Rasa Sastra at a Glance

It is a matter of pleasure to put foreword the book entitled Rasa shastra at a Glance of Dr. Sudhaldev Mohapatra. He has compiled and organized the same in such a nice manner which will certainly prove beneficial for the learners of Ayurveda. He has tried to collect the entire matters of Rasa Shastra including history of Rasa Shastra, Paribhasha, different Yantras, Mineral materials grouped under the Rasa Varga, Dhatu Varga, Ratna Varga, Sudha Varga, Visa Varga etc. along with the legal aspects related to the Ayurvedic pharmacy in nut shell, in this book. This contribution by the author will be of great value and it will be considered as a hand book of Rasa Shastra. Author has tried to make the subject easy to understand, for this the help of diagrams, tables & photographs have been taken and placed accordingly. At the end selective important Sanskrit verses are cited and more than 200 MCQ related with Rasa Shastra is also drawn. It will help the students for the preparation of the various competitive examinations. Dr. Sudhaldev Mohapatra has done this excellent job to make the subject available in glimpse for the student of Ayurveda in general and Rasa Shastra in particular. Further it is my advice to continue this type of creative activity in future also for the benefit of Ayurveda and its learners. I wish him all success in his life.

Rasa shastra forms the core of the Ayurvedic treatment. This branch of Ayurvedic system of medicine deals with the mercury and all the minerals, metals and animal products having therapeutic as well as alchemical importance. It also describes various types of instruments, heating devices and processing techniques for preparation of different dosage form of medicaments. During the medieval period, after the development of Rasa shastra as an independent branch, it grew up faster in the prime stream of treatment. It became more popular due to its small dosage forms, tastelessness, quick effectiveness, long self life and high efficacy with less or no toxicity, in various chronic as well as dreadful diseased conditions. Going through the history there are enormous literatures and manuscripts became available in the subject. The literatures of different era have their own significance according-to the necessity of that period. A critical analysis of the literatures reveals that the alchemical use of the Rasa shastra was gradually cave in and therapeutic use became conquer. Further development of the subject occurs day by day according to contemporary necessity with the help of modern technology. Rasa shastra is a very vast and rich subject. The particular book was in my mind's eye when I was in my UG classes. Too many reference books and some text books are available which are very much necessary to achieve the knowledge of the subject prop-erly. But always, I was searching for a book which could give the entire subject at one place and in a short form. This idea made me to carry out this work. This book will serve as a hand book and help the student to cover the course with ease and confidence. The current book is an assemblage of the entire subject of Rasa Shastra including history, yantra, musa, kosthi, rasa varga, dhatu, ratna, and sudha varga with legal aspects of contemporary period. For making the learners easy to understand the subject, tables, diagrams and possible colour photographs are given. The whole book is divided into 16 chapters. At the end some multiple choice questions are given which will help the student to cover the course and also for preparation of various competitive examinations. I am sure this book will be appreciated by its reader. More over it will be of immense help to the students of 2' B.A.M.S, To complete this work, all the scheduled books of Rasa shastra have been referred. Also the guidelines are taken from Ayurvediya Rasa shastra by Prof. C. B. Jha and A text book of Rasa shastra by Dr. V Dole and Dr. P. Paranjpe. Lastly all success of this work is due to the greatest mercy of almighty & each mistake is reserved for my self.

**Contents and Sample Pages**