Biography of Sŏdhala and his contribution to Ayurvĕda.

Sŏdhala was a scholar of Ayurvĕda as well as săhitya, Jyotisya, Vyakaraņa and also a good poet who belongs to Gujarat. Sŏdhala contributed two important works to Ayurvĕda literature namely 1. Sŏdhbala nighaņţu, 2. Gadanigraha. Sŏdhala nighaņţu consists of two parts and contains about 2,050 (790+1,260) verses. The section on synonyms, the Nămasangraha, and the other one is on properties and actions of drugs, the Guņasangraha. The arrangement of the material constitutes an unprecedented innovation in the literature of Nighaņţu (Ayurvĕda drug's lexicons or dictionaries). The Gadanigraha is composed of two distinct parts and contains about 10,054 (2,700+7,354) verses. The first part is a collection of formulae arranged according to the several types of pharmaceutical preparations and the second one is a comprehensive text dealing with both Nidăna and cikitsă, arranged as for the Aşţăngas (8 major divisions) of Ayurvĕda. The work seems to be later than Sŏdhalanighaņţu because most of the drugs mentioned in this work are not found in the Sŏdhalanighaņţu. The diseases are arranged in systematically, which is a new feature and their order is differ from Mădhavanidăna. From the available evidences we can assume that Sŏdhala might be belongs to 1200 A.D. The contributions of Sŏdhala are noteworthy and they are important landmark works in history of Ayurvĕda.

Medicinal plants referred in Kautilya's Arthaśastra.

Kautilya's Arthaśastra which was written somewhere in 321-300 B.C. on ancient Indian Polity, holds a unique place in Indian history and culture. It was discovered at Tanjavore district of Mysore in Karnataka. The Manuscript of Arthaśastra (Devanagiri script) traced by Sri Munisri Jinavijayajee of Patna. Mr. Shyama Sastry had first published the translated text in 1909 as Volume 37 of the Bibliotheca Sanskrta of Mysore. There are 150 chapters in this work. The author of this work, Kautilya is also known as Visnugupta or Canakya. The author himself in the concluding verse of the Arthaśastra quoted his name as Visnugupta. The later writers on his works also designated his name as Cinakya. It was also translated into German and Russian languages. The plants and herbs having medicinal value were compiled the Arthaśastra to bring out the knowledge of the period and how the people honored, patronized, considered their own indigenous system as a part of their life. Same information is being presented in this article.

Biography of Bhăvamiśra author of Bhăvaprakăśa (a treatise of Laghutrayee).

Bhăvamiśra, the author of Bhăvaprakăśa was a great scholar in Samsŗt and ancient medical science. He set a great example to modernize ayurvĕda by incorporating new drugs, diseases, procedures of treatment etc. and making ayurvĕda up to date. He was the son of Latakanamiśra. Bhăvamiśra was an orthodox Brahmin. He belonged to Măgada (South Bihar in North India). Date can be determined from the following points. The latest text from which Bhăvamiśra was quoted is Madanapăla Nighaņţu. This was completed in 1347 A.D. and this will be the upper limit for the date of Bhăvamiśra. Yogaratnakara and Vaidyajivana (by Lolimbaraja) both texts belonging to 17th century A.D. quoted verses from Bhăvaprakăśa. His works are Bhăvaprakăśa (most famous), Guņaratnamăla, a commentary on Mădhava Nidăna and Vaidyanighaņţu.

Medico-historical study of "Kilasa" (vitiligo/leucoderma) a common skin disorder.

The earliest known reference to Kilăsa was in 2200 B.C. in the period of Aushooryan. In 1550 B.C. information regarding Vitiligo was noted in the Ebers Papyrus. Atharvavĕda also carries the description of the disease Kilăsa along with several herbal prescriptions. Buddhist literature (Pĭtikăs) especially Vinaya Pĭtika carries the description of Kilăsa. Old Testament also carries the description of white spots i.e. in the Leviticus chapter 13. In ayurvĕda the word Kuşţa was used for all types of skin diseases. Both Kilăsa and Switra are mentioned together in ayurvĕda because of similarity in their aetiology. Kilăsa is also called as Băhya (external) Kuşţa. It is classified into three types based on three Dŏşăs. Prognosis of the disease was also described in ayurvĕda. This disease can be compared with Vitiligo/leucoderma in modern medicine. The Roman Physician Celsus first coined the term Vitiligo in the 2nd Century A.D. This article carries medico-historical references of Kilăsa from ancient to modern literature.

Ayurvedic literature in Urdu part-III.

The present article is the continuation of the second part of the previous work published with the same title in the Bulletin of Indian Institute of History of medicine, Vol. XXIX. No. 2 in 1999. This work has ben initiated to introduce the books written in recent past, the period in which Urdu language had a prominent role in preserving the knowledge of old arts and sciences.