Digital Rare Book:
Shampooing; or, Benefits resulting from the use of the Indian medicated vapour bath
By Sake Deen Mahomed
Printed by Creasy & Baker, Brighton - 1826
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/XhyBW4
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/W95uFo
Sheikh Dean Mahomed was an Anglo-Indian traveller, surgeon and entrepreneur who was one of the most notable early non-European immigrants to the Western World. He introduced Indian cuisine and shampoo baths to Europe, where he offered therapeutic massage. He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English.
Born in 1759 in Patna, then part of the Bengal Presidency, Sake Dean Mahomed came from Buxar. His father, who belonged to the traditional Nai (barber) caste, was in the employment of the East India Company. He had learned much of alchemy and understood the techniques used to produce various alkali, soaps and shampoo. He later described the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the cities of Allahabad and Delhi in rich detail and also made note of the faded glories of the Mughal Empire.
Sake Dean Mahomed grew up in Patna. Mahomed's father died when Mahomed was young. Then, at the age of 10, he was taken under the wing of Captain Godfrey Evan Baker, an Anglo-Irish Protestant officer. He served in the army of the British East India Company as a trainee surgeon and honourably served against the Marathas. Sake Dean Mahomed also mentions how Mir Qasim and most of the entire Bengali Muslim aristocracy had lost their famed wealth. He complained about Shuja-ud-Daula's campaign against his Rohilla allies and how Hyder Ali defeated the British during the Battle of Pollilur. Mahomed remained with Captain Baker's unit until 1782, when the Captain resigned. That same year, Mahomed also resigned from the Army, choosing to accompany Captain Baker, 'his best friend', to Britain.
In 1810, after moving to London, Dean Mahomet opened the first Indian restaurant in England: the Hindoostane Coffee House in George Street, near Portman Square, Central London. The restaurant offered such delights as the Hookha "with real chilm tobacco, and Indian dishes, ... allowed by the greatest epicures to be unequalled to any curries ever made in England." This venture was ended due to financial difficulties.
Introduction of shampooing to Europe:
Before opening his restaurant, Mahomed had worked in London for nabob Basil Cochrane, who had installed a steam bath for public use in his house in Portman Square and promoted its medical benefits. Mahomed may have been responsible for introducing the practice of champooi or "shampooing" (or Indian massage) there. In 1814 Mahomed and his wife moved back to Brighton and opened the first commercial "shampooing" vapour masseur bath in England, on the site now occupied by the Queen's Hotel. He described the treatment in a local paper as "The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath (type of Turkish bath), a cure to many diseases and giving full relief when every thing fails; particularly Rheumatic and paralytic, gout, stiff joints, old sprains, lame legs, aches and pains in the joints".
This business was an immediate success and Dean Mahomed became known as "Dr. Brighton". Hospitals referred patients to him and he was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both King George IV and William IV.
On 15 January 2019, Google recognized Sake Dean Mahomed with a Google Doodle on the main page.
- Wiki
Image:
Sake Deen Mahomed (1759–1851)
By Samuel Drummond (1765–1844)
Credit: Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries
https://archive.org/stream/shampooingorbene00mahoiala#page/n5/mode/2up
Shampooing; or, Benefits resulting from the use of the Indian medicated vapour bath
By Sake Deen Mahomed
Printed by Creasy & Baker, Brighton - 1826
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/XhyBW4
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/W95uFo
Sheikh Dean Mahomed was an Anglo-Indian traveller, surgeon and entrepreneur who was one of the most notable early non-European immigrants to the Western World. He introduced Indian cuisine and shampoo baths to Europe, where he offered therapeutic massage. He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English.
Born in 1759 in Patna, then part of the Bengal Presidency, Sake Dean Mahomed came from Buxar. His father, who belonged to the traditional Nai (barber) caste, was in the employment of the East India Company. He had learned much of alchemy and understood the techniques used to produce various alkali, soaps and shampoo. He later described the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the cities of Allahabad and Delhi in rich detail and also made note of the faded glories of the Mughal Empire.
Sake Dean Mahomed grew up in Patna. Mahomed's father died when Mahomed was young. Then, at the age of 10, he was taken under the wing of Captain Godfrey Evan Baker, an Anglo-Irish Protestant officer. He served in the army of the British East India Company as a trainee surgeon and honourably served against the Marathas. Sake Dean Mahomed also mentions how Mir Qasim and most of the entire Bengali Muslim aristocracy had lost their famed wealth. He complained about Shuja-ud-Daula's campaign against his Rohilla allies and how Hyder Ali defeated the British during the Battle of Pollilur. Mahomed remained with Captain Baker's unit until 1782, when the Captain resigned. That same year, Mahomed also resigned from the Army, choosing to accompany Captain Baker, 'his best friend', to Britain.
In 1810, after moving to London, Dean Mahomet opened the first Indian restaurant in England: the Hindoostane Coffee House in George Street, near Portman Square, Central London. The restaurant offered such delights as the Hookha "with real chilm tobacco, and Indian dishes, ... allowed by the greatest epicures to be unequalled to any curries ever made in England." This venture was ended due to financial difficulties.
Introduction of shampooing to Europe:
Before opening his restaurant, Mahomed had worked in London for nabob Basil Cochrane, who had installed a steam bath for public use in his house in Portman Square and promoted its medical benefits. Mahomed may have been responsible for introducing the practice of champooi or "shampooing" (or Indian massage) there. In 1814 Mahomed and his wife moved back to Brighton and opened the first commercial "shampooing" vapour masseur bath in England, on the site now occupied by the Queen's Hotel. He described the treatment in a local paper as "The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath (type of Turkish bath), a cure to many diseases and giving full relief when every thing fails; particularly Rheumatic and paralytic, gout, stiff joints, old sprains, lame legs, aches and pains in the joints".
This business was an immediate success and Dean Mahomed became known as "Dr. Brighton". Hospitals referred patients to him and he was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both King George IV and William IV.
On 15 January 2019, Google recognized Sake Dean Mahomed with a Google Doodle on the main page.
- Wiki
Image:
Sake Deen Mahomed (1759–1851)
By Samuel Drummond (1765–1844)
Credit: Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries
https://archive.org/stream/shampooingorbene00mahoiala#page/n5/mode/2up
Digital Rare Book:
KUMBHA - India's ageless festival
By Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi
General Editors: K.M.Munshi and N.Chandrasekhara Aiyer
Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay - 1955
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2CrwFI7
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2QVMoEE
Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred or holy river. Traditionally, four fairs are widely recognized as the Kumbh Melas: the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, Haridwar Kumbh Mela, the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha, and Ujjain Simhastha. These four fairs are held periodically at one of the following places by rotation: Prayagraj (known until 2018 as Allahabad), Haridwar, Nashik district (Nashik and Trimbak), and Ujjain. The main festival site is located on the banks of a river: the Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar; the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the invisible Sarasvati at Prayagraj; the Godavari at Nashik; and the Shipra at Ujjain. Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse a person of all their sins.
At any given place, the Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years. There is a difference of around 3 years between the Kumbh Melas at Haridwar and Nashik; the fairs at Nashik and Ujjain are celebrated in the same year or one year apart. The exact date is determined, following the Vikram Samvat calendar and the principles of Jyotisha, according to a combination of zodiac positions of the Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon. At Nashik and Ujjain, the Mela may be held while a planet is in Leo (Simha in Hindu astrology); in this case, it is also known as Simhastha. At Haridwar and Prayagraj, a Maha ("Great") Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years, with an Ardha ("Half") Kumbh Mela six years later. The priests at other places consider their local fairs to be Kumbh Melas; for example, the Mahamaham festival at Kumbakonam, held every 12 years, is described as a Kumbh Mela. Other places where fairs have been called Kumbh Mela include Kurukshetra and Sonepat.
The exact age of the festival is uncertain. According to medieval Hinduism, Lord Vishnu spilled drops of Amrita (the drink of immortality) at four places, while transporting it in a kumbha (pot). These four places are identified as the present-day sites of the Kumbh Mela. The name "Kumbh Mela" literally means "kumbha fair". It is known as "Kumbh" in Hindi (due to schwa deletion); in Sanskrit and some other Indian languages; it is more often known by its original name "Kumbha".
The festival is the largest peaceful gathering in the world, and considered as the "world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims". There is no precise method of ascertaining the number of pilgrims, and the estimates of the number of pilgrims bathing on the most auspicious day may vary. An estimated 120 million people visited Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 in Prayagraj over a two-month period, including over 30 million on a single day, on 10 February 2013 (the day of Mauni Amavasya). It has been inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
- Wiki
Image:
Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) - 1954
KUMBHA - India's ageless festival
By Dilip Kumar Roy and Indira Devi
General Editors: K.M.Munshi and N.Chandrasekhara Aiyer
Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay - 1955
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2CrwFI7
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2QVMoEE
Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred or holy river. Traditionally, four fairs are widely recognized as the Kumbh Melas: the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, Haridwar Kumbh Mela, the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha, and Ujjain Simhastha. These four fairs are held periodically at one of the following places by rotation: Prayagraj (known until 2018 as Allahabad), Haridwar, Nashik district (Nashik and Trimbak), and Ujjain. The main festival site is located on the banks of a river: the Ganges (Ganga) at Haridwar; the confluence (Sangam) of the Ganges and the Yamuna and the invisible Sarasvati at Prayagraj; the Godavari at Nashik; and the Shipra at Ujjain. Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse a person of all their sins.
At any given place, the Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years. There is a difference of around 3 years between the Kumbh Melas at Haridwar and Nashik; the fairs at Nashik and Ujjain are celebrated in the same year or one year apart. The exact date is determined, following the Vikram Samvat calendar and the principles of Jyotisha, according to a combination of zodiac positions of the Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon. At Nashik and Ujjain, the Mela may be held while a planet is in Leo (Simha in Hindu astrology); in this case, it is also known as Simhastha. At Haridwar and Prayagraj, a Maha ("Great") Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years, with an Ardha ("Half") Kumbh Mela six years later. The priests at other places consider their local fairs to be Kumbh Melas; for example, the Mahamaham festival at Kumbakonam, held every 12 years, is described as a Kumbh Mela. Other places where fairs have been called Kumbh Mela include Kurukshetra and Sonepat.
The exact age of the festival is uncertain. According to medieval Hinduism, Lord Vishnu spilled drops of Amrita (the drink of immortality) at four places, while transporting it in a kumbha (pot). These four places are identified as the present-day sites of the Kumbh Mela. The name "Kumbh Mela" literally means "kumbha fair". It is known as "Kumbh" in Hindi (due to schwa deletion); in Sanskrit and some other Indian languages; it is more often known by its original name "Kumbha".
The festival is the largest peaceful gathering in the world, and considered as the "world's largest congregation of religious pilgrims". There is no precise method of ascertaining the number of pilgrims, and the estimates of the number of pilgrims bathing on the most auspicious day may vary. An estimated 120 million people visited Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 in Prayagraj over a two-month period, including over 30 million on a single day, on 10 February 2013 (the day of Mauni Amavasya). It has been inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
- Wiki
Image:
Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) - 1954
Reading List
Babukishan's temple in Birbhum W Bengal India
https://archive.org/details/BaulPhilosophyDasThielemannDelhi2003/page/n251
The above link is a book put together by Purna Das Baul and Selena Thielemann, it should be noted most of the material in this book has been copied and pasted from Babu Kishan's aka Krishnendu Das 3 books on Baul and Babu Kishan's manuscripts that were in Calcutta and ready to be published.
Of course this is Babu Kishan's life work and Purna Das Baul is his father, however, it should be noted that Babu Kishan was never asked nor consulted on the use of his material.
Babu Kishan does not endorse nor agree with how his material has been presented.
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http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_devii/doc_devii.html
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Various links to Rare Books
https://archive.org/stream/Kalaprakashika#page/n233/mode/2up
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http://www.yogavidya.com/freepdfs.html
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http://www.vajrayana.faithweb.com/index.html
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https://archive.org/stream/scienceofbreathc00ramaiala#page/8/mode/2up
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https://ia801505.us.archive.org/26/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.57500/2015.57500.Holy-Lake-Of-The-Acts-Of-Rama.pdf
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https://archive.org/stream/ramayanaofvalmee035120mbp#page/n11/mode/2up
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Ancient India, 2000 B.C.- 800 A.D.
By Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848-1909)
Published by Longmans Green & Co., London - 1904
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/2ojpUml
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/2nWaaSU
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Digital Rare Book :
The Economic History of India under early British Rule -
From the rise of the British power in 1757 to the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.
By Romesh Chunder Dutt
Published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London - 1916
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/2oabeDO
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/2oNhPay
Image:
Queen Victoria at her desk, assisted by Abdul Karim in 1885
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Jyotish (Vedic Indian Astrology) Books:
(Jyotisha is the astrology of Yoga, Tantra, Ayurveda and of India, it is the science of Light)
* Mantreswara's Phala Deepika S.S Sareen
* Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra - Vol 1 and 2
* Light and Life Hart de Fouw & Robert Svoboda
* Greatness of Saturn, Robert Svoboda
* The Lunar Nodes, Crisis and Redemption Komilla Sutton
https://www.booksfact.com/religions/hanuman-chalisa-calculates-distance-between-sun-earth.html
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Date of the Mahabharata:
http://www.archive.org/stream/dateofmahabharat00srinuoft#page/4/mode/2up
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Yoga Books:
Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The Bhagavad Gita
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Tai Chi Books & Qigong Books
* Qigong Empowerment, Mediical, Taoist, Buddhist, Wushu Energy Cultivation -
Master Shou-Yu Liang
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Shastra:
* Bhagavad Gita
* Mahabharata
* Ramayana
* Devi Gita
* Guru Gita
* Upanishads
* Puranas
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Digital Books
* The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother, Sri Lalita Sahasranama
* In Praise of the Goddess, Devimahatmya
Digital Rare Book:
Papers relating to the collection and preservation of the records of ancient Sanskṛit literature in India
By Archibald Edward Gough
Published by Office of Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta - 1878
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/MAx2yE
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/OHdSeT
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Digital Rare Book:
The Music of India
By Herbert Arthur Popley
Published by Association Press, Calcutta - 1921
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/YxQcKL
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/XTGAyQ
-------------------------------
Digital Rare Book:
Ragas and Raginis
By Professor O.C.Ganguly
Published by Nalanda Books - 1935
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/XWfxTD
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Digital Rare Book:
Hindu Music from Various Authors
By Rajah Comm. Sourindro Mohun Tagore
Published by I. C. Bose & Co. - Calcutta - 1882
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/11skOAI
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/14H6GrU
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Digital Rare Book:
An Astrologer's Day and other stories
By R.K.Narayan
Published by Eyre and Spottiswoode, London - 1947
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/14jkh8u
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/13zoxwu
---------------------------------------------
Digital Rare Book:
Early History of Kausambi
By N.N. Ghosh
Published by Allahabad Law Journal Press, Allahabad - 1935
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/124wLdl
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/12PQBN3
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Manu Smiriti
Digital Rare Book:
MANU-SMRTI
The Laws of Manu with Bhasya of Medhatithi
Translated by Ganga Natha Jha
Published by The University of Calcutta - 1922
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/MaoLpe
http://bit.ly/Pvy17K
Rare Book Society on Facebook, excellent source of Rare Books and Pictures of India
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rare-Book-Society-of-India/196174216674
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Digital Rare Book:
The Sun and the Serpent: A contribution to the history of serpent-worship
By Charles Frederick Oldham
Published by Archibald Constable & Co., London - 1905
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/MAkQzs
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/Nsdvmj
Digital Rare Book:
Indian Snakes
An elementary treatise on ophiology with a descriptive catalogue of the snakes found in India and the adjoining countries
By Edward Nicholson
Published by Higginbotham and Co., Madras - 1874
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2CN1qWQ
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2CWJlZD
Indian Snakes
An elementary treatise on ophiology with a descriptive catalogue of the snakes found in India and the adjoining countries
By Edward Nicholson
Published by Higginbotham and Co., Madras - 1874
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2CN1qWQ
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2CWJlZD
https://archive.org/stream/LakshmiTantraAPancharatraTextSanjuktaGupta/Lakshmi-Tantra-a-Pancharatra-Text-Sanjukta-Gupta#page/n0/mode/2up
Rare Book Society of India
Digital Rare Book:
Sushruta Samhita - A Scientific Synopsis
By Priyadaranjan Ray, Hirendranath Gupta and Mira Roy
Published by The Indian National Science Academy, Delhi - 1980
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2hcdX0s
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2j2Am0E
Susruta was believed to have been born in the Eastern part of India near Bihar. Known as the father of Indian surgery, Susruta was the first to practise rhinoplasty in India. When he lived has long been a controversial subject among many medical historians. Susruta's famous work, the Susruta Samhita, has not survived and its only existence is in the form of revisions and copies (Ruthkow, 1961). Late Vedic hymns ascribed to Susruta suggested that he must have flourished during the latter part of the Vedic age, which would place him around 1000 BCE.
Susruta's Samhita emphasized surgical matters, including the use of specific instruments and types of operations. It is in his work that one finds significant anatomical considerations of the ancient Hindu. There is also compelling evidence suggesting that the knowledge of human anatomy was revealed by both inspection of the surface of the human body and through human dissection, as he believed that students aspiring to be surgeons should acquire a good knowledge of the structure of the human body (Hoernle, 1907; Keswani, 1970) (Fig. 1).
Interestingly, in neither the writings of Susruta or of Charaka is there any indication that animal dissection was practised. Their anatomical knowledge, therefore, appears to have been gleaned from human dissection. Moreover, their writings show a considerable familiarity with the bones of the human body (Banerjee, 2006; Hoernle, 1907).
The advancement of surgery during ancient Indian medical history is significant when considering the obstacles that deterred the study of anatomy. According to Hindu tenets, the human body is sacred in death. Hindu law (Shastras) states that no body may be violated by the knife and that persons older than 2 years of age must be cremated in their original condition (Ruthkow, 1961). Susruta was, however, able to bypass this decree and achieve his remarkable knowledge of human anatomy by using a brush-type broom, which scrapped off skin and flesh without the dissector having to actually touch the corpse.
Susruta's description of anatomical specimens included over 300 bones, as well as types of joints, ligaments and muscles from various parts of the body (Hoernle, 1907). Critics suggest that Susruta's overestimate of the number of bones contained in the human body may be due to the large number of child cadavers he observed (i.e. it is very possible that Susruta accounted for individual parts of bones that had not yet fused.) Despite his erroneous accounts of the skeleton, Susruta offered an in-depth understanding of bones, muscles, joints and vessels that far exceeded the knowledge of the time (Persaud, 1997).
The Susruta Samhita
Arguably the oldest surgical textbook is the Susruta Samhita. The literal translation of this Susruta is ‘that which is well heard’ or ‘one who has thoroughly learned by hearing’ (Chari, 2003). The first translation of this book from Sanskrit was the Arabic translation of the late 8th century. It was later translated into Latin, German and English (Mukhopadhaya, 1929). The most recent English translation was by Kaviraj Bhishagharatan, published in 1910; a later edition was released in 1963 (Bhishagratna, 1963). The Susruta Samhita is divided into two parts, the Purva-tantra and the Uttara-tantra. The Purva-tantra is subdivided into five books, the Sutrasthana, Nidana, Sarirasthana, Chikitasathanam and the Kalpastham, totalling 120 chapters, collectively (Mukhopadhaya, 1929). At the approximate time of the Susruta Samhita, the healing arts were divided into five parts, which included the Rogaharas (physicians), Shaylyaharas (surgeons), Vishaharas (poison healers), Krityaharas (demon doctors), and Bhisagatharvans (magic doctors) (Chari, 2003).
The Sutrasthana deals with basic medical science and pharmacology; Nidana, addresses disease processes; Chikitsasthanam is the bulk of the text, 34 chapters on surgical procedures and post-operative management; and the Kalpasthanam is composed of eight chapters on toxicology.
Read more:
http://bit.ly/2y0zj4e
Digital Rare Book:
Sushruta Samhita - A Scientific Synopsis
By Priyadaranjan Ray, Hirendranath Gupta and Mira Roy
Published by The Indian National Science Academy, Delhi - 1980
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2hcdX0s
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2j2Am0E
Susruta was believed to have been born in the Eastern part of India near Bihar. Known as the father of Indian surgery, Susruta was the first to practise rhinoplasty in India. When he lived has long been a controversial subject among many medical historians. Susruta's famous work, the Susruta Samhita, has not survived and its only existence is in the form of revisions and copies (Ruthkow, 1961). Late Vedic hymns ascribed to Susruta suggested that he must have flourished during the latter part of the Vedic age, which would place him around 1000 BCE.
Susruta's Samhita emphasized surgical matters, including the use of specific instruments and types of operations. It is in his work that one finds significant anatomical considerations of the ancient Hindu. There is also compelling evidence suggesting that the knowledge of human anatomy was revealed by both inspection of the surface of the human body and through human dissection, as he believed that students aspiring to be surgeons should acquire a good knowledge of the structure of the human body (Hoernle, 1907; Keswani, 1970) (Fig. 1).
Interestingly, in neither the writings of Susruta or of Charaka is there any indication that animal dissection was practised. Their anatomical knowledge, therefore, appears to have been gleaned from human dissection. Moreover, their writings show a considerable familiarity with the bones of the human body (Banerjee, 2006; Hoernle, 1907).
The advancement of surgery during ancient Indian medical history is significant when considering the obstacles that deterred the study of anatomy. According to Hindu tenets, the human body is sacred in death. Hindu law (Shastras) states that no body may be violated by the knife and that persons older than 2 years of age must be cremated in their original condition (Ruthkow, 1961). Susruta was, however, able to bypass this decree and achieve his remarkable knowledge of human anatomy by using a brush-type broom, which scrapped off skin and flesh without the dissector having to actually touch the corpse.
Susruta's description of anatomical specimens included over 300 bones, as well as types of joints, ligaments and muscles from various parts of the body (Hoernle, 1907). Critics suggest that Susruta's overestimate of the number of bones contained in the human body may be due to the large number of child cadavers he observed (i.e. it is very possible that Susruta accounted for individual parts of bones that had not yet fused.) Despite his erroneous accounts of the skeleton, Susruta offered an in-depth understanding of bones, muscles, joints and vessels that far exceeded the knowledge of the time (Persaud, 1997).
The Susruta Samhita
Arguably the oldest surgical textbook is the Susruta Samhita. The literal translation of this Susruta is ‘that which is well heard’ or ‘one who has thoroughly learned by hearing’ (Chari, 2003). The first translation of this book from Sanskrit was the Arabic translation of the late 8th century. It was later translated into Latin, German and English (Mukhopadhaya, 1929). The most recent English translation was by Kaviraj Bhishagharatan, published in 1910; a later edition was released in 1963 (Bhishagratna, 1963). The Susruta Samhita is divided into two parts, the Purva-tantra and the Uttara-tantra. The Purva-tantra is subdivided into five books, the Sutrasthana, Nidana, Sarirasthana, Chikitasathanam and the Kalpastham, totalling 120 chapters, collectively (Mukhopadhaya, 1929). At the approximate time of the Susruta Samhita, the healing arts were divided into five parts, which included the Rogaharas (physicians), Shaylyaharas (surgeons), Vishaharas (poison healers), Krityaharas (demon doctors), and Bhisagatharvans (magic doctors) (Chari, 2003).
The Sutrasthana deals with basic medical science and pharmacology; Nidana, addresses disease processes; Chikitsasthanam is the bulk of the text, 34 chapters on surgical procedures and post-operative management; and the Kalpasthanam is composed of eight chapters on toxicology.
Read more:
http://bit.ly/2y0zj4e
Digital Rare Book:
Le Ramayana: Poème Sanscrit dē Valmiky
Translated by Hippolyte Fauche
Published by A. Lacroix, Paris - 1864
Volume 1
In French
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2A8a1E5
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2rLebxl
Hippolyte Fauche, born in 1797 and died in Juilly (Seine-et-Marne) on February 28, 1869, is a French Indologist and translator.
Eugène Burnouf's pupil, he is known for his translations of Sanskrit, notably those of two great epics of India, the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhârata, the Kâlidâsa theater and the Gîta Govinda by Jayadeva.
Image:
Painting on paper of a kneeling Hanuman opening his chest to show Rāma and Sīta lodged in his heart.
Kalighat Style
1880 (circa)
Calcutta
Image and text credit:
© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum
Le Ramayana: Poème Sanscrit dē Valmiky
Translated by Hippolyte Fauche
Published by A. Lacroix, Paris - 1864
Volume 1
In French
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2A8a1E5
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2rLebxl
Hippolyte Fauche, born in 1797 and died in Juilly (Seine-et-Marne) on February 28, 1869, is a French Indologist and translator.
Eugène Burnouf's pupil, he is known for his translations of Sanskrit, notably those of two great epics of India, the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhârata, the Kâlidâsa theater and the Gîta Govinda by Jayadeva.
Image:
Painting on paper of a kneeling Hanuman opening his chest to show Rāma and Sīta lodged in his heart.
Kalighat Style
1880 (circa)
Calcutta
Image and text credit:
© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum
Rare Book Society of India
Digital Rare Book:
History of Hindu Mathematics
By Bibhutibushan Datta and Avadesh Narayan Singh
Published by Asia Publishing House, Bombay - 1935
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/WWhTzf
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/15URH8M
Preface:
Little is known at present to historians of mathematics regarding the achievements of the early Hindu mathematicians and our indebtedness to them. Though it is now generally admitted that the decimal place-value system of numeral notation, was invented andfirst used by the Hindus, it is not yet fully realized to what extent we are indebted to them for our elementary mathematics. This is due to the lack of a reliable and authentic history of Hindu mathematics. Our object in writing the present book has been to make up' for this deficiency by giving a comprehensive account of the growth and development of the science of mathematics in India from the earliest known times down to the seventeenth century of the Christian era.
The subject is treated by topics. Under each topic are collected together and set forth in chronological order translations of relevant Sanskrit texts as found in the Hindu works. The texts have been elucidated, wherever necessary, by adding explanatory notes and comments, and also by illustrative examples culled fromoriginal sources. We have tried to avoid repetition as far as has been consistent with our aim. However, on several occasions it has been considered desirable to repeat the same rule in the words of different authors in order to emphasize the continuity or rather the gradual evolution of mathematical thought and terminology in India.
Comparative study of this kind has helped us to throw light on certain obscure Sanskrit passages and technical terms whose full significance had not, been understood before. In translating the texts we have tried to be as literal and faithful as possible without sacrificing the spirit of the original. Sometimes it has not been possible to find exact parallels to Sanskrit words and technical terms in English. In all such cases we have tried to maintain the spirit of the original in the English version.
The above plan of the book has been adopted in pursuance of our intention to place before those who have no access to the Sanskrit sources all evidence, unfavourable as well as favourable, so that they can judge for themselves the claims of Hindu mathematics, without depending solely on our statements. In order to facilitate comparison with the development of mathematics in other countries the various topics have been arranged generally in accordance with the sequence in Professor D. E. Smith's History of Mathematics, Vol. II. This has sometimes necessitated divergence from the arrangement of topics as found in the Hindu works on mathematics.
In search of material for the book we had to examine the literature of the Hindus, non-mathematical as well as mathematical, whether in Sanskrit or in Prakrit (Pali and Ardha Magadhi). Very few of the Hindu treatises on mathematics have been printed so far, and even these are not generally known.
The manuscript works that exist in the various Sanskrit libraries in India and Europe are still less known. We have not spared labour in collecting as many of these as we could. Sanskrit mathematical works mentioned in the bibliography given at the end of this volume have been specially consulted by us. We are thankful to the authorities of the libraries at Madras, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Trippunithura and Benares, and those of the India Office (London) and the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta) for supplying us transcripts of the manuscripts required or sending us manuscripts for consultation.
We are indebted also to Dr. R. P. Paranjpye, Vice-Chancellor of the Lucknow University, for help in securing for our use several manuscripts or their transcripts from the state libraries in India and the India Office, London.
Digital Rare Book:
History of Hindu Mathematics
By Bibhutibushan Datta and Avadesh Narayan Singh
Published by Asia Publishing House, Bombay - 1935
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/WWhTzf
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/15URH8M
Preface:
Little is known at present to historians of mathematics regarding the achievements of the early Hindu mathematicians and our indebtedness to them. Though it is now generally admitted that the decimal place-value system of numeral notation, was invented andfirst used by the Hindus, it is not yet fully realized to what extent we are indebted to them for our elementary mathematics. This is due to the lack of a reliable and authentic history of Hindu mathematics. Our object in writing the present book has been to make up' for this deficiency by giving a comprehensive account of the growth and development of the science of mathematics in India from the earliest known times down to the seventeenth century of the Christian era.
The subject is treated by topics. Under each topic are collected together and set forth in chronological order translations of relevant Sanskrit texts as found in the Hindu works. The texts have been elucidated, wherever necessary, by adding explanatory notes and comments, and also by illustrative examples culled fromoriginal sources. We have tried to avoid repetition as far as has been consistent with our aim. However, on several occasions it has been considered desirable to repeat the same rule in the words of different authors in order to emphasize the continuity or rather the gradual evolution of mathematical thought and terminology in India.
Comparative study of this kind has helped us to throw light on certain obscure Sanskrit passages and technical terms whose full significance had not, been understood before. In translating the texts we have tried to be as literal and faithful as possible without sacrificing the spirit of the original. Sometimes it has not been possible to find exact parallels to Sanskrit words and technical terms in English. In all such cases we have tried to maintain the spirit of the original in the English version.
The above plan of the book has been adopted in pursuance of our intention to place before those who have no access to the Sanskrit sources all evidence, unfavourable as well as favourable, so that they can judge for themselves the claims of Hindu mathematics, without depending solely on our statements. In order to facilitate comparison with the development of mathematics in other countries the various topics have been arranged generally in accordance with the sequence in Professor D. E. Smith's History of Mathematics, Vol. II. This has sometimes necessitated divergence from the arrangement of topics as found in the Hindu works on mathematics.
In search of material for the book we had to examine the literature of the Hindus, non-mathematical as well as mathematical, whether in Sanskrit or in Prakrit (Pali and Ardha Magadhi). Very few of the Hindu treatises on mathematics have been printed so far, and even these are not generally known.
The manuscript works that exist in the various Sanskrit libraries in India and Europe are still less known. We have not spared labour in collecting as many of these as we could. Sanskrit mathematical works mentioned in the bibliography given at the end of this volume have been specially consulted by us. We are thankful to the authorities of the libraries at Madras, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Trippunithura and Benares, and those of the India Office (London) and the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta) for supplying us transcripts of the manuscripts required or sending us manuscripts for consultation.
We are indebted also to Dr. R. P. Paranjpye, Vice-Chancellor of the Lucknow University, for help in securing for our use several manuscripts or their transcripts from the state libraries in India and the India Office, London.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Digital Rare Book:
Viswaguna Darsana: or Mirror of Mundane Qualities
Translated from the Sanskrit of Venkatachari into English
By Caveli Venkata Ramaswami
Published in Calcutta - 1825
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/YqRJWg
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/16rNQ5p
Viswaguna Darsana: or Mirror of Mundane Qualities
Translated from the Sanskrit of Venkatachari into English
By Caveli Venkata Ramaswami
Published in Calcutta - 1825
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/YqRJWg
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/16rNQ5p
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digitising Two centuries of Indian printed books
The British Library holds the world’s largest single collection of early printed South Asian-language books, many of them now unique. Its collections include 20,000 Indian manuscripts, the earliest of which date back almost 2,000 years, as well as countless other materials from the region. This collection is the most important outside South Asia, and offers a wealth of research material tracing India’s rich literary heritage.
The Two Centuries of Indian Print: 1713–1914 project will digitise and make freely available this rich collection of early South Asian-language early printed books, ensuring preservation of fragile originals for future generations.
The project will encompass digitising 1,000 books in Bengali, amounting to 200,000 pages, as well as enhancing the catalogue records to automate searching and aid discovery by researchers.
Demand for early Bengali printed works in the Library’s collection is particularly high, and digitisation will make them available to researchers beyond the Library’s Reading Rooms, giving global access to the British Library’s South Asian printed collections, many of which are now rare or unique.
Promoting advances in research, access to cultural heritage, and progress in international relations lie at the heart of the British Library’s core purposes, and Two Centuries of Indian Print will work toward fulfilling these goals.
The initiative is in partnership with School of Cultural Texts and Records (SCTR) of Jadavpur University, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and the Library at SOAS University of London, working with the National Library of India, the National Mission on Libraries, and other institutions in India.
Copyright © The British Library Board
https://www.facebook.com/196174216674/videos/10155198188191675/
Digitising Two centuries of Indian printed books
The British Library holds the world’s largest single collection of early printed South Asian-language books, many of them now unique. Its collections include 20,000 Indian manuscripts, the earliest of which date back almost 2,000 years, as well as countless other materials from the region. This collection is the most important outside South Asia, and offers a wealth of research material tracing India’s rich literary heritage.
The Two Centuries of Indian Print: 1713–1914 project will digitise and make freely available this rich collection of early South Asian-language early printed books, ensuring preservation of fragile originals for future generations.
The project will encompass digitising 1,000 books in Bengali, amounting to 200,000 pages, as well as enhancing the catalogue records to automate searching and aid discovery by researchers.
Demand for early Bengali printed works in the Library’s collection is particularly high, and digitisation will make them available to researchers beyond the Library’s Reading Rooms, giving global access to the British Library’s South Asian printed collections, many of which are now rare or unique.
Promoting advances in research, access to cultural heritage, and progress in international relations lie at the heart of the British Library’s core purposes, and Two Centuries of Indian Print will work toward fulfilling these goals.
The initiative is in partnership with School of Cultural Texts and Records (SCTR) of Jadavpur University, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and the Library at SOAS University of London, working with the National Library of India, the National Mission on Libraries, and other institutions in India.
Copyright © The British Library Board
https://www.facebook.com/196174216674/videos/10155198188191675/
Digital Rare Book:
An Essay on the antiquity of Hindoo Medicine, including an introductory lecture to the course of materia medica and therapeutics, delivered at King's College
By John Forbes Royle (1798-1858)
Published by W.H.Allen & Co., London - 1837
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/2sLZ34K
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http://bit.ly/2rJjURE
John Forbes Royle (10 May 1798 – 2 January 1858), British botanist and teacher of materia medica, was born in Kanpur (then Cawnpore) in 1798. He was in charge of the botanical garden at Saharanpur and played a role in the development of economic botany in India.
In 1823 Royle was appointed as Superintendent of the botanical garden at Saharanpur which had been established by the East India Company in 1750 with the aim of promoting the introduction of new crops of commercial value. Royle was assisted by Hugh Falconer who also took an interest in paleontology. One of Royle's major interests was in the traditional botanical remedies used by Hindu medical practitioners based on which he would later write On the Antiquity of Hindu Medicine (1837). He noted the effectiveness of many of these remedies. He also began a scheme of recording weather data at Saharanpur. He retired from service in 1831 and returned to England but continued to publish several books.
- Wiki
Image:
Monkshood or Indian aconite, Aconitum ferox. Chromolithograph after a botanical illustration from Hermann Adolph Koehler's Medicinal Plants, edited by Gustav Pabst, Koehler.
An Essay on the antiquity of Hindoo Medicine, including an introductory lecture to the course of materia medica and therapeutics, delivered at King's College
By John Forbes Royle (1798-1858)
Published by W.H.Allen & Co., London - 1837
Read Book Online:
http://bit.ly/2sLZ34K
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/2rJjURE
John Forbes Royle (10 May 1798 – 2 January 1858), British botanist and teacher of materia medica, was born in Kanpur (then Cawnpore) in 1798. He was in charge of the botanical garden at Saharanpur and played a role in the development of economic botany in India.
In 1823 Royle was appointed as Superintendent of the botanical garden at Saharanpur which had been established by the East India Company in 1750 with the aim of promoting the introduction of new crops of commercial value. Royle was assisted by Hugh Falconer who also took an interest in paleontology. One of Royle's major interests was in the traditional botanical remedies used by Hindu medical practitioners based on which he would later write On the Antiquity of Hindu Medicine (1837). He noted the effectiveness of many of these remedies. He also began a scheme of recording weather data at Saharanpur. He retired from service in 1831 and returned to England but continued to publish several books.
- Wiki
Image:
Monkshood or Indian aconite, Aconitum ferox. Chromolithograph after a botanical illustration from Hermann Adolph Koehler's Medicinal Plants, edited by Gustav Pabst, Koehler.
Digital Rare Book:
An Introduction to the Grammar of the Sanskrit language, for the use of early students
By Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860)
Published by J. Madden and Co., London - 1841
Read Book oNline:
http://bit.ly/2rzaTzx
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/2rE4iyU
Horace Hayman Wilson (26 September 1786 – 8 May 1860) was an English orientalist. He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, and went out to India in 1808 as assistant-surgeon on the Bengal establishment of the British East India Company. His knowledge of metallurgy caused him to be attached to the Mint at Calcutta, where he was for a time associated with John Leyden.
Wilson became deeply interested in the ancient language and literature of India, and by the recommendation of Henry Thomas Colebrooke, he was in 1811 appointed secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In 1813 he published the Sanskrit text with a graceful, if somewhat free, translation in English rhymed verse of Kalidasa's charming lyrical poem, the Meghaduuta, or Cloud-Messenger.
He prepared the first Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1819) from materials compiled by native scholars, supplemented by his own researches. This work was only superseded by the Sanskritwörterbuch (1853–1876) of Rudolf Roth and Otto von Böhtlingk, who expressed their obligations to Wilson in the preface to their great work.
- Wiki
An Introduction to the Grammar of the Sanskrit language, for the use of early students
By Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860)
Published by J. Madden and Co., London - 1841
Read Book oNline:
http://bit.ly/2rzaTzx
Download pdf Book:
http://bit.ly/2rE4iyU
Horace Hayman Wilson (26 September 1786 – 8 May 1860) was an English orientalist. He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, and went out to India in 1808 as assistant-surgeon on the Bengal establishment of the British East India Company. His knowledge of metallurgy caused him to be attached to the Mint at Calcutta, where he was for a time associated with John Leyden.
Wilson became deeply interested in the ancient language and literature of India, and by the recommendation of Henry Thomas Colebrooke, he was in 1811 appointed secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In 1813 he published the Sanskrit text with a graceful, if somewhat free, translation in English rhymed verse of Kalidasa's charming lyrical poem, the Meghaduuta, or Cloud-Messenger.
He prepared the first Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1819) from materials compiled by native scholars, supplemented by his own researches. This work was only superseded by the Sanskritwörterbuch (1853–1876) of Rudolf Roth and Otto von Böhtlingk, who expressed their obligations to Wilson in the preface to their great work.
- Wiki
Rare Book Society of India
November 1 at 1:45am · Digital Rare Book:
Chhandah Sutra of PINGALA Acharya
With the commentary of Halayudha Bhatta
Edited by Pandita Visvanatha Sastri
Printed at The Ganesha Press, Calcutta - 1874
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2h2ia6W
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2zXfM5l
Pingala (Devanagari: पिङ्गल piṅgala) (c. 3rd/2nd century BC), is the influential ancient scholar and the author of the Chandaḥśāstra (also called Pingala-sutras), the earliest known treatise on Sanskrit prosody.
The Chandaḥśāstra is a work of eight chapters in the late Sūtra style, not fully comprehensible without a commentary. It has been dated to the last few centuries BCE. The 10th century mathematician Halayudha wrote a commentary on the Chandaḥśāstra and expanded it.
First known description of a binary numeral system :
The Chandaḥśāstra presents the first known description of a binary numeral system in connection with the systematic enumeration of meters with fixed patterns of short and long syllables. The discussion of the combinatorics of meter corresponds to the binomial theorem. Halāyudha's commentary includes a presentation of the Pascal's triangle (called meruprastāra). Pingala's work also contains the Fibonacci numbers, called mātrāmeru.
Use of zero is sometimes ascribed to Pingala due to his discussion of binary numbers, usually represented using 0 and 1 in modern discussion, but Pingala used light (laghu) and heavy (guru) rather than 0 and 1 to describe syllables. As Pingala's system ranks binary patterns starting at one (four short syllables—binary "0000"—is the first pattern), the nth pattern corresponds to the binary representation of n-1 (with increasing positional values).
Pingala is credited with using binary numbers in the form of short and long syllables (the latter equal in length to two short syllables), a notation similar to Morse code. Pingala used the Sanskrit word śūnya explicitly to refer to zero.
- Wikipedia
November 1 at 1:45am · Digital Rare Book:
Chhandah Sutra of PINGALA Acharya
With the commentary of Halayudha Bhatta
Edited by Pandita Visvanatha Sastri
Printed at The Ganesha Press, Calcutta - 1874
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2h2ia6W
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2zXfM5l
Pingala (Devanagari: पिङ्गल piṅgala) (c. 3rd/2nd century BC), is the influential ancient scholar and the author of the Chandaḥśāstra (also called Pingala-sutras), the earliest known treatise on Sanskrit prosody.
The Chandaḥśāstra is a work of eight chapters in the late Sūtra style, not fully comprehensible without a commentary. It has been dated to the last few centuries BCE. The 10th century mathematician Halayudha wrote a commentary on the Chandaḥśāstra and expanded it.
First known description of a binary numeral system :
The Chandaḥśāstra presents the first known description of a binary numeral system in connection with the systematic enumeration of meters with fixed patterns of short and long syllables. The discussion of the combinatorics of meter corresponds to the binomial theorem. Halāyudha's commentary includes a presentation of the Pascal's triangle (called meruprastāra). Pingala's work also contains the Fibonacci numbers, called mātrāmeru.
Use of zero is sometimes ascribed to Pingala due to his discussion of binary numbers, usually represented using 0 and 1 in modern discussion, but Pingala used light (laghu) and heavy (guru) rather than 0 and 1 to describe syllables. As Pingala's system ranks binary patterns starting at one (four short syllables—binary "0000"—is the first pattern), the nth pattern corresponds to the binary representation of n-1 (with increasing positional values).
Pingala is credited with using binary numbers in the form of short and long syllables (the latter equal in length to two short syllables), a notation similar to Morse code. Pingala used the Sanskrit word śūnya explicitly to refer to zero.
- Wikipedia
Digital Rare Book:
Plants of the coast of Coromandel selected from drawings and descriptions presented to the Hon. Court of Directors of the East India Company
Illustrated with hand coloured copper engraved plates
By William Roxburgh
Printed by Willam Bulmer, London - 1795
Volume 1
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2heWCB1
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2iDcOzw
William Roxburgh (3 or 29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815[1]) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. He published numerous works on Indian botany, illustrated by careful drawings made by Indian artists and accompanied by taxonomic descriptions of a large number of plant species.
Roxburgh began work in the Carnatic from 1781 and replaced Patrick Russell as the Company Botanist in Madras on April 1789. His early work was on botany as superintendent in the Samalkot garden in the Northern Circars. Here he conducted economic botany experiments. He employed native artists to illustrate plants. He had 700 illustrations by 1790. He then succeeded Patrick Russell (1727–1805) as Naturalist to the Madras Government in April 1789. From 1793, he and Andrew Ross established a garden at Corcondah, where they worked on sugarcane and indigo. He also studied the prospects of introducing sago and other food crops to help alleviate the effect of famine. He was invoted to fill the position of Superintendent at the Calcutta Botanical Garden where the death of Colonel Robert Kyd had created a vacancy. He made rapid progress and acquired a good reputation and was later invited by the government of Bengal, to take charge of the Calcutta Botanical gardens from Colonel Robert Kyd in 1793 as Superintendent of the Company garden at Sibpur near Calcutta. A catalogue of the garden was made in 1814 – Hortus Bengalensis. He was succeeded by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton.
He had sent many of his illustrations to Sir Joseph Banks, who in May 1795, started publishing Plants of the coast of Coromandel in 3 volumes with over 300 drawings and descriptions of plants. The last part was published in March 1820.
- Wikipedia
Plants of the coast of Coromandel selected from drawings and descriptions presented to the Hon. Court of Directors of the East India Company
Illustrated with hand coloured copper engraved plates
By William Roxburgh
Printed by Willam Bulmer, London - 1795
Volume 1
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2heWCB1
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2iDcOzw
William Roxburgh (3 or 29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815[1]) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. He published numerous works on Indian botany, illustrated by careful drawings made by Indian artists and accompanied by taxonomic descriptions of a large number of plant species.
Roxburgh began work in the Carnatic from 1781 and replaced Patrick Russell as the Company Botanist in Madras on April 1789. His early work was on botany as superintendent in the Samalkot garden in the Northern Circars. Here he conducted economic botany experiments. He employed native artists to illustrate plants. He had 700 illustrations by 1790. He then succeeded Patrick Russell (1727–1805) as Naturalist to the Madras Government in April 1789. From 1793, he and Andrew Ross established a garden at Corcondah, where they worked on sugarcane and indigo. He also studied the prospects of introducing sago and other food crops to help alleviate the effect of famine. He was invoted to fill the position of Superintendent at the Calcutta Botanical Garden where the death of Colonel Robert Kyd had created a vacancy. He made rapid progress and acquired a good reputation and was later invited by the government of Bengal, to take charge of the Calcutta Botanical gardens from Colonel Robert Kyd in 1793 as Superintendent of the Company garden at Sibpur near Calcutta. A catalogue of the garden was made in 1814 – Hortus Bengalensis. He was succeeded by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton.
He had sent many of his illustrations to Sir Joseph Banks, who in May 1795, started publishing Plants of the coast of Coromandel in 3 volumes with over 300 drawings and descriptions of plants. The last part was published in March 1820.
- Wikipedia
Digital Rare Book:
Plants of the coast of Coromandel selected from drawings and descriptions presented to the Hon. Court of Directors of the East India Company
Illustrated with hand coloured copper engraved plates
By William Roxburgh
Printed by Willam Bulmer, London - 1795
Volume 2
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2heWCB1
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2iDcOzw
William Roxburgh (3 or 29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815[1]) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. He published numerous works on Indian botany, illustrated by careful drawings made by Indian artists and accompanied by taxonomic descriptions of a large number of plant species.
Roxburgh began work in the Carnatic from 1781 and replaced Patrick Russell as the Company Botanist in Madras on April 1789. His early work was on botany as superintendent in the Samalkot garden in the Northern Circars. Here he conducted economic botany experiments. He employed native artists to illustrate plants. He had 700 illustrations by 1790.
He then succeeded Patrick Russell (1727–1805) as Naturalist to the Madras Government in April 1789. From 1793, he and Andrew Ross established a garden at Corcondah, where they worked on sugarcane and indigo. He also studied the prospects of introducing sago and other food crops to help alleviate the effect of famine. He was invoted to fill the position of Superintendent at the Calcutta Botanical Garden where the death of Colonel Robert Kyd had created a vacancy. He made rapid progress and acquired a good reputation and was later invited by the government of Bengal, to take charge of the Calcutta Botanical gardens from Colonel Robert Kyd in 1793 as Superintendent of the Company garden at Sibpur near Calcutta. A catalogue of the garden was made in 1814 – Hortus Bengalensis. He was succeeded by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton.
He had sent many of his illustrations to Sir Joseph Banks, who in May 1795, started publishing Plants of the coast of Coromandel in 3 volumes with over 300 drawings and descriptions of plants. The last part was published in March 1820.
- Wikipedia
The Classical Doctrine Of Indian Medicine - Its Origins And Its Greek Parallels
By J. Filliozat
Published by Munshiram Manoharlal Oriental Booksellers And Publishers, Delhi - 1964
Translated from the Original in French
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2zUcwsm
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Extract from The PREFACE:
THE WORK ON HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE which continues actively and has, during the last few years, helped produce the thesis of Mr. Bourgey at Paris and Mr. R. Joly at Liege is chiefly interesting for the history of the scientific spirit of the Antiquity and for ancient Greek Philology.
On its side, the history of the Ayurveda reaches into the same Antiquity but concerns something always modern. The Ayurvedic medicine is still alive. Some attack it as the anachronic survival of a once glorious past but unworthy of being ranked with new scientific achievements.
Others defend it with a conviction and ingeniousness which do harm to its cause. In fact, some support the view that it is fully worthy of figuring in the front rank of modern medicines and even that it is the only one worthy of the front rank. In their view it already contains all the useful discoveries of not only the present-day medicine but also of medicine in future.
It is the complete science, revealed once for all for the good of the feeble humanity and does not require any research and trials of present-day science. All that the latter discovers with a great deal of effort, had not only been foreshadowed but had been written down in its books. It is because we cannot understand them properly and cannot understand their formulae because of the condensed expression of the truth, that we always look for the detailed solutions of physiological and therapeutic problems which had been, in general, fully solved by Ayurveda.
Moved by this spirit, a number of the partisans of Ayurveda have written about the identification of modern concepts with those of Ayurveda. This is how it is desired to recognise in certain organic elements mentioned by the Ayurvedic texts, the elements defined by present-day physiology and geological Chemistry.
For instance, as the action of 'prana' is invoked by Ayurveda for explaining the physiological movements of the organs, and as modern Nerurology talks about nervous influx, some have claimed that prdna is that nervous influx and that modern Nerurology has merely rediscovered what Ayurveda had already taught.
This is how, once again, a substance like 'ojas', which plays an important role in the organism, according to the Physiology of Ayurveda, has been identified with albumin, because albumin appears as playing a role of fundamental importance in the same organism. Numerous other identifications in detail or identifications of theories explaining the same phenomena proposed on both sides by the Ayurvedic authors and modern medical men have, once again, been recently put forward. But it should be evident to everybody that the majority of these identifications cannot be defended because the elements mistakenly held to be the same, as they serve to explain the same functions, are altogether differently defined on the two sides.
It is certainly much more important to note that the Ayurvedic authors have recognised numerous problems posed by life and by the inter-play of pathological functions or by their alterations and that they have sought to solve them by means of rational explanations, on the basis of data obtained from observations available to them, as can always be done by the Physiologists, Biologists and the Pathologists with the help of data gathered by them. But it is absolutely unwarranted to claim that the explanations thus offered are equivalent and that the more ancient ones had already the value, of the latter ones; indeed they have an absolute and definitive value. Now in the European science of the Middle Ages the maintenance of any liquid in a tube, first filled and then turned upside down on a vat containing the same liquid, had been sought to be explained by means of the property of nature having 'horror of the vacuum'.
Later on Physics, having discovered atmospheric pressure, has explained the same phenomenon because of the atmospheric pressure. But no one has, however, come to the conclusion that mediaeval science had already known the atmospheric pressure and had named it, 'horror of the vacuum'. The same should have been the case with regard to Ayurvedic explanations. It gives evidence of a rational scientific: spirit, rarely seen in other civilisations of the world. But these explanations have for their basis a knowledge, as yet rudimentary and incomplete in so far as the real conditions of the production of these phenomena were concerned; they cannot, therefore prevail against those which today rest on much more detailed information and which will not be valid before those of the future, the latter being based on much more complete knowledge. Making claims to the contrary is not only to naively mix up concepts and theories which, though applicable to the same phenomena, have altogether different bases, but is also to give to the detractors of Ayurveda a chance of denigrating its partisans as making unjustifiable claims for the same. One should not plead a good cause with bad arguments.
In the history of universal scientific development, Ayurveda has an eminent place, which should be conceded to the same and we will refer to it a little later, but its theories of yesterday do not supercede those of today. It retains its importance for other reasons.
Image:
Link for an enlarged image: http://bit.ly/2hEvawj
Digital Rare Book:
Siddhanta Siromani of Bhaskaracharya
English Exposition and Annotation in the light and language of modern Astronomy
By Dr. D. Arkasomayaji
Ex-Principal, D. N. R. College, Bhimavaram, A.P.,
Ex-Reader in Astronomy, Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati. Recipient of President's Award.
Published by Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati - 1980
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2AjaLYZ
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Siddhānta Śiromani (Sanskrit: सिद्धांत शिरोमणी for "Crown of treatises" is the major treatise of Indian mathematician Bhāskara II. He wrote the Siddhānta Śiromani in 1150 when he was 36 years old. The work is composed in Sanskrit Language in 1450 verses.
Leelavati
The name of the book comes from his daughter, Leelāvati. It is the first volume of the Siddhānta Śiromani. The book contains thirteen chapters, 278 verses, mainly arithmetic and measurement.
Bijaganita
It is the second volume of Siddhānta Shiromani. It is divided into six parts, contains 213 verses and is devoted to algebra.
Ganitadhyaya and Goladhyaya
Ganitadhyaya and Goladhyaya of Siddhanta Shiromani are devoted to astronomy. All put together there are about 900 verses. Ganitadhyaya has 451 and Goladhyaya has 501 verses).
- Wikipedia
Siddhanta Siromani of Bhaskaracharya
English Exposition and Annotation in the light and language of modern Astronomy
By Dr. D. Arkasomayaji
Ex-Principal, D. N. R. College, Bhimavaram, A.P.,
Ex-Reader in Astronomy, Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati. Recipient of President's Award.
Published by Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati - 1980
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2AjaLYZ
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2zVHF0z
Siddhānta Śiromani (Sanskrit: सिद्धांत शिरोमणी for "Crown of treatises" is the major treatise of Indian mathematician Bhāskara II. He wrote the Siddhānta Śiromani in 1150 when he was 36 years old. The work is composed in Sanskrit Language in 1450 verses.
Leelavati
The name of the book comes from his daughter, Leelāvati. It is the first volume of the Siddhānta Śiromani. The book contains thirteen chapters, 278 verses, mainly arithmetic and measurement.
Bijaganita
It is the second volume of Siddhānta Shiromani. It is divided into six parts, contains 213 verses and is devoted to algebra.
Ganitadhyaya and Goladhyaya
Ganitadhyaya and Goladhyaya of Siddhanta Shiromani are devoted to astronomy. All put together there are about 900 verses. Ganitadhyaya has 451 and Goladhyaya has 501 verses).
- Wikipedia
Digital Rare Book:
The Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon.
A descriptive handbook of all the known species of Rhopalocerous Lepidoptera inhabiting that region, with notices of allied species occurring in the neighbouring countries along the border; with numerous illustrations
By George Frederick Leicester Marshall (1843-1934) and Lionel de Nicéville (1852-1901)
Published by Calcutta Central Press Co., Calcutta - 1882
Volume 1
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2hStoYy
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2zmdQTN
Charles Lionel Augustus de Nicéville (1852 in Bristol – 3 December 1901 in Calcutta from malaria) was a curator at the Indian Museum in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He studied the butterflies of South Asia and wrote a three volume monograph on the butterflies of India, Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka.
Born in a noble Huguenot family, his father was a physician. He was educated at St. John's College at Hurstpierpoint near Brighton.[1] Leaving England for India in 1870, de Nicéville became a clerk in a government office (Calcutta Small Cause Court) but from at least 1881, devoted all of his spare time to entomology. He worked with most 'Indian' entomologists of the day but especially with Henry John Elwes, Taylor, Wood–Mason, Martin and Marshall. At this time, he made several trips to Sikkim. In 1887 he made a trip to the Baltistan glaciers along with John Henry Leech.[1] He made collections on these trips and wrote a series of papers in the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (1881, 1882, 1883 and 1885) and in 1890 the results were summarised in the Gazetteer of Sikhim (1890) in which G. A Gammie and De Niceville recorded about 631 species of butterflies found in Sikkim. Also included were butterflies found in Darjeeling, Buxa and Bhutan, areas contiguous with Sikkim state
1899 was a year of great famine coinciding with George Nathaniel Curzon's appointment as Viceroy of India. Curzon was hugely energetic and supportive of government efforts to help agriculture. "Our real reform has been to endeavour for the first time to apply science on a large scale to the study and practice of Indian agriculture." he wrote in 1901. Curzon began in 1901 by elevating the Bombay director of agriculture to the new position of inspector-general of agriculture. Curzon also undertook the expansion of provincial research, linked to districts by experiment as well as demonstration farms. In 1901 he appointed an imperial mycologist and an imperial entomologist; two years later, he appointed an imperial agriculturalist and an imperial economic botanist. The entomologist was de Nicéville, who whilst a lepidopterist was able to co-ordinate work on other insect orders.
He was a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow of the Entomological Society. He died of malaria contracted while travelling in the Terai region.
- Wikipedia
The Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon.
A descriptive handbook of all the known species of Rhopalocerous Lepidoptera inhabiting that region, with notices of allied species occurring in the neighbouring countries along the border; with numerous illustrations
By George Frederick Leicester Marshall (1843-1934) and Lionel de Nicéville (1852-1901)
Published by Calcutta Central Press Co., Calcutta - 1882
Volume 1
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2hStoYy
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2zmdQTN
Charles Lionel Augustus de Nicéville (1852 in Bristol – 3 December 1901 in Calcutta from malaria) was a curator at the Indian Museum in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He studied the butterflies of South Asia and wrote a three volume monograph on the butterflies of India, Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka.
Born in a noble Huguenot family, his father was a physician. He was educated at St. John's College at Hurstpierpoint near Brighton.[1] Leaving England for India in 1870, de Nicéville became a clerk in a government office (Calcutta Small Cause Court) but from at least 1881, devoted all of his spare time to entomology. He worked with most 'Indian' entomologists of the day but especially with Henry John Elwes, Taylor, Wood–Mason, Martin and Marshall. At this time, he made several trips to Sikkim. In 1887 he made a trip to the Baltistan glaciers along with John Henry Leech.[1] He made collections on these trips and wrote a series of papers in the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (1881, 1882, 1883 and 1885) and in 1890 the results were summarised in the Gazetteer of Sikhim (1890) in which G. A Gammie and De Niceville recorded about 631 species of butterflies found in Sikkim. Also included were butterflies found in Darjeeling, Buxa and Bhutan, areas contiguous with Sikkim state
1899 was a year of great famine coinciding with George Nathaniel Curzon's appointment as Viceroy of India. Curzon was hugely energetic and supportive of government efforts to help agriculture. "Our real reform has been to endeavour for the first time to apply science on a large scale to the study and practice of Indian agriculture." he wrote in 1901. Curzon began in 1901 by elevating the Bombay director of agriculture to the new position of inspector-general of agriculture. Curzon also undertook the expansion of provincial research, linked to districts by experiment as well as demonstration farms. In 1901 he appointed an imperial mycologist and an imperial entomologist; two years later, he appointed an imperial agriculturalist and an imperial economic botanist. The entomologist was de Nicéville, who whilst a lepidopterist was able to co-ordinate work on other insect orders.
He was a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow of the Entomological Society. He died of malaria contracted while travelling in the Terai region.
- Wikipedia
Digital Rare Book:
Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh
By Sujan Rai Bhandari fo Batala
Edited by Zafar Hasan
Printed at J & Sons, Delhi - 1918
In Persian Read book online: http://bit.ly/2DcidFB
Download pdf book: http://bit.ly/2MeppE2
Evolution of earlier melas to Kumbh Melas There are several references to river-side mela (festivals) in ancient Indian texts including at the places where present day Kumbh Melas are held, both the earliest exact age of those melas and when they came to be called the Kumbh Mela is uncertain. Earliest mention of any type of mela held at the current location of Kumb Mela is by Xuanzang in 644 CE.
The earliest extant mention of the name "Kumbha Mela" are Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (1695 CE) and Chahar Gulshan (1759 CE) which describe the fairs held at Haridwar, Prayagraj and Nashik, among those the magh fair at Prayagraj might be oldest without being called Kumbh Mela at those time and the fair at Haridwar appears to be the original Kumbh Mela which is held according to the astrological sign "Kumbha" (Aquarius), and the renaming of fairs held at other places to Kumbh Mela is more recent.
The Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh lists the following melas: an annual mela and a Kumbh Mela every 12 years at Haridwar; a mela held at Trimbak when Jupiter enters Leo (that is, once in 12 years); and an annual mela held at Prayagraj in Magh.
The Magh Mela of Prayagraj is probably the oldest among these, dating from the early centuries CE, and has been mentioned in several Puranas. Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh is an Indian Persian language chronicle by Sujan Rai in the Mughal Empire of present-day India. It deals with the history of Hindustan (northern Indian subcontinent), and also contains details about the contemporary Mughal Empire. The author completed the work in 1695 CE, during the reign of Aurangzeb. An insertion about Aurangzeb's death was later added to the original copy by a transcriber. Alternative transliterations of the book's title include Khulasat-Al-Tavarikh and Khulasatu-t-Tawarikh. - Wiki
A Bengal Atlas : Containing maps of the theatre of war and commerce on that side of Hindoostan compiled from the Original surveys
By James Rennell (1742-1830) and W. Harrison
Published in London - 1780
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2ApfqqN
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2RqKMXz
Major James Rennell, FRS FRSE FRGS (3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830) was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.
Rennell produced some of the first accurate maps of Bengal at one inch to five miles as well as accurate outlines of India and served as Surveyor General of Bengal. Rennell has been called the Father of Oceanography. In 1830 he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
- Wiki
By James Rennell (1742-1830) and W. Harrison
Published in London - 1780
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2ApfqqN
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2RqKMXz
Major James Rennell, FRS FRSE FRGS (3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830) was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.
Rennell produced some of the first accurate maps of Bengal at one inch to five miles as well as accurate outlines of India and served as Surveyor General of Bengal. Rennell has been called the Father of Oceanography. In 1830 he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
- Wiki
Digital Rare Book:
Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan or the Mogul Empire. With an introduction illustrative of the geography and present division of that country. To which is added an appendix, containing an account of the Ganges and Burrampooter rivers
By James Rennell (1742-1830)
Printed by W. Bulmer & Co. for the author, London - 1780
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2Qev1yb
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2EZ05km
Major James Rennell, FRS FRSE FRGS (3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830) was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.
Rennell produced some of the first accurate maps of Bengal at one inch to five miles as well as accurate outlines of India and served as Surveyor General of Bengal. Rennell has been called the Father of Oceanography. In 1830 he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
- Wiki
Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan or the Mogul Empire. With an introduction illustrative of the geography and present division of that country. To which is added an appendix, containing an account of the Ganges and Burrampooter rivers
By James Rennell (1742-1830)
Printed by W. Bulmer & Co. for the author, London - 1780
Read book online:
http://bit.ly/2Qev1yb
Download pdf book:
http://bit.ly/2EZ05km
Major James Rennell, FRS FRSE FRGS (3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830) was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.
Rennell produced some of the first accurate maps of Bengal at one inch to five miles as well as accurate outlines of India and served as Surveyor General of Bengal. Rennell has been called the Father of Oceanography. In 1830 he was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
- Wiki
Essay:
The Rāma Story and Sanskrit in Ancient Xinjiang
By Professor Subhash Kak
Published in Medium - Aug 17, 2018
Most people do not know that until about a thousand years ago, the Tarim Basin (northwest of Tibet, which is the part of Xinjiang below the Tian Shin Mountains) was Indic in culture and it was a thriving part of the Sanskritic world; its people spoke the Gāndhārī language which many see as descended from Vedic Sanskrit, and Khotanese Saka, which is also closely related to Sanskrit. Perhaps the region to compare it most is Kashmir, to whose north it lay. There was also much interaction between the two regions with many scholars traveling from Kashmir to Khotan, and silk culture is believed to have passed from Khotan to Kashmir and then into India.
Gāndhārī inscriptions have been found as far east as Luoyang and Anyang in Henan province in Eastern China which attests to the vastness of the influence of Sanskrit. Europeans in recent centuries called the whole region Serindia, indicating the meeting place of China and India.
Khotanese kings were Mahāyāna Buddhist but as we know this sect incorporates Vedic and Tantric systems, with all the devas such as Indra, Śiva, Viṣṇu and Sarasvatī, and just places the Buddha at the head of the system (as in Vidyākara’s Treasury). There was also Krishna worship in Khotan and we find the Rāma story in Khotanese language, of which there is also a Tibetan version.
The Buddhists put a characteristic spin on the Rāma story, which has had immense power on the imagination of the people all over Asia. In their variant, Rāvaṇa, after losing the war is spared his life, and becomes a worthy Buddhist to accord with the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, set in Laṅkā, in which the Buddha instructs Rāvaṇa. (Likewise, in order not to lose followers of Rāma, Jain texts show him as a faithful Jain.)
The Khotanese Rāmāyaṇa is not the standard Rāma story. In it Daśaratha, who is called Sahasrabāhu (“thousand-armed”), fights with Paraśurāma and gets killed, and his sons Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa are saved by a queen. When they grow older they slay Paraśurāma in revenge and become masters of all Jambudvīpa.
Meanwhile, the Rākṣasas are ruled by Rāvaṇa (Daśagrīva). A daughter is born to his chief queen and it is prophesied that she will be the cause of his ruin. So he orders the girl, Sītā, to be cast upon the great river in a box. A ṛṣi chances upon the box and raises the girl lovingly. This is of course somewhat similar to the account in Adbhuta Rāmāyaṇa.
Later in the story, Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa and Sītā are in the forest and as the brothers leave to hunt, Lakṣmaṇa draws the magic circle around Sītā for protection. Daśagrīva sees this lovely woman from the air, and not knowing she is his own daughter, approaches her and persuades her to step out of the circle to abduct her.
There is war and Dasagriva is defeated. But in the end Rāma doesn’t kill him. Here’s the original with translation
that gives a sense of the language:
sahasrrabāhi: pūra harya
the sons of Sahasrabāhu escaped.
rrāmi hamye śūrāṃ myāña
Rama was among the heroes. (Bailey translation)
At the end of the story, the Buddha Śākyamuni is identified with Rāma and Maitreya with Lakṣmaṇa. Daśagrīva comes to the Buddha and receives instruction in the Dharma as in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra.
Some history
The traditional date for the founding of Khotan, on the southern and the more ancient branch of the Silk Road, is the reign of Aśoka Maurya (3rd century BCE). It was ruled by Buddhist kings until it was conquered by the Muslims in 1006. Some of the kings mentioned in the “Prophecy of the Li Country”, composed in 746 CE, dealing with events of the recent past are Vijaya Kīrti, Vijaya Saṅgrāma, Vijaya Dharma, Vijaya Saṃbhava, and Vijaya Vāhana.
Many Khotanese cities had Sanskrit names. For example, Khotan in Sanskrit was Gaustana गौस्तन and the modern city of Kashi (Kashgar) was called Śrīkrīrāti (in Sanskrit Śrī+krī+rāti, श्रीक्रीराति, ‘Glorious Hospitality’). Kashgar itself appears to be the popular name from Sanskrit Kāśa+giri (काशगिरि, bright mountain). The Khotanese called their language hvatanai ह्वतनै which later became hvaṃnai ह्वंनै; this is equivalent to the name deśī that is used for language in India (vatan, from svatana = deśa).
The liturgical texts in the region were written in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, whereas those in the region of Krorän (Chinese Loulan), an important oasis further east of Khotan, used Prakrit in administration. A third language called Tocharian was also used both to translate Buddhist texts and as an administrative language. Many Sanskrit texts of India remember the general region as Tuṣāra or Tukhāra, and it retains currency as a popular proper name.
Another major language was Khotanese Saka, which is sometimes seen as an eastern Iranian language (that is emerging from the region just west of Kashmir). But since the large number of the Śaka who ended up in India as rulers or soldiers have always spoken the more easterly Indo-Aryan languages, I personally believe that the Saka languages were largely Indo-Aryan, although as one traveled further west, the Iranian elements increased.
That Khotanese Saka was principally a Indo-Aryan Prakrit is reinforced by the fact that the texts are in Indian scripts of Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī. Many of these documents were collected in archaeological explorations to Chinese Turkestan by Aurel Stein, who is also known for his translation of Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅginī. Stein came across tens of thousands of manuscripts from 5th to 11th centuries in various sites including the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas in the Kansu (Gansu) province. One of the principal scholars who edited and translated many of these texts was H.W. Bailey and this literature remains a popular field of study for scholars.
Aurel Stein says in his celebrated Ancient Khotan: “There was little to prepare us for such overwhelming evidence .. on the large place which Indian language and culture must have occupied in the administration and daily life of this region during the early centuries of our era. That Sanskrit Buddhist literature was studied in Khotan down to the end of the eighth century A.D. has been proved beyond all doubt by the texts in Brāhmī script which I excavated.”
The mummies of Tarim Basin
The discovery of the Tarim mummies that go back to 1800 BCE strengthen the view that the region was Sanskritic. The earliest mummies in the Basin are exclusively Caucasoid, and the American Sinologist Victor H. Mair has said: “Because the Tarim Basin Caucasoid corpses are almost certainly the most easterly representatives of the Indo-European family and because they date from a time period that is early enough to have a bearing on the expansion of the Indo-European people from their homeland, it is thought they will play a crucial role in determining just where that might have been.”
Some have suggested Europoid identification to explain the blonds and red-heads among the mummies, but there is no need to travel thousands of miles to Western Europe to explain this; Kashmir, just south of the Basin has plenty of red-heads and blonds.
One of the DNA studies notes that the population had “relatively close relationships with the modern populations of South Central Asia and Indus Valley, as well as with the ancient population of Chawuhu.” This is perfectly reasonable if the original inhabitants of the region were from Indus Valley [code for India] and they left a genetic trace in the region.
The end of a civilization
Protected by the Taklamakan Desert, the Tarim Basin world survived attacks from steppe nomads for a long time. There was a break in the tradition of Buddhist learning during the social and political turmoil under Tibetan rule from after 790 to the mid-9th century. Things began to change with the arrival of Turkic immigrants, who included Buddhist Uyghurs and Muslim Karluks, from the collapsing Uyghur Khaganate of modern-day Mongolia in 840.
The Islamic attacks and conquest of the Buddhist cities east of Kashgar was started by the Turkic Karakhanid Satok Bughra Khan who in 966 converted to Islam. Islamic Kashgar launched many jihads which eventually ended in the conquest in 1006 of Khotan by the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir.
The end of civilization makes one question assumptions about life. Going beyond ephemeral loves and heartbreaks, does one see it as parikalpa (false assumption) and śūnyatā, as scholars had argued? There was no time for philosophizing, and fearing the worst, monks during the reigns of Khotanese kings Viśa Śūra (r. 966–977) and Viśa Dharma (r. from 978) began to copy texts which were sealed in caves to be preserved for posterity. What followed was a period of destruction and vandalism equaling the worst elsewhere in the world. At the end of it, the populace retained no memory of their collective past and until the discovery of the mummies and the literature they did not know that their ancestors spoke Indian Prakrits.
The end of the civilization was commemorated by the Karakhanid writer Mahmud al-Kashgari in a short poem:
kãlñizlãyũ aqtimiz
kãndlãr õzã čiqtimiz
furxan ãwin yiqtimiz
burxan ũzã sičtimiz
“We came down on them like a flood,
We went out among their cities,
We tore down the idol-temples,
We shat on the Buddha’s head!”
Image:
Śiva-Maheśvara from Khotan, British Museum
Source: http://bit.ly/2TNwrSB
The Rāma Story and Sanskrit in Ancient Xinjiang
By Professor Subhash Kak
Published in Medium - Aug 17, 2018
Most people do not know that until about a thousand years ago, the Tarim Basin (northwest of Tibet, which is the part of Xinjiang below the Tian Shin Mountains) was Indic in culture and it was a thriving part of the Sanskritic world; its people spoke the Gāndhārī language which many see as descended from Vedic Sanskrit, and Khotanese Saka, which is also closely related to Sanskrit. Perhaps the region to compare it most is Kashmir, to whose north it lay. There was also much interaction between the two regions with many scholars traveling from Kashmir to Khotan, and silk culture is believed to have passed from Khotan to Kashmir and then into India.
Gāndhārī inscriptions have been found as far east as Luoyang and Anyang in Henan province in Eastern China which attests to the vastness of the influence of Sanskrit. Europeans in recent centuries called the whole region Serindia, indicating the meeting place of China and India.
Khotanese kings were Mahāyāna Buddhist but as we know this sect incorporates Vedic and Tantric systems, with all the devas such as Indra, Śiva, Viṣṇu and Sarasvatī, and just places the Buddha at the head of the system (as in Vidyākara’s Treasury). There was also Krishna worship in Khotan and we find the Rāma story in Khotanese language, of which there is also a Tibetan version.
The Buddhists put a characteristic spin on the Rāma story, which has had immense power on the imagination of the people all over Asia. In their variant, Rāvaṇa, after losing the war is spared his life, and becomes a worthy Buddhist to accord with the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, set in Laṅkā, in which the Buddha instructs Rāvaṇa. (Likewise, in order not to lose followers of Rāma, Jain texts show him as a faithful Jain.)
The Khotanese Rāmāyaṇa is not the standard Rāma story. In it Daśaratha, who is called Sahasrabāhu (“thousand-armed”), fights with Paraśurāma and gets killed, and his sons Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa are saved by a queen. When they grow older they slay Paraśurāma in revenge and become masters of all Jambudvīpa.
Meanwhile, the Rākṣasas are ruled by Rāvaṇa (Daśagrīva). A daughter is born to his chief queen and it is prophesied that she will be the cause of his ruin. So he orders the girl, Sītā, to be cast upon the great river in a box. A ṛṣi chances upon the box and raises the girl lovingly. This is of course somewhat similar to the account in Adbhuta Rāmāyaṇa.
Later in the story, Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa and Sītā are in the forest and as the brothers leave to hunt, Lakṣmaṇa draws the magic circle around Sītā for protection. Daśagrīva sees this lovely woman from the air, and not knowing she is his own daughter, approaches her and persuades her to step out of the circle to abduct her.
There is war and Dasagriva is defeated. But in the end Rāma doesn’t kill him. Here’s the original with translation
that gives a sense of the language:
sahasrrabāhi: pūra harya
the sons of Sahasrabāhu escaped.
rrāmi hamye śūrāṃ myāña
Rama was among the heroes. (Bailey translation)
At the end of the story, the Buddha Śākyamuni is identified with Rāma and Maitreya with Lakṣmaṇa. Daśagrīva comes to the Buddha and receives instruction in the Dharma as in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra.
Some history
The traditional date for the founding of Khotan, on the southern and the more ancient branch of the Silk Road, is the reign of Aśoka Maurya (3rd century BCE). It was ruled by Buddhist kings until it was conquered by the Muslims in 1006. Some of the kings mentioned in the “Prophecy of the Li Country”, composed in 746 CE, dealing with events of the recent past are Vijaya Kīrti, Vijaya Saṅgrāma, Vijaya Dharma, Vijaya Saṃbhava, and Vijaya Vāhana.
Many Khotanese cities had Sanskrit names. For example, Khotan in Sanskrit was Gaustana गौस्तन and the modern city of Kashi (Kashgar) was called Śrīkrīrāti (in Sanskrit Śrī+krī+rāti, श्रीक्रीराति, ‘Glorious Hospitality’). Kashgar itself appears to be the popular name from Sanskrit Kāśa+giri (काशगिरि, bright mountain). The Khotanese called their language hvatanai ह्वतनै which later became hvaṃnai ह्वंनै; this is equivalent to the name deśī that is used for language in India (vatan, from svatana = deśa).
The liturgical texts in the region were written in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, whereas those in the region of Krorän (Chinese Loulan), an important oasis further east of Khotan, used Prakrit in administration. A third language called Tocharian was also used both to translate Buddhist texts and as an administrative language. Many Sanskrit texts of India remember the general region as Tuṣāra or Tukhāra, and it retains currency as a popular proper name.
Another major language was Khotanese Saka, which is sometimes seen as an eastern Iranian language (that is emerging from the region just west of Kashmir). But since the large number of the Śaka who ended up in India as rulers or soldiers have always spoken the more easterly Indo-Aryan languages, I personally believe that the Saka languages were largely Indo-Aryan, although as one traveled further west, the Iranian elements increased.
That Khotanese Saka was principally a Indo-Aryan Prakrit is reinforced by the fact that the texts are in Indian scripts of Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī. Many of these documents were collected in archaeological explorations to Chinese Turkestan by Aurel Stein, who is also known for his translation of Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅginī. Stein came across tens of thousands of manuscripts from 5th to 11th centuries in various sites including the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas in the Kansu (Gansu) province. One of the principal scholars who edited and translated many of these texts was H.W. Bailey and this literature remains a popular field of study for scholars.
Aurel Stein says in his celebrated Ancient Khotan: “There was little to prepare us for such overwhelming evidence .. on the large place which Indian language and culture must have occupied in the administration and daily life of this region during the early centuries of our era. That Sanskrit Buddhist literature was studied in Khotan down to the end of the eighth century A.D. has been proved beyond all doubt by the texts in Brāhmī script which I excavated.”
The mummies of Tarim Basin
The discovery of the Tarim mummies that go back to 1800 BCE strengthen the view that the region was Sanskritic. The earliest mummies in the Basin are exclusively Caucasoid, and the American Sinologist Victor H. Mair has said: “Because the Tarim Basin Caucasoid corpses are almost certainly the most easterly representatives of the Indo-European family and because they date from a time period that is early enough to have a bearing on the expansion of the Indo-European people from their homeland, it is thought they will play a crucial role in determining just where that might have been.”
Some have suggested Europoid identification to explain the blonds and red-heads among the mummies, but there is no need to travel thousands of miles to Western Europe to explain this; Kashmir, just south of the Basin has plenty of red-heads and blonds.
One of the DNA studies notes that the population had “relatively close relationships with the modern populations of South Central Asia and Indus Valley, as well as with the ancient population of Chawuhu.” This is perfectly reasonable if the original inhabitants of the region were from Indus Valley [code for India] and they left a genetic trace in the region.
The end of a civilization
Protected by the Taklamakan Desert, the Tarim Basin world survived attacks from steppe nomads for a long time. There was a break in the tradition of Buddhist learning during the social and political turmoil under Tibetan rule from after 790 to the mid-9th century. Things began to change with the arrival of Turkic immigrants, who included Buddhist Uyghurs and Muslim Karluks, from the collapsing Uyghur Khaganate of modern-day Mongolia in 840.
The Islamic attacks and conquest of the Buddhist cities east of Kashgar was started by the Turkic Karakhanid Satok Bughra Khan who in 966 converted to Islam. Islamic Kashgar launched many jihads which eventually ended in the conquest in 1006 of Khotan by the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir.
The end of civilization makes one question assumptions about life. Going beyond ephemeral loves and heartbreaks, does one see it as parikalpa (false assumption) and śūnyatā, as scholars had argued? There was no time for philosophizing, and fearing the worst, monks during the reigns of Khotanese kings Viśa Śūra (r. 966–977) and Viśa Dharma (r. from 978) began to copy texts which were sealed in caves to be preserved for posterity. What followed was a period of destruction and vandalism equaling the worst elsewhere in the world. At the end of it, the populace retained no memory of their collective past and until the discovery of the mummies and the literature they did not know that their ancestors spoke Indian Prakrits.
The end of the civilization was commemorated by the Karakhanid writer Mahmud al-Kashgari in a short poem:
kãlñizlãyũ aqtimiz
kãndlãr õzã čiqtimiz
furxan ãwin yiqtimiz
burxan ũzã sičtimiz
“We came down on them like a flood,
We went out among their cities,
We tore down the idol-temples,
We shat on the Buddha’s head!”
Image:
Śiva-Maheśvara from Khotan, British Museum
Source: http://bit.ly/2TNwrSB
