Appendix III 



THE INDIAN ELEMENTS IN THE PERSIAN PHARMA- 

 COLOGY OF ABU MANSUR MUWAFFAQ 



On the preceding pages reference has repeatedly been made to the 

 work of Abu Mansur as proving that the Persians were acquainted 

 with certain plants and products, or as demonstrating the inter- 

 relations of Persia and India, or of Persia and China. Abu Mansur's 

 "Principles of Pharmacology" is a book of fundamental importance, 

 in that it is the first to reveal what Persian- Arabic medicine and pharma- 

 cology owe to India, and how Indian drugs were further conveyed to 

 Europe. The author himself informs us that he had been travelling 

 in India, where he became acquainted with her medical literature. It 

 therefore seems to me a useful task to collect here what is found of 

 Indian elements in his work, and thus present a complete summary of 

 the influence exerted by India on the Persia of the tenth century. It is 

 not my object to trace merely Indian loan-words in Persian, although 

 several not hitherto recognized (as, for instance, balddur, turunj, dand, 

 pupal, etc.) have been identified by me; but I wish to draw up a list of 

 all Indian drugs or products occurring in Abu Mansur, regardless of 

 their designations, and to identify them with their Indian equivalents. 

 Abu Mansur gives the names in Arabic; the Persian names are supplied 

 from Achundow's commentary or other sources. The numbers in 

 parentheses refer to those in Achundow's translation. 



J. Jolly has added to the publication of Achundow a few observations 

 on Indian words occurring in the work of Abu Mansur; but the real 

 Indian plants and drugs are not noticed by him at all, while his alleged 

 identifications are mere guesswork. Thus he proposes for armdk or 

 armal Skr. amlaka, amlikd, and antra, three entirely different plants, 

 none of which corresponds to the description of armak, which is a bark 

 very similar to kurfa (Winterania canella), the best being brought from 

 Yemen; it is accordingly an Arabic, not an Indian plant. Harbuwand 

 (No. 576) is described as a grain smaller than pepper, somewhat yellow- 

 ish, and smelling like Aloexylon agallochum; according to Jolly, this 

 should be derived from Skr. kharva-vindhya ("small cardamom"), 

 but the question is not of cardamoms, and there is no phonetic coin- 

 cidence of the words. The text says that kader (No. 500) is a wholesome 

 remedy to soften the pustules of small-pox. Jolly proposes no less 



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