Abstract

Background: Basavarajeeyam is an important handbook for the Ayurvedic physician of Andhra region. It is a bilingual work with content presented in Sanskrit and Telugu languages. Aim: The herbs that have been described in Telugu verses of Basavarajeeyam are considered to be signican't contribution to the Indian system of medicine. Keeping this in mind, an attempt was made to reidentify those herbs. Materials & Methods: The entire text was analysed and scrutinized to spot and tabulate the herbs. The data obtained from this conceptual analysis was used for the further field survey. The collected data of the eld study was subjected to botanical identication. The analysis was done in consultation with regional research centres situated in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states and botanical survey unit of Coimbatore. Appropriate Latin name of non-controversial source plants were incorporated and critically discussed. Results: In the Telugu cantos totally 268 herbs are mentioned out of which 29 herbs are exclusively mentioned which are not repeated either in Sanskrit or in Parentheses. Conclusion: In entirety Basavaraju contributed 14 new herbs, out of which 10 drugs were mentioned in Telugu cantos and 4 drugs in the rest of the text.

Key words: Basavarajeeyam, New Medicinal plants, Telugu Cantos