Ayurveda Encyclopaedia - An Old and Rare Book (Set of 3 Volumes)

Foreword Ayurvedic system of medicine is one of the world's oldest medical systems, originated in India and has evolved over thousands of years, serving the humanity since times immemorial. Ayurvedic literature is vast and containing details pertaining to all the branches of medicine. Among them, studying Brhattrayi forms the basis to attain proficiency in Ayurvedic system and encompass the voluminous texts namely Carakasamhita, Susrutasamhita and Vagbhatasarnhita. Laghutrayi comes next, containing three small compendiums viz., Madhavanidana, Bhavaprakasa, Samgadhara and supports the learners to gain knowledge of Pathologic basis of disease, Pharmacopoeia and Pharmaceutical preparation. Apart from this, huge lexicons on Ayurveda Herbal encyclopedia like Rajanighantu, Dhanvantarinighantu etc., are also available. Details of the metallic and mineral preparations are available in Rasa lexicons. Reading of all these compendiums and lexicons give a comprehensive knowledge of Ayurvedic system of medicine. But all these books are in textual format and in Sanskrit language, the oldest critical language.

Hence understanding of the subject matter of Ayurvedic system is difficult for the western scholars who involved in the propagation of Ayurvedic system of medicine. Not only western scientists, even the eastern scientists, who belong to other disciplines and working on the Ayurvedic principles, drugs and diseases are also in quest of the true meanings of Ayurvedic doctrines. Even for A yurvedic scholars it is difficult to search hundreds of books for single word. Hence it is the need of the hour to prepare an encyclopedia focusing on the doctrines of Ayurveda to give a comprehension about the A yurvedic concepts, diseases and their management, in a compatible language.

The Department of A YUSH, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, has entrusted the task of preparation of Ayurveda Encyclopedia to National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (CCRAS), Hyderabad, under the Extra Mural Research Project II Acquisition, Cataloguing, Digitization and Publication of Text Books and Manuscripts".

I hope this work will bridge the gaps in the wide dissemination of Ayurvedic literature to the entire globe and serve as a potential literary tool for the Research Scholars, Academicians, Physicians and Scientists.

I appreciate the sincere efforts of Dr. Ala Narayana, Director, National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage, Hyderabad and his team for bringing out highly useful book on Ayurveda Encyclopedia, and hope the Institute will produce more volumes of such quality literary work on Ayurveda Encyclopedia.

Preface Ayurveda is the traditional Indian system of medicine and well-organized structure of traditional health care, incorporating both preventive and curative aspects. It is widely practiced in parts of Asia and some other parts of the world like USA, UK, and Germany.

In the wake of globalization, the scientific fraternity is attracted towards Ayurveda and taking up research in Ayurveda. But they are facing hardships in understanding A yurveda since most of these classics have been written in native oriental languages. Hence, it is felt that the preparation of encyclopedia to present the A yurvedic health system in an easily decipherable language. This work is; very relevant to propagate correct information on the A yurvedic system globally, to cater the demands of scientific fraternity towards learning the fundamentals of A yurveda.

To realize they said objective Ayurveda Encyclopedia project began as an Extra Mural Research Project (EMR), granted by Department of A YUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Ayurveda Encyclopedia is wide-ranging compilation of terminology related to Ayurveda with Anta (end alphabet of a word), Linga (gender of the word), Nispatti (dhatu derivation), Vyutpatti (etymological derivation), Nirukti (etymological interpretation), Paribhasa (definition), and Vyakhya (explanation) along with accurate references, followed by Hindi, English translation, Synonyms, literal and applied meanings.

The team has encountered various difficulties while collating information for selected terms. One such difficulty is to locate a given term for relevant information in printed copies of vast Ayurveda literature. To trouble shoot this problem this institute had prepared e-books on Carakasamhita (with Cakrapanidattaviracita Ayurvedadipika commentary), Susrutasamhita (with Dalhanaviracita Nibandhasangraha commentary & Gayadasaviracita Nyayacand rikaz Pafijika commentary on Nidanasthana, Madhavanidana (with Vijayaraksita- Srik~thadattaviracita Madhukosa commentary & Vacaspativaidyaviracita AtankadarpaDa commentary), Collection of 25 Ayurvedic Lexicons:

1. Abhidhanamafijarl,

2. Abhidhanaratnamala,

3. Amarakosa, 4. Astanganighantu,

5. Kaiyadevanighantu,

6. Camatkaranighantu, 7. Dravyagunasangraha,

8. Dhanvantarinighantu, 9. Nighantusesa,

10. Paryayaratnamala, 11. Bhavaprakasanighantu,

12. Madanapalanighantu,

13. Madanadinighantu, 14. Madhavadravyaguna,

15. Rajanighantu.Le. Rajavallabhanighantu,

17. Laghunighantu,

18. Sabdacandrika,

19. Sivakosa,

20. Sarasvatlnighantu,

21. Siddhamantra, 22. Siddhasaranighantu,

23. Sodhalanighantu,

24. Sausrtanighantu,

25. Hrdayad lpakanighantu for extensive search and pool the data to prepare A yurveda Encyclopedia.

After a long journey of workmanship finally, I am happy to present the Published book and e-Book on ‘Ayurveda Encyclopedia’. All the efforts have been made to provide grammatically correct version of mtilapatha (original text) in Sanskrit language along with their Hindi and English translations. The printed version of the book provides Sanskrit text, Hindi translation in Devanagi script, where as the e-Book is can be read in three scripts: Devanagari, Roman text with diacritical marks (ISO 15919) and phonetic English. I hope the work will cater the demands of the A yurvedic scholars, Researchers, students and practitioners of medicine in India and abroad.

I express my profound sense of gratitude to the Secretary, Dept. of A YUSH, M/o Health and Family welfare, Govt. of India for showing interest in this project and sanctioning to this institute. I am also grateful to the renowned Editorial Board Members Dr. B. L. Gaur, Former Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan Ayurv7d University (RA.U.), Jodhpur, Dr. B. Rama Rao, Former Director, Central Research Institute for Pancakarma, eeRA.5, Cheruthuruthy, Dr. Mahesh Kumar Vyas, Reader, Dept. of Basic Principles, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Dr. Kamalesh Kumar Sharma, Associate Professor, Dept. of Svasthavritta, (N.I.A.), Jaipur for vetting the work and approved for publication.

My sincere gratitude to the Secretary, Department of A YUSH, Dr. Ramesh Babu Devalla, DC, CCRAS, Dr. G.S. Lavekar, Former DG, CCRAS for their continuous patronage and encouragement to take up the work and sustain it. I appreciate the efforts of my team members, who have put their tireless efforts in bringing out this protracted work.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages