants.