आयुर्वेदीय शब्द- परिभाषा कोशः Encyclopedic Dictionary of Ayurveda: Epistemological Analysis of Ayurvedic Terminology (Set of 3 Volumes)

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The idea to compile the Ayurveda Encyclopaedia is that every stakeholder of Ayurveda should be well aware about the origin, definition and correlation of standardized Ayurvedic terminology. In this era of globalisation of Ayurveda, the scientific explanation and validation of Ayurveda and its principles is utmost important. As you know, that terminology is the fundamental base of any science; in fact, it is the soul of scripture. If exact meaning of a word or term is not known, it is futile to read a scripture. The basic terminology of Ayurveda is mentioned in Sanskrit and it is vividly elaborated by commentators; hence, it is need of hour to compile comprehensive views of all of the commentators at a single place. To overcome the difficulty associated with the understanding of Ayurvedic terminology, the encyclopaedia has been published. It consists of Sanskrit definition of a word by commentators, Hindi explanation and an English equivalent of the word. On account of lack of such work in Ayurveda, the task had been started some years back and the herculean task is now complete. This work shall be a boon for teaching, learning and research in Ayurveda.

Dr. Praveen Kumar Choudhary is a well known author of Ayurveda. He did graduation in Ayurveda from Rishikul Ayurvedic College, Hardwar and post graduation in Shalya Tantra from prestigious Banaras Hindu University. Varanasi. He started the career as Lecturer in Shalya Tantra at Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, New Delhi from 2001 and as an associate Professor in same college from 2011. In year 2017, he joined as Professor in Choudhary Brahma Prakash Ayurveda Charak Sansthan, New Delhi and remained there till 2019. He again joined the Tibbia College in 2019 and at present he is the head of the department of Shalya Tantra, Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College New Delhi. He has written several books in Ayurveda. He has published 16 research papers in reputed journals. He is a famous surgeon of Ayurveda. His job profile includes teaching, training, patient care and operative surgery. His interest in fundamental research and epistemological analysis of Sushruta resulted in publication of this encyclopedia.

Ayurveda is a subdivision of Atharvaveda. Some scholars have also enumerated it as fifth Veda. After the origin of human beings, the sages after realizing the discomfort of human beings organized a symposium in the region of Himalayas. These sages discussed the modalities for the treatment of the disorders of suffering humanity. As you know that Ayurveda is divided into two streams; one is medicinal and other is surgical known as Atreya and Dhanvantari sect respectively. These two sects have been doing service to the mankindsince inception of Ayurveda.

Ayurveda was initially propounded by Brahma and laterincarnatedon earth by sage Atreya and Dhanvantarithrough divine sages Prajapati, Ashvinikumar and Indra. It has been mentioned in Sushruta Samhita that Brahma created a treatise on Ayurveda containing one thousand chapters and one lakh verses. But later the number of chapter and verses were reduced and established as Ayurveda on this earth. Ayurveda came into existence on the earth as eight branch science. Many treatise have been written on Ayurveda and many other scholars wrote compilations and commentaries. The basic treatise of Ayurveda in current era are Charakasamhita and Sushrutasamhita. The Ashtangasangraha and Ashtangahridayawritten by Vagbhata are the compilations of both of these treatise. Ashtangahridaya is a short and verse version of Ashtangasangraha. Ashtangahridaya has been the most practiced treatise of Ayurveda being easy to understand. Maximum commentaries have been written on this treatise.

The development of Ayurveda is the result of continuing research and hard work of our sages for centuries altogether. As you know that Indian literature has evolved over the years by word to word lineage of sages. The preceptor used to give the knowledge to his disciples and the tradition in this way carried the knowledge in the world. The written documentation of Vedas was first done by Vedavyasa in the form of four major books and later many treatise have been written based on the knowledge of these four Vedas. Upanishad, brahmana, purana, smiriti etc. were written and all of these are based upon the knowledge from the Vedas.

The original propounder of Ayurveda was Brahma. Agnivesha and Sushruta wrote two important Samhitas on medicine and surgical discipline named Charakasamhita and Sushrutasamhita. The knowledge of Ayurveda carried on earth through Prajapati, Ashwini Kumar, Indra. Indra then gave knowledge to Atreya and Dhanvantari who passed it to Agnivesha and Sushruta. Agniveshatantra was redacted by Charaka and the book is named as Charakasamhita. In the same way, the treatise redacted by Sushruta is named as Sushrutasamhita. These treatise again edited by Dhridhbala and Chandrata and these current treatises have many commentaries whom we actually read nowadays. These commentaries have been the basis of research and teaching in Ayurveda for centuries altogether.

The golden period of Ayurveda has scattered from one thousand BC to eleventh century AD. During the period, many treatises, compilations and commentaries have been written and preserved. It is very important to know that even after multiple attacks on India by foreign invaders, our forefathers did ample efforts to preserve the precious knowledge in the form of writings on leaves and metal pieces. Scholars continued writing commentaries on treatise to make the knowledge accessible to general people.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages