The Circulation of Ayurvedic knowledge in Indo-Persian Medical Literature
Résumé
An important number of texts on Indian medicine were composed in Persian language in India, starting from the Sultanate period (13th-16th centuries) and especially during the following Mughal epoch (1526-1858). This can be considered as one of the major movements of scientific translation that took place between various South Asian cultures, as well as the main scientific movement of this kind that took place in the coeval Muslim world. This paper will focus on some of the main features, scholars and texts that characterized this movement of studies. In Mughal India, also Hindu scholars composed Persian scientific texts. Several Hindus studying at the Madrasa, were proficient in Persian and wrote medical and scientific works in this language, some also on the sciences of the Avicennian tradition. Several Persian works on Indian learning were composed for Muslim nobles, and Persian works on Ayurvedic medicine were even dedicated to Awrangzeb (r. 1658-1707). The royal patronage offered in Mughal India to Persian medical works was bigger then that given in contemporary Safavid Persia. However, and in particular in the pharmacological field, these studies were largely stimulated by practical reasons, and the assimilation of the Indian pharmacopoeia acted therefore as a main instrument for the adaptation of the practice of the Muslim physicians to the local conditions.
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)