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Background: Incineration in puta, a pit or enclosure heated with cow-dung cakes, is the defining step of bhasma preparation. Its heat is uneven and hard to reproduce, and manufacturers increasingly use electric muffle furnaces. Whether furnace-made bhasmas are equivalent to traditional ones is debated. Objective: To review the evidence on temperature patterns of traditional puta, the conversion of these patterns into furnace programmes, and the effect of heating conditions on the properties of bhasmas. Methods: A critical narrative review of standard manufacturing procedure studies, temperature-profile studies and comparative characterisation studies of bhasmas prepared by traditional puta and electric muffle furnace. Results: Measured peak temperatures differ markedly between classical puta types, from about 850 °C for Varaha puta to about 1060 °C for Gajaputa and about 1380 °C for Mahaputa in one study, with large variation depending on fuel quantity, pit design and weather. Furnace-based procedures commonly use peaks of 600–1100 °C, with holding times of 0.5–3 hours, and have been applied to Makshika, Abhraka, Pittala, Lauha and kupipakva preparations. Where compared, furnace and puta products had similar classical and analytical properties. Few studies measured the temperature-time curve inside the sealed sharava, and the number of puta cycles has been linked to particle size. Conclusion: Electric muffle furnaces can reproduce traditional heating if the full temperature-time profile, not just the peak, is matched. Pharmacopoeial bhasma monographs should specify heating profiles and instrumental end-points.