Kaumarabhrityam (Mother and Child Welfare) Based on Original Sanskrit Texts

No special apology is necessary for the publication of a book of this kind. The vast medical literature of Ancient India practically remains as yet unexplored. Any undertaking which has the object of making that "Terra Incognita" known to the modern scientific world is bound to be welcomed by the public, and we sincerely hope the work we have undertaken will supply a longfelt want, and help to start a fuller inquiry into the subject of "Mother and child Welfare" of Ancient India. Many institutions have been already started in foreign countries, wit the sole object of studying Aaayueveda, and our compilation, we hope, embracing as it does the results of researches made by our Ancient "Maharshis" in the land of their origin may contribute no small amount of useful information to those bodies. A few remarks on the method we have adopted in compiling and editing this book are necessary by way of explanation. Influenced as we are with western education and western methods of research, we have deliberately limited ourselves to gathering up the written word from Aayurvedic Literature, and have tried to curb at all times the tendency to look behind the meaning of that written word, and discover ideas which were never meant to be there, whether these be in conformity with or against the views of modern Medicine. The subject matter dealt in the present volume is divided into parts. The first part is primarily the theoretical aspect of the real ground work on which the entire fabric of the science of pediatrics is built. The second part entirely deals with treatment or the steps to be taken to alleviate the suffering. Despite the varying circumstances of social and personal life, deep down in the human individual, the impulses of life remain the same now as thousands of years back. Hence in spite of newer forms of life and expression, his dominant nature has to be understood and evaluated in terms that hold good for all time.