Illustrations on Ayurvedic Surgery and Pharmaceutics

by Kanjiv Lochan

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The students of Ayurveda encounter great difficulty in visualizing various tools and apparatuses related to surgery and the pharmaceutical practices.  These tools have been described at many places across the classical texts as well as in various modern writings.  However, on occasions, narrative through pen suffers from certain limitations.  But where pen fails to convey the idea, pencil comes to our rescue.  It has been realized that there is indeed need of a handy manual on these illustrations. 

The present book is an attempt to present the visuals pertaining to the surgical tools and the pharmaceutical apparatuses and mentioned in the Ayurvedic classical texts.  The drawings in the book have been based on these descriptions in the Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hridayam, the later Ayurvedic texts like the Bhava Prakasa, Sarangdhara Samhita and Madhava Nidana and on the works of various commentators on the classical texts like Acarya Dalhan and Cakrpani Datta.  The pharmaceutical apparatuses have been based on the details available in the works like the Rasaratna Samuccaya and Rasasraja Sundara. 

The pictures in the present work have been designed on the basis of imagination as per whatever details are available in the texts.  The problem of achieving accuracy in terms of designing the actual tools has been further tackled with the support of seminal contribution to the theme by scholars like Sri Girinath Mukhopaddhyaya. 

For the first time, the tools relates to surgery as well as pharmaceutics have been treated under a single cover.  No doubt the book would serve greatly students of Ayurveda in both the branches.

About the Auhtor:

Dr. Kanjiv Lochan, Chairman of the Centre for Ayurveda, Delhi, is a regular contributor to Ayurvedic literature. He is credited with the first English translation of the complete Bhaisajya Ratnavali. Sanskrit edition of the Astanga Hridaya, and a critical history of Ayurveda under the title, Medicines of Early India.