Rājamṛgāṅka (Ayurveda book)

This article is about a treatise on Ayurveda titled Rājamṛgāṅka. For the book on astronomy with the same title, see Rājamṛgāṅka (astronomy book).

Rājamṛgāṅka is the title of a treatises in Sanskrit that deals with the preparation of Āyurvedic medicines. Traditionally the authorship of the treatise is attributed to Bhojarāja (d.1055) of the Rajput Paramāra dynasty, rulers of the Malwa region in central/western India. However, modern scholarship attributes the authorship to some anonymous experienced Ayurvedic physician from South India.

Cover page of Tamil translation of Rajamriganka (Internet Archive))

The formulation of the Ayurvedic medicine Rajamrgankarasa as given in the Ayurvedic treatise Rājamṛgāṅka (Internet Archive)

There is a tradition according to which the author of the Āyurveda text Rājamṛgāṅka is King Bhoja. King Bhoja is also reputed to be the author of another treatise on Āyurveda titled Rājamārtāṇḍa. According to the V. B. Nataraja Sastry, who critically edited Rājamṛgāṅka before its publication by T.M.S.S.M. Library, the author of Rājamṛgāṅka was most probably an Āyurvedic physician from south India. It is highly likely that this physician may have been a member of a group of physicians gathered together by the King of Tanjore Rajah Serfoji for research on medical sciences.

The treatise gives detailed descriptions of as many as 137 Āyurvedic medicinal formulations of which eight are in the form of rasa-s and the remaining are in the form of cūrṇa-s (powder). The first formulation has been called Rājamṛgāṅkarasaḥ whence the title of the treatise.

Further reading

• For the full text of the book with Tamil translation and with an introduction in both Sanskrit and Tamil: V. B. Nataraja Sastri (1951). Rajamriganka (Critically edited with introduction and translation in Tamil). Tanjore (Thanjavur): Saraswati Mahal Library. Retrieved 23 December 2023.