For procuring medicines various resources were tapped by ancient scholars of Ayurveda. The medicines were systematically classified into three beais groups of plant, animal and mineral origin during the period of Charaka. Ayurvedic system of medicine could flourish because it had its concomitant materia medica which had been developed to a very advanced level. Ayurvedic medicine, is a vast treasure of Ayurveda. It contains numerous forms and methods of preparing medicines. Designing of various modes and methods for preparing drugs is based upon the basic principles of Dravyagunarasa Shastra. It approaches the medicines through a science of energetics. The properties of drugs are related systematically according to the taste, elements, heating or cooling effects, effect after digestion and other special potencies of the ingredients they contain. The book 'Ayurvedic Medicine – The Living Tradition' written by dr. Prakash Paranjpe is a comprehensive treatise on the subject. There was an acute need of a conscious effort to compile most commonly used generic Ayurvedic preparations, and to integrate the Ayurvedic concepts to interprete them in the modern scientific language. This book fulfills the same. The author has done a commendable job to compile the useful information of various forms of generic Ayurvedic medicines, detailing their composition, actions of ingredients along with their indications in various diseases and ailments. This compilation of most commonly used medicines will be of use to Ayurvedic practitioners, students and researchers as well as to medical and scientific fraternities like pharmacy, botany, biochemistry, microbiology etc. and also to the common man.
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