Bhaisajya Ratnavali of Shri Govinda Dasji (3 Vols.)

by Ed. Brahmashankar Mishra and Eng. Tr. Kanjiv Lochan

Divide into 106 chapters, each dealing with separated diseases and indispositions, Bhaisajya Ratnavali (composed in 19 century A.D. by Shri Govinda Dasji) has been the most popular collection among the practitioners as well as the manufacturers of Ayurvedic medicine across India and neighbouring countries.

The work, rightly named as Bhaisajaya Ratnavali i.e. Gem of the Medicinal Formulae has stressed including the use of mercury and sulphur (the parada and gandhaka) as well as other ingredients which were either unavailable or which remained largely unused by the authorities of Ayurveda like Charaka, Susruta and Vagbhatta. Thus, the Bhaisajya Ratnavali updates the entire gamut of Ayurvedic recipes immediately before the impact of the west on Indian medical system.

The author of Bhaisajya Ratnavali really did a great service to collate the countless medical prescriptions in use, and thus saved them for posterity. He wrote in Sanskrit considering the practical as well as sociological significance of the language. The work should have been translated into English much earlier. Nontheless, it is a matter of pleasure that the English version of this great work is finally made available to the readers.

Considering its wide popularity and immense utility, physician Shri Brahma Shankar Mishra revised the work. Similarly, Shri Ambikadatta Shastri published a commentary of this work in the year 1956. This commentary served the readers greatly as it detailed the parts and amounts of the herbs involved in various formulae recorded. The present work is translated version of the revised work. The commentator also suggested, at places, the doses of various recipes to be taken by the patient. It may be noted that Shri Govinda Das Ji considered the young physicians and practitioners as its potential readers. The commentary of Shri Brahmashankar Mishra helped even a non-professional to take benefit from the great work. This translation has been prepared with a view to extend the reach of Bhaisajya Ratnavali to the professionals as well as the lay readers, the practitioners as well as the patients.

The present translator and the reviewer have stressed to include the original native terms frequently. Thus, the point of view of original writer have been retained free from the bias of the translator. To clarify their meanings, a glossary of Ayurvedic terms and references has been appended at the end of the Volume III of the work, If a few terms have escaped this list the kind readers could refer to our Dictionary of Ayurveda.