अष्टाङ्गहृदयकोष: Astanga Hrdaya Kosha (Dictionary of Technical Terms of Astanga Hridayam)

Ashtanga Hridaya is one of the most popular Ayurveda text of Indian medical science. It was written by the famous scholar Vagbhat in the beginning of the eleventh centuary. It is already translated into English and some of the Indian vernaculars. This coupled with many technical words often makes it difficult to understand the exact significance of many passages. To remove these difficulties the author has brought out this dictionary of Ashtanga Hridaya Kosh where the technical terms used in the text have been arranged in alphabetical order and explained by a critical and explanatory commentary. The author has also explained these terms in his own sanskrit commentary and also given synonym in English, Latin and some of the spoken janguages of india such as Hindi, Marathi , Gujarati and Canarese. This is no doubt a valuble service to the cause of Ayurvcda, for which all lovers of the science will remain grateful.

Breeman K. M. Vaidya of Valapad, South Malabar bas honoured me by asking me to write an introduction to his work entitled the "Ashtanga Hridaya Kosha''. As is well-known, "Ashtanga Hridaya"- (The Heart of Ashtanga Ayurveda) is one of the most popular among Text-books of Ayurveda. It is a compact treatise taking the whole of Medicine for its province and dealing with all the Ashta Angas - the eight divisions under which the practice of Ayurveds is generally described. The Text is in mellifluous verses which excel in combining the exact knowledge of the Scientist with the literary graces of the Artist. In a. medical classic such as this, it may frequently happen that, among the many terms available for expressing an idea, a rather uncommon one is chosen because it satisfies the necessities of the metre in which the verses are written. Furthermore, works on medicine abound in technical terms not only of Medical Science itself but of the many allied Sciences' on which Medicine is based; and it is not possible - not certainly in a compact work like Ashtanga Hridaya - to provide, in the Text - itself, the explanations of the many technical terms used in Medical Science. It is just these difficulties that Sriman Vaidya seeks to remove by publishing the Ashtanga Hriduya Kosha - a Dictionary of Ashtanga Hridaya - where the technical terms used in the Text are arranged in Alphabetical order and explained by a commentary which is designated as Hridaya Prakashika - the illuminator of the Heart (of Ashtanga Ayurveda).

The learned physician has done a valuable service to the cause of Ayurveda by the publication of this work, and placed all lovers of Ayurvedn under a deep debt of gratitude. The least I could do is to tender to him my grateful thanks and wish him many years of useful service in the cause of Ayurveda.

**Contents and Sample Pages**