CRITICAL EDITION AND TRANSLATION OF FIRST THREE CHAPTERS OF THE MANUSCRIPT 'PRAYOGASAROTTARAPATALAM

The knowledge and wisdom earned by ancient seers of Ayurveda were passed down to generations through handwritten documents called manuscripts.Manuscripts are the proof of our well-developed ancient sciences.Manuscript in a broader sense is any document written by hand such as documents or text written on materials like palm leaf, copper plate, wood, birch bark, etc.Thousands of valuable unpublished Ayurveda manuscripts are available in manuscript libraries and private custodies which can incredibly contribute in the progress of Ayurveda.According to the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), more than 20,000 Ayurvedic manuscripts have been identified; however, the majority of these remain unexplored.For a proper understanding of their contents, these manuscripts must be made available in their most authentic form through the preparation of critical editions supported by reliable evidences.Furthermore, English translation plays a vital role in the global transmission of knowledge, ensuring that the wisdom and insights of scholars are preserved and made accessible to future generations.So as a part of small step towards this, Pray gas r ttarapa alam, a manuscript which is written in old Malayalam script and Sanskrit language and scribed by Peruvanat Pu pot N raya a Nambi r.Objective of the study was critical edition of first three chapters of the manuscript and its English translation.The manuscript having similarity in title and content are considered for critical edition based on availability.Initially, critical edition was done with Malayalam script.In the process of critical edition, accepted readings from different codices were noted.Maximum number of accepted readings were from codex A. But Codex B is having more antiquity and can be considered as Ur text, nearest to author's original text.The manuscript was transliterated to Sanskrit language and then translated into English language where the subject matter of the manuscript got decoded.Based on the evidence obtained from the manuscript, the period of the manuscript can be roughly th th estimated to be between 16 -20 century.The contents include treatment principles and rare formulations for fertility, conception, ante natal care and graha cikitsa.The unique aspect of the manuscript is that it deals with the subject in a very concise manner and picked the best yog s from different classics for the treatment of various diseases and presented yog s in a simple and brief manner.