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FOREWORD
The preponderance of manuscripts dealing with Ayurveda has been noted by scholars engaged in the study of scientific literature of pre-modern India. Ayurveda exemplifies “a blend of experience and tradition with fresh observation and speculation". [H.G.G. Winter, "Science", in A Cultural History of India, ed. A. L. Basham, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 147]. It is gratifying to note that Ms Dalia Bandury, a Research-Scholar who does her researches is the Asiatic Society, has compiled the Ayurvedic Manuscripts, preserved in the museum of the Asiatic Sociéty, in an admirable manner. The Introduction has been written by Dr. Brahmananda Gupta, a notable scholar, who has also prepared the Index with meticulous attention. In this volume two hundred and fourteen manuscripts have been catalogued. The descriptive portions of this work are of great historical importance. The maladies mentioned in them, and the treatment or management of the maladies described in the manuscripts reveal many strands of medical speculation, in which theology, philosophy, biology, physiology, and botany are remarkably blended. We believe that even the nonspecialist reader would consider this volume interesting and instructive.
26.7.2006
Ramakanta Chakrabarty
General Secretary
