Ayurveda literature

[Dominik Wujastyk]

There is also a complete four-volume tr. of Caraka by P.V. Sharma.

There is a very old translation of Susruta by Bhishagratna that is
available as a reprint (3v.).  But it is very idiosyncratic.  A better job
is the ten volume version by G. D. Singhal, published privately from
Benares (or BHU?).  Each volume has a different title (e.g., "Fundamental
& plastic surgery considerations in ancient Indian surgery") which doesn't
help one to find them.  The volumes are not in general circulation, but I
met Romesh Mittal from DK Agencies earlier in the week, and he said he
could supply them.

As for the Ah., by far the best tr. is in German, by Kirfel and
Hilgenberg (Brill, 1941).  The first five chapters were very well done in
English by Claus Vogel (Franz Steiner, 1965).  A new complete English tr.
by K. R. Srikantha Murthy in three vols was completed recently.
Krishnadas Academy, Varanasi, 1991-95.  A good crib for someone who knows
Sanskrit (or even Hindi, perhaps), but not very good for someone with no
Indian languages ("Sali, sastika, godhuma, yava, and mudga, which are old
by one year (which are light, not lost their potency easily digestable
[sic] and strengthening) milk, ghee and flesh of goat and meat of
carnivorous animals--all these cure consumption").

Best wishes,
Dominik

--
Dominik Wujastyk               Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine
email: d.wujastyk at ucl.ac.uk          183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, England
<URL: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/>                    FAX: 44 171 611 8545