Ayurvedic Kasaya herbal decoction reduction: 8-to-1 water boiling volume physics?

In Ayurvedic pharmacognosy, formulating a Kasaya (Kwatha / decoction) requires extracting water-soluble phytoconstituents from coarse dried roots, barks, and seeds. The classical formulation ratio mandates combining one part crushed botanical ingredients with sixteen parts water. Simmering in an open unglazed clay pot over gentle firewood coals evaporates fourteen parts of water, reducing the liquid to exactly two parts (an 8:1 concentration reduction). This slow thermal reduction breaks hard lignified cell walls without scorching volatile active fractions, producing an aqueous medicine for systemic assimilation.