22 A Short History of Ayurvedic Veterinary Literature.
Part 3 deals with surgery, describing the several kinds of wounds, abscesses and
ulcers and their treatment by the six kinds of surgical procedure. It continues with a
description of pregnancy and the development of the foetus ; it details the anatomy of
the elephant and the 107 vital parts ; and the instruments used in surgery, which are
set forth after the manner of Susrutha, with the method of using them. The actual
operations described are extraction of foreign bodies, operations on fistulae and sinuses,
venesection of 700 vessels, the use of caustics, the treatment of fractures and the extrac-
tion of teeth. The poisonous nature of bites of dogs, spiders and snakes is commented
upon, the treatment of burns by means of fomentations and unguents described and also
how to deal with difficult labour.
Part 4 deals with hygiene, diet and Materia Medica, including oleaginous medicines,
enemas, snuffs, collyrium, salts, wine, lac, guggulu, garlic, pepper and ginger. It conti-
nues with a description of the way in which elephant stables should be constructed, on
the bathing of elephants and their being massaged with oil, with the artificial preparation
of their teeth for war, with the use of leaches and finally ends with a description of the
ceremony of the sprinkling of water performed in honour of Vishnu for the protection of
elephants.
Manuscripts of the ' Hastiayurveda' are to be found in the Bikaner
Palace Library (No. 1395), in the Library of the Maharajah of Ulwar, in the
Library of the Sanskrit College, Benares, in the Government Oriental Library
of Madras, and in that of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and at Adyar. Other
copies are reported by Kielhorn in his Search for Sanskrit MSS in Bombay
Presidency and among the Sanskrit MSS in Private Libraries in the North
West Provinces (1877), while a copy entitled ' Gajyurveda ' is to be found
in the Library of the Maharajah of Mysore. In the Tanjore Palace Library
Catalogue, Burnell writes of Ms No. IX. 75 : ' The name appears to be not
very certain ; it consists of dialogues between a king of Anga and a muni
called Palakapya. It contains a great deal of mythological matter...The
rest refers to the points of animals, as usual very fanciful; their castes and
dispositions ; the way of taming them ; their diseases and the way of treating
and curing them. The number of diseases appears to be put at 106. There
can be no doubt that this is a very modern compilation
Some of the
verses, however, which are found here, occur in Garangadhara as by Pala-
kapya '.
This work, edited by Pandit Sivadatta of Jaipur has recently been
printed in the Anandasran Series (Poona) under the title ' Gajayurveda '.
It is based on four manuscripts, two said to be from Jaipur, one from Poona
and one from Calcutta. It is a voluminous treatise of 727 octavo pages.
A few chapters have been translated into Bengali by Maharaja Soshikanta
Acharya Chaudhury of Mymensingh.
Palakapya is quoted by Ksciaswamin on ' Amurakosa ', Hemadri in
his ' Vratakhand ', in the Sarangadhara-padhati, in Mallinatha and in the
Agni Purana.
(ii) Other writers on elephantology
In ancient Buddhist records, Jivaka, the famous physician to King
Bimbisara (582-554 B. C.), is described as having a knowledge of veterinary
as well as human medicine. There is a long description of how he recog-
nized by an elephant's tracks, that the animal was a ' female, blind in the
right eye and about to bring forth male young '. Jivaka was the son of a
rajah and the records relate how he learnt the science of elephants in his
earliest youth, this being an essential part of the training of every prince.