(2) Madana Pala Nighantu, by Madana Pala, a king of Kanauj. The late Raja Rajendra Lala Mitra placed the date of composition of this work somewhere in the twelfth century (vide R. L. Mitra's Notices of Sanskrit MSS. II, p. 264).
(3) Bhava Prakasa, by Bhava Misra. It treats of Anatomy, Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Materia Medica, and Therapeutics. Its date has been fixed at about the sixteenth century.[1] This work gives a very concise and clear account of all the medicinal plants and animal and mineral substances used medicinally by Hindoo physicians.
Yunani Hakims, that is the Muhammadan physicians of India, also have written a great deal concerning the indigenous drugs of this country. The encouragement accorded to Muhammadan physicians by their rulers led them to produce many meritorious works on medicine. Under the patronage of the court of Dehli, the Yunani Hakims vied with one another in paying attention to the study of indigenous drugs. Their works are however not of any antiquity. The Taleef Sheriff is a monograph, clearly setting forth the views of Yunani Hakims on indigenous drugs. The Makhzan-ul-Adiuiya, which has been made much use of by Dr. Dymock in his Vegetable Materia Medica of Western India, is also another important work on the subject. There are several other works by Muhammadan physicians, some in Persian, and others in Urdu, treating of indigenous drugs.
It is during the Christian period of Indian history, that our knowledge regarding indigenous drugs has been much increased by the investigations and labors of botanists and physicians. The three myrobalans of the East were eagerly sought after by the early Portuguese discoverers of the sea-route to India. Indian spices were also made known to Europe by them. Informations concerning the drugs of this country are scattered in the works of European travellers and navigators to this country during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[2] At the same time several
- ↑ The late Dr. U. C. Dutt has given strong reasons for the work being a production of the sixteenth century, see introduction to his Materia Medica of the Hindoos.
- ↑ A very important work was that of Garcia D'orta, named Colloquios does simples e droges da India. This has been lately translated into English.
