The Roots of Ayurveda

by Dominik Wujastyk

This volume brings together selections from the Sanskrit classics of the Ayurveda physicians Caraka, Susruta, Kasyapa, Vagabhata and Sarngadhara who lived between the mid-first millennium BC and the fourteenth century AD. The translations which are from the oldest extant writings of the physicians rather than later commentaries, are in standard modern English. But care has been taken not to transpose English medical terms onto the Ayurvedic concepts. Dominik Wujastyk's authentic, critical and reader-friendly renderings of original Sanskrit medical texts offer us a glimpse into Ayurveda as a complete, scientific and living medical tradition.

About the Author:

DOMINIK WUJASTYK works in London at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, where he is Associate Curator for South Asian Collections. He is also an Honorary Lecturer at University College, University of London, and teaches Sanskrit and the history of Indian medicine. His books include A Handlist of Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts, Metarules of Paninian Grammar and Critical Edition Typesetting.