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 Society, 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 non- specialist reader would consider this volume interesting and instructive.
The establishment of the Asiatic Society in the year 1784 was a landmark in the Indian history to re-discover the cultural heritage of the East by promoting a mutual understanding amongst the learned scholars of the East and West through scientific study and research. Sir William Jones, the founder of the Asiatic Society, initiated the process of highlighting the ancient Indian science and culture by contributing some research observations from 1790 A.D. to 1800 A.D. entitled as 'Botanical observations of Select Indian Plants". These observations were further strengthened by Sir Whitelaw Ainslie who published-'Materia Medica of Hindoostan' in the year 1813. This basic approach was steadily maintained in later times, when both European and Indian scholars published many research articles and books throughout the nineteenth century and as a result of it near about three hundred forty-seven research publications came to light.
But there are sometimes some cross currents in the normal flow of a river. In 1838 the Asiatic Society became a platform of observations and counter-observations in the form of an academic debate in connection with the propriety of using Sanskrit synonyms for the European medical terms. This experiment was done by Sri Madhusudana Gupta, when he tried to render into the Sanskrit language the medical text of Dr. Karl Hooper "Surgeons Vademecum" for teaching Indian students in the Medical College, Calcutta. The apathy of the European doctors against Indianisation of European medical texts was self-evident in the then context of new introduction of European medicine to replace the indigenous system of medicine altogether. Sri Madhusūdana Gupta, on one hand, being a traditionally nurtured Sanskrit scholar and on the other hand, being a broad-minded person enlightened with Western ideas, had translated earlier the Ayurvedic medical text of Suśruta Samhita into English, Vol. I in 1835 and Vol. II in 1836 A.D. Apart from this, three fascicles of the Suśruta Samhita were published by the Asiatic Society in the Bibliotheca Indica Series between 1883 and 1891 A.D. In the year 1886 A.D. 'Aśvavaidyakah', an Ayurvedic medical text on Horse treatment, was duly edited and published by Umesa Candra Gupta Kaviratna and the English translation of Suśruta Samhita (one fascicle only) was printed by the well-known English scholar A.F.R. Hoernle in 1887 A.D. Rasārņavam, another Ayurvedic text on treatment by applying metalic. preparation, was edited by Sir Prafulla Candra Roy and Hariścandra Kaviratna and it was published in the B.I. Series from 1908 to 1910 A.D.
But apart from these few printed texts of Indian medicine earlier, the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, is a rich store-house of Ayurvedic manuscripts. The collection of Ayurvedic manuscripts of the Asiatic Society can be traced as early as 1871 A.D., when the 'Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts, Vol. I' was published by Sir Rajendralala Mitra. R.L. Mitra purchased four hundred and fifteen manuscripts on behalf of the Government of India. Later on his able successor Mahāmahopādhyāya Haraprasāda Sastri collected two hundred and thirty-seven manuscripts, at the first instance, which included some Ayurvedic manuscripts also. Since the earliest collection of Sir R.L. Mitra and Haraprasāda Śāstri many years have passed away and a huge collection of Ayurvedic manuscripts has been added to its strength. Every year some new manuscripts are pouring in and the necessity was felt to record them in a systematic Catalogue form. Uptil now two volumes of Descriptive Catalogue of Ayurvedic Manuscripts have been prepared and out of these two, the first volume is being printed now and the second volume will follow soon.
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