Ramanisblog

Tag: Tamil manuscripts

  • Ancient Tamil Medicine Manuscripts Institute of Asian Studies Chennai

    Ancient Tamil Medicine Manuscripts Institute of Asian Studies Chennai

    People often ask me on the sources of my articles. I have listed the sources in my ‘About’ Page.And I keep updating it. I also provide the relevant Link or the text or Book at the end of each article.When it comes to Indian history, people are not still convinced about the authenticity of the sources.When a Link or source is provided regarding Indian History, these sources are in turn based on Manuscripts Epigraphs,Temple Sthala puranas, References in Sanskrit and other Regional languages and word of mouth and legends. These are cross checked with archelogical findings, Astro dating,C4 dating, References in contemporary literature of the period.

    Where are the main sources, Manuscripts and Epigraphs?These are available in Foreign countries’ Museums,Private Collections and a very negligible portion with India.When I was reading the Ancient Tamil writings, Epigraphs in Darparanyeswara Sanctum outer wall, at Thirunallaru, I was requested by the Executive of the temple and presented a Book 📚.It was a copy of the text of the Epigraphs at the temple and the deciphered version of the writings /Epigraphs. The work was carried out by French Organization at Pondicherry.I shall produce excerpts with my notes in a series of articles.

    To the point at hand… Ancient Tamil texts dealing with Medicine,herbs, preparation of special medicines, chanting to be done while preparing medicines, rare diseases and their treatment are housed at The Institute of Asian Studies,Chennai.Thesr documents are preserved in the Memory of the World Register in 1997.

    The I.A.S. Tamil Medical Manuscript Collection

    Documentary heritage submitted by India and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 1997.

    Mostly Tamil Medical Manuscripts preserved at the Institute of Asian Studies reflect the ancient system of medicine, practised by yogis. This system explains the methods of obtaining medicines from herbs, herbal roots, leaves, flowers, barks, fruits etc. The proportions of the ingredients as well as the specific processes are explained in detail.

    Traditional Indian Medicine has a long history. Its theories and detailed practices are recorded in classic texts written by medical scholars of the past. Modern practitioners study these texts to increase their skills. The Institute of Asian Studies in Chennai has collected 564 copies of these texts, all written in South India, mostly in Tamil, on palm leaves, mostly dating from the 19th century. The collection is part of a wider collection of ancient Tamil texts. The texts reflect both the Siddha and Ayurvedic medical systems. They discuss the nature and symptoms of diseases, and methods of cure. Most are general texts, giving prescriptions for use in a number of diseases, but some are specialist texts covering diseases of children and women. The texts explain how medicines can be produced from herbs, and from the roots, leaves, flowers, bark and fruit of medically valuable products, detailing the specific processes and the proper proportions of the several ingredients in any specific medical product. Traditional Indian Medicine requires that certain rituals and ritual chants should be undertaken while medicine is administered, and 57 of the manuscripts give such details.

    Traditional medical systems are a major part of the world heritage of learning and culture, and preservation of this collection is of great importance in consequence This collection is the finest and most complete library of traditional Indian medical texts extant. The collection reflects, in particular, the medical traditions of South India: most other collections of traditional Indian medical texts reflect the traditions of other parts of India. The collection was inscribed on the International Memory of the World Register in 1997.

    International Register

    https://mowcaparchives.org/items/show/36

  • Thirty Million Manuscripts 700 Poetic Meters Amazing Sanskrit

    With Thirty Million  Manuscripts existing even today,Sanskrit is the oldest Language of the world and the Rig Veda , which is in Sanskrit ,is the oldest literature of the world.

    There is a view that the Hitti Language is older than Sanskrit.

    Not so.

    I shall be posting on this  an article.

    Some interesting Facts about Sanskrit.

    Encrypting the value of pi in a shloka. – There is a numbering system in Sanskrit called the Katapayadi system. This system ascribes a number to every letter or alphabet in the script, something similar to the ASCII system in computer science. When the letter in the following shloka is replaced with their corresponding number from the Katapayadi Sankhya, we get thevalue of pi accurate to 31 digits.
    गोपीभाग्यमधुव्रात-शृङ्गिशोदधिसन्धिग ।
    खलजीवितखाताव गलहालारसंधर ॥
    OR
    Gopibhagya madhuvrata srngisodadhisandhiga|
    Khalajivitakhatava galahalarasandhara||
    (The shloka extolls Krishna and his achievements.)

    Read my post on this.

    Sanskrit is the “mother” of the most languages of North India and even the Romani language of the Romani people (“Gypsies”). To be precise, the Indo-Aryan languages evolved from Middle Indo-Aryan languages, which in turn evolved from Old Indo-Aryan = Sanskrit). Moreover, even the Dravidian languages (Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and to quite some extent Tamil), which do not have their origins in Sanskrit have borrowed such a large proportion of their vocabulary from Sanskrit that it could well be called their foster-mother.

    There is a Sanskrit epaper ,even to-day,since 1970,published out of Mysore.

    The Sanskrit’s sphere of influence extended all the way to South-East Asia (what is now Laos, Cambodia, etc.), without any invasion or use of military power originating from India.

    Though the importance of Sanskrit has diminished significantly in the last few centuries, it is far from a dead language: Sanskrit literature continues to thrive and flourish, with novels, short stories, essays and epic poems continuing to be written, and its authors picking up several literary awards (including the Jnanpith award in 2006).

    It is the official language (along with Hindi) of the state of Uttarakhand.

    The most extreme example are the Vedas, which apart from being among the world’s oldest texts might well be the ones with the largest interval of time between their composition and first being written. The oldest layers are dated around 1500 BCE by modern scholars, and they were not set down in writing until probably the Gupta period (5th century or so), which makes some 2000 years.

    Despite the above fact (initial reluctance to writing), the proliferation of works continued, with the result that there are an estimated over 30 million Sanskrit manuscripts today with a conservative estimate of 7 million in India itself. This means there are orders of magnitude more manuscripts in Sanskrit than in Latin and Greek put together.

    These manuscripts are on a very diverse range of topics, everything from sacred texts to literary works (poetry, drama, satires, histories, epics, novels) to scientific works (mathematics, linguistics, logic, botany, chemistry, medicine,) to entire works on things as seemingly obscure as elephant-raising or even “A Method to Grow Crooked Bamboos for Palanquin Beams”.

    Poetry in Sanskrit is extraordinarily diverse, with over 100 common meters, and books of prosody listing over 600 metres. Its literature includes works of dazzling complexity, including works that tell several stories at once using puns, works that contain words several lines long, brilliant examples of constrained writing, …
    Research has shown that the phonetics of this language has roots in various energy points of the body and reading, speaking or reciting Sanskrit stimulates these points and raises the energy levels, whereby resistance against illnesses, relaxation to mind and reduction of stress are achieved.
     
    Sanskrit is the only language, which uses all the nerves of the tongue. By its pronunciation, energy points in the body are activated that causes the blood circulation to improve. This, coupled with the enhanced brain functioning and higher energy levels, ensures better health. Blood Pressure, diabetes, cholesterol etc. are controlled. (Ref: American Hindu University after constant study)

    Sanskrit is the Most Computer Friendly Language.

    Citation.

    Amazing Sanskrit

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