Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur unveils book titled ‘Hasthyayurveda’ composed by Palkapya Muni and transcripted in Hindi by Dr. Madhubala Jain

Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Chairman and Managing Trustee, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur released the book titled ‘Hasthyayurveda’ composed by Palkapya Muni transcripted from Sanskrit to Hindi language by Dr. (Smt.) Madhubala Jain, the profound scholar and Sanskrit Panditya from Udaipur. 

Ayurveda is not only the oldest medical system of the world adopted in Indian society since centuries, but it is also the science of life. Rishis and Sages have always made the living welfare work ‘karma’ as a duty towards mankind ‘dharma’ and presented it to the society. The sages invented the science and knowledge keeping in mind the interests of environment, vegetation and the entire world with not just limiting to Human life. In order to eradicate incurable diseases from their roots, Animal Ayurveda texts were also produced in the same way as Human-Ayurveda. These included Gavayurveda by Sahadeva, Ashwayurveda by Shalihotra, Hasthyayurveda and Gaja Shastra composed by Palkapya Muni, a contemporary of King Dasharatha in Tretayuga. 

Both of these books of Palkapya Muni are the oldest texts in Hasti-Vigyaan. Hasthyayurveda is written in both prose and verse form. This entire book is written in a style of conversation. This book describes the detailed guidelines of the origin of elephants, the disorders caused in them, causes of disorders, symptoms of disorders, nature of disease, method of treatment, process of making medicines, age of elephants, medicine uses based on nature and climate etc. Hasthyayurveda is the physiology of elephants. There are a total of four sections in this entire book, out of which describes a total of 160 chapters and 315 diseases occurring in the body of elephants in about 12 thousand verses (Shlokas). 

Maharaj Sahib Shri Bagh Singh Ji Karjali organised writing of this manuscript of Palkapya Rishi titled ‘Hasthyayurveda’ in the Vikram Samwat 1811 (1754 CE). This book is published by Maharana Mewar Historical Publications Trust, The City Palace, Udaipur. The Line sketch pictures related to medical and examination of elephants are also shown in this book. 

Dr. Madhubala Jain, a Sanskrit Scholar and a gold medallist in her graduation and post graduation from Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur. She also did PhD and Post Doctoral Fellowship from the University. She has more than 20 years of teaching experience with teaching in graduate and postgraduate classes. Her articles have been published in various national and international journals. She is currently pursuing senior fellowship from ICSSR, New Delhi.