Lucy, the practice of not writing down certain mantras, passing them from guru to chela orally, and keeping them secret is common in various Hindu schools especially in certain ascetic and tantric traditions. Other aspects of their traditions, including histories and practices, are often not written as well since they may not be meant for outside consumption.

Ramdas Lamb
Department of Religions and Ancient Civilizations
University of Hawai'i

On Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 5:47 AM Lucy May Constantini via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Harry,

I'm not sure if partial ethnographic information is useful here. Nonetheless, in the lineage of kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘ I study, when a student is initiated into kaḷaricikitsa (which understands itself as a specialised branch of āyurveda), that student is given a mantra in which Dhanvantari features as part of the initiation. However, as it's an upadeśa mantra, it's not permitted to share it or write it down for public consumption. I don't know if this is a widespread practice across other lineages and traditions, but if so, it might explain why written sources are so rare.

All best wishes,

Lucy May Constantini
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies
School of Social Sciences and Global Studies 
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The Open University

AHRC Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP Funded

OU People: Lucy May Constantini


On Tue, 25 Oct 2022 at 15:57, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear list members,
Firstly thank you to Dominik Haas who found a reference in a modern womans travel journal to India.  Other than that I was extremely surprised that I couldn't find any mantras in any written sources to Dhanvantari.  I searched GRETIL, the Muktabodha digital library, and the Kyoto Archive of Sanskrit Texts (Michio Yano and colleagues) . There were lots of references to dhanvantarI (dhanvantarir uvAca etc.)  but as far as I could see no mantras to him (of course its possible I missed them).

Any supposition about why these are so rare (non-existent?) in written sources but all over the internet.  In ayurveda is it other deities that are used in healing mantras?  Or even better if the ayurvedic experts could point me to any mantras to dhanvantari (or other deities) used in healing.

Thanks again,
Harry Spier

On Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 4:36 PM Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear list members,
I was asked to find gayatrī mantras to the god of healing Dhanvantari (but with a source). I'm able to find lots of mantras (including gayatrī mantras) on youtube and the internet but they don't give a source.
Ideally would be a gayatri mantra with a scriptural source (some ayurvedic text?) but acceptable would be some modern book collection of mantras etc. And even some shloka or non-gayatri mantra in a text asking for healing from Dhanvantari would also be acceptable.
Thanks,
Harry Spier

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