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INTRODUCTION. 
(2) Madana Pdla Nighantu, by Madana Pala, a king of 
Kanauj. The late Raja Rajendra Lala Mitra placed the date of 
composition of this work somewhere in the twelfth century (vide 
R. L. Mitra’s Notices of Sanskrit MSS. II, p. 264). 
(3) Bhava Prakdsa, by Bhava Misra. It treats of Anatomy, 
Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Materia Medica, and Therapeu- 
tics. Its date has been fixed at about the sixteenth century.* 
This work gives a very concise and clear account of all the 
medicinal plants and animal and mineral substances used medi- 
cinally by Hindoo physicians. 
Yunani Hakims, that is the Muhammadan physicians of India, 
also have written a great deal concerning the indigenous drugs 
of this country. The encouragement accorded to Muhammadan 
physicians by their rulers led them to produce many meritorious 
works on medicine. Under the patronage of the court of Dehli, 
the Yunani Hakims vied with one another in paying attention 
to the study of indigenous drugs. Their works are however 
not of any antiquity. The Taleef Sheriff is a monograph, 
clearly setting forth the views of Yunani Hakims on indigenous 
drugs. The Makhzan-ul-Adwiyd, which has been made much 
use of by Dr. Dymock in his Vegetable Materia Medica of 
Western India, is also another important work on the subject. 
There are several other works by Muhammadan physicians, some 
in Persian, and others in Urdu, treating of indigenous drugs. 
It is during the Christian period of Indian history, that our 
knowledge regarding indigenous drugs has been much increased 
by the investigations and labors of botanists and physicians. The 
three myrobalans of the East were eagerly sought after by the 
early Portuguese discoverers of the sea-route to India. Indian 
spices were also made known to Europe by them. Informations 
concerning the drugs of this country are scattered in the works 
of European travellers and navigators to this country during the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.f At the same time several 
• The late Dr. U. C. Dntt has given strong reasons for the work being 
a production of the sixteenth century, see introduction to his Materia Medica 
of the Hindoos. 
■f A very important work was that of Qarcia D’orta, named Colloquios does 
simples e droges da India. This has been lately translated into English. 
