The Treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants (Set of 6 Volumes)

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Volume 1 is a compilation of one hundred and eleven medicinal plants which have been classified according to the latest botanical nomenclature and are illustrated with coloured photographs and B/W line-drawings. This would help in the identification of plant species. The write-up on each plant includes selected Vernacular names, Occurrence and distribution, Botanical description, Therapeutic uses and important Chemical constituents with references. The chronological development in the Ayurvedic system and its relevance to modern materia medica has been discussed in the Introduction. The distinctive feature of Volume 1 is the inclusion of Sanskrit slokas, both in Devnagri and Roman scripts explaining the therapeutic uses of individual plants. Since the Basic Concepts of Ayurvedic Terms are not literally the same as those used in Modern Medicine these have been retained in English translation of the slokas. The explanatory notes of these terms have been dealt with in a separate section. The special feature of this Volume is the up-dation of the literature on the chemical constituents. Ten new line-drawings have been incorporated.

Glossaries of Sanskrit/Ayurvedic and Medical Terms have been included and the List of Books Referred To has been given for ready reference. This Volume would be useful to teachers, researchers in Botany, Chemistry, Ayurveda and Modern Medicine.

The Treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants is a compilation of 700 botanical species used in Traditional system of medicine. The Treatise has been covered in six volumes and has been published by Publications and Information Directorate, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, New Delhi (subsequently designated as National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources) in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2001.

Each Volume incorporates:

(i) those plants which find use in Ayurvedic system of medicine;

(ii) the authentic Sanskrit Slokas in Devnagri and Roman Scripts with the English Translation of the Slokas explaining the use of individual plant species in the treatment of diseases;

(iii) the order of arrangement of the plant species according to the latest botanical treatment.

It deserves mention that the important chemical constituents of the plants were written with emphasis on therapeutic uses with particular reference to Clinical applications in Ayurveda.

As far as Vernacular names are concerned Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil besides English names have been included.

As the basic concepts of Ayurvedic terms are not literally the same as those used in modern medicine, like Vata, Pitta, Kapha they have been retained as such in the English literature of the Slokas. However the explanatory notes of these terms and their applications had been dealt with in a separate section for ready reference. As far as possible the sequence of the therapeutic uses of the plants as mentioned in the Slokas have been usually maintained in the translation.

During the past decade voluminous literature on Chemical constituents of plants mentioned in the Treatise of Medicinal Plants had been reported. It is therefore necessary to up-date the literature for current informations to the readers and those who are interested in research on herbal medicine. The literature on the chemical constituents has been covered till 2002. For this up-dation work we have received generous financial assistance from Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, F.R.S., Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. We like to express our sincere thanks to Dr. Mashelkar. Sincere thanks are accorded to Dr. A.P. Mitra, F.R.S., former Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Re-search, Government of India for initiating the programme, to Dr. S. Mallick, Head, Human Resource Development Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India for his keen interest in the up-dation work and to the staff-members of the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR) for publication of both the original and the up-dated volumes. We are indebted to Dr. J. Seita of UTAD-Quinta de prados, Portugal, for making available to us the fac-simile of the Drugs of India (coloquior des simples a Drogas de Cansas Medicinoes da India) by Garcia Dorta, a 16th century Portugese Ayurvedic practitioner in India. Sincere thanks are accorded to Dr. R.S. Thakar, former Director, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, Dr. P.V. Sane, former Director, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Dr. S.S. Handa, former Director, Regional Research Laboratory, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Jammu-Tawi, Professor N. Adityachaudhury, former Dean and Head, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, to Ms. Asima Ghosh, M.Sc. for assistance, Dr. Kumar Ranabir Sur, Vivekananda College, Rahara, West Bengal for colour prints of some plants and Dr. Subrata Mukhopadhyay for line drawings, Department of Botany, Calcutta University. Thanks are also due to Shri Tapan Kumar Dutta, Shri Bijoy Ganguly, Shri Swapan Kumar Paladhi and Mrs. Rinku Debnath for technical assistance.

It is well-known that Ayurveda, the indigenous system of medicines, is still regarded as a well-organised traditional health-care for large sections of rural as well as urban populations in India.

Col. R.N. Chopra is credited with the initiation of systematic scientific investigations on Indian medicinal plants in the thirties in the School of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta. Since then, a number of centres of excellence, in universities and national laboratories, have been active and have made significant contributions in this field.

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research not only encouraged and supported research on indigenous medicinal plants, but also published a number of authoritative books, viz. "The Wealth of India" series. However, it was considered desirable to bring out the present series with updated information on those plants which have been used in the Ayurvedic system and still find application in modern medicine.

This is the first of the six volumes of "The Treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants" published by CSIR with Professor (Mrs.) Asima Chatterjee as the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. S.C. Pakrashi as the Co-Editor, in collaboration with a group of experts in related areas.

It is hoped that the present series with some welcome distinctive features will fill gaps in the available literature on the subject and benefit specialists, researchers and the general public.

I congratulate the editors and the colleagues of the Publications & Information Directorate of CSIR for publishing this attractive volume.

**Contents and Sample Pages**