. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Nov 27.

Published in final edited form as: Sci Total Environ. 2011 Aug 23;409(21):4545–4552. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.07.059

Table 3.

Arsenic concentration (mg.kg⁻¹) and speciation (proportion of arsenic species, %, by X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra) in a subset of samples; only the samples that contained arsenic at approximately 10 mg.kg⁻¹ or greater could be analyzed.

ID	As (mg.kg⁻¹)	Product name	Ingredients	Amorphous orpiment%	As₂O₃ %	As(V)–O %		Red χ²^a
ID	As (mg.kg⁻¹)	Product name	Ingredients	Amorphous orpiment%	As₂O₃ %	KH₂AsO₄ %	As(V)–glycerol %	Red χ²^a
5	31	Yog-Raj Guggulu	Resin and plants	60(5)	11(4)	8(3)	21(2)	0.001
10	26	Shilajeet Tablets	Bitumous substance collected from rocks	81(3)		19(3)		0.003
11	89	Mahayograj Guggulu	Resin, plants, seven bhasmas^b	11(6)	19(4)	59(4)	11(2)	0.002
24	27	Trifala Guggulu	Resin and plants	78(3)		11(5)	11(6)	0.004
30	140	Mahasudarshan	Plants, including roots	84(3)			16(3)	0.004
33	12	Shilajit	Bitumous substance collected from rocks	43(4)		48(5)	8(6)	0.005
34	6.4	Sugar Fight	Plants, including roots	60(2)		40(2)		0.002
36	11	Yograj Guggulu	Resin and plants	91(3)		9(3)		0.004
38	7.5	Ayu-Hemoridi-Tone	Plants, sodium carbonate		42(2)	58(2)		0.003

Numbers in parentheses indicate three times the standard deviation for the fit achieved. Arsenic species are named as those to which data were fitted.

Red χ² indicates the goodness of the fitting to obtain the proportions of arsenic species (smaller values are better; <0.003 indicates a good fit).

The seven bhasmas used in Mahayograj Guggulu preparation are naga (lead), vanga (tin), rajata (silver), loha (iron), abhraka (mica), mandura (oxidized iron), and rasa sindura (red sulfide of mercury). Bhasma preparation often uses arsenic containing compounds. For example, in the classical preparation of naga (lead) bhasma, realgar (As₄S₄) is used. arsenate compound used for fitting (KH₂AsO₄) and this species matched As(V)–glycerol.