What the Vedic Scripture 'BHAVAPRAKASH' is all-about?

 

A/2 कवेरुक्तिः। 

आयुर्वेदागमनं क्रमेण येनाभवद्भमौ। प्रथमं लिखामि तमहं नानातन्त्राणि संदृश्य। (2)

A/2 Statement of and about the Poets/Character ‘k’.

Ayurvedaagamanam kramen yenaabhavadbhamau. Prathamam likhaami tamaham naanaatantraani sandrashya. Prathamam likhaami tamaham naanaatantraani sandrushya. (2)

Heading ‘kaveruktih’ – it has 3 pairs - character ‘k’, vowel-marks – ‘e’ and ‘u’, and ‘visarg-mark containing a pair of dots. Let us examine each of these –

Word meaning – Apart from its repeated character ‘k’, this word is derived to 2-character word ‘varah’ taking only prominent characters into consideration and instruction for 2-character word for its 2 vowel-marks. Hence character ‘k’ represents something that is called ‘varah’ in this scripture.  

Character ‘k’ is of symmetrical (almost) shape – two globules on each side of a central stem, reminding us of centrally growing stem and root of a 2-noded Onion. Hence, character ‘k’ stands for the 2-noded Onion, called ‘varah’ in the scripture. Same indication is found in Statement 4 of the Authors.

Visarg mark –

Two dots one above the other often used after a word provides special meaning to the word. The verse A/2 cares for this mark through its word ‘tamaham’, indicating thereby that visarg-mark is referred in this scripture by anuswar-marked character ‘h’ (‘ham’). We would be studying importance of visarg-mark a little later.

Vowel-marks of ‘e’ and ‘u’ in a word - 

Apart from having a meaning of number 2 in the word, each of these vowel-marks indicates to a character previous to the character on which these marks are applied. In this case, both marks point to the same character ‘L’ (being previous to ‘v’ and latter to ‘r’). Character ‘L’ for its shape represents number 3, hence the word means number 6 which is the number of statements of the Authors of this scripture in the verse that follows. We would be studying the said statements one by one.

First Statement – Word ‘Prathamam’.

We are instructed for beginning our study from the word ‘prathamam’ (meaning ‘the first’) that points out to 3 features – Character ‘m’ and the first verse-word – ‘aayurvedaagamanam’. Let us extract meanings of each of these.

(a) Character ‘m’.

Character ‘m’ when made prominent with an anuswar-mark represents ‘Ganesh’, called ‘Prathamam’ too, the teacher of the original Authors of this scripture, as said in the first verse A/1.

If a verse-line contains character ‘m’ thrice, like ‘prathamam likhaami tamaham’ in this verse, the verse provides information on some important event and its date in accordance to Vedic Calendar.   

(b) Word ‘Aayurvedaagamanam’.

Word-meaning – Literal meaning of this word is ‘arrival of Aayurved’, as the health science of Vedic Era. There have been 3 important steps in this development, indicated by number 3 indicated by its 3 valid vowel-marks. We would later know that these 3 steps are referred to by words – ‘Saangamaayurveda’ (Organ Treatments), ‘Haareetamaayurvedam’ (Medicinal Treatments compiled by scholar Haareet), and ‘Triskandhamaayurvedam’ (3-way Aayurveda – Organ Treatments, Medicinal Treatments, and Treatment through Sound Waves) detailed in this scripture. Hence, this scripture provides all the developments in Aayurveda during Vedic Era.

These 3 forms of Aayurveda are indicated in this scripture by the 3 ways given hereunder –

‘Saangamaayurveda’ – Use of joint character ‘daksha’ twice,

‘Haareetamaayurveda’ – Use of vowel-mark ‘e’ twice.

‘Triskandhamaayurveda’ – Use of vowel-mark ‘u’ twice.

Time of completion of this scripture by original Author-duo is given in this verse by the words – ‘pathamam likhaami tamaham’ as the 1^st Day of 2^nd Month of 3^rd Year of Vedic Calendar and editing of that for introducing other subject matters into the same text was completed is given by the words ‘naanaatantraani sandrushya’ as the 3^rd Day of 3^rd Month of the 3^rd Year.     

Number 3 - This word contains 2 ‘aa’ marks and 1 ‘u’ mark, since its ‘e’ mark is nullified by top ‘r’ mark. Valid vowel-marks mean number 3, which is indicated by the 3 end-characters in the word – ‘gamanam’, providing a rule that if an anuswar-marked word contains 3 consecutive plain characters (without any vowel-mark or half-form), that would provide number 3 to the word.

‘Aayurvedaagamanam kramen’ points out that the developments in Ayurveda are provided in verses in this scripture bearing verse serial number last digit as 3. 

‘Aayurvedaagamanam kramen ‘yenaabhavadbhamau’ points out that subject of Ayurveda begins in this scripture from the verse having a word containing two half-soft ‘d’ characters in a word. We found such a word ‘tattadgranthaad’ in verse A/89, hence real subject matter begins with verse A/89. This is further authenticated by the heading ‘Ath Granthaarambhah’ (beginning of this volume). All grammar rules apply from this point onwards.

Half character present in ‘kramen’ is a prominent character, that is defined by the word ‘bhavadbhamau’ which specifies a symmetrical shape made from ‘bhavadbhamu’ – two ‘bh’ characters on two sides of a rooted character half-soft ‘d’. while the character ‘bh’ stands for a juicy body, thus the word points out to ‘2-noded Onion’.

After ‘Prathamam’, the second word is ‘Likhaami’ that we are going to study next.

Second Statement – 2-character word ‘likhaami’.

Word ‘likhaami’ (meaning ‘writing’) contains character ‘khaa’ (meaning ‘eat’) indicating its elimination from the word to make it ‘limi’ that indicates number 2 for the two original Authors of the scripture. Vowel-mark of ‘i’ being put on the left side of a character points to previous character in the Devanaagaree script, hence the word ‘li’ and ‘mi’ point out to characters ‘bh’ and ‘r, two initial characters of the Authors ‘Bharadwaaj’, and ‘Abhra’ or ‘Abhrak’ (7/108) also.

‘Limi’ further points out to two similarly marked characters written (likhaami) in this verse, which comes out to be ‘naanaa’ in the word-combination ‘naanaatantraani-sandrusha’ which means that other subjects (in the original text of this scripture) were introduced by two similar-looking persons belonging to family of maternal grandfather (‘naanaa’ with respect to ‘Chandragupta’, the first emperor of Gupta dynasty). Chandragupta being son of Vishnu and Lakshmee, hence the two above-said persons are ‘Lakshmee’ and ‘Shaaradaa’, twin sisters (originally Mariams).        

Character ‘khaa’ stands for being removed, and also for ‘edibles’. ‘Likhami’ advises to look into what is written in this verse at the second place – ‘kramen’, containing two characters ‘k’ and ‘m’. We already know that the character ‘k’ stands for edible ‘double-noded Onion’. Let us come to the second character ‘m’. ‘kra’ advises to make it ‘mra’, and ‘khaa’ advises for ‘aa’, hence the character ‘m’ stands of edible ‘Aamra’ representing a number of fruits with golden flesh, like Mango, Papaayaa, etc which we would study in Fruits Group (6) in this scripture.

‘Aayurvedaagamanam kramen yenaabhavadbhamau’ points out to two important developments with the advent of Aayurveda, which come out to be ‘Onion’ and ‘Fruits like Mango’.

Third Statement – 3-character word ‘tamaham’.

It being an anuswar-marked word with 3 plain characters, hence represents number 3. Its character ‘h’ points to visarg-mark, which is indicated as a code for 3 additional subjects dealt by the scripture through words similar to the word made-up of first 3 characters (‘tamaham’) of the anuswar-marked word (‘naanaatantraani sandrushya’).

Thrice recurrence (‘tamaham’) of ‘au’ marks in a verse means reference to other 3 subjects dealt (‘naanaatantraani’) by this scripture. Related meanings are obtained after finding three 3-character words similar to word made-up from the first three characters of the visarg-marked word (tamaham).

Fourth Statement - 4-character word ‘Yenaabhavadbhamau’.    

This word has 4 effective features – ‘yenaa’, ‘bh-bh’, ‘vad’ and ‘mau’. ‘yenaa’ through ‘naa’ negates  ‘ye’. Such a negation is a rule throughout this scripture, except when ‘naa’ is made prominent by its repetition. The remaining part of the word is ‘bhavadbhamau’, containing 3 note-worthy features – repeated character ‘bh’, middle word ‘vad’, and character ‘mau’.

‘Bhavadbhamau’ firstly informs that the whole scripture is not a unit (yenaa), but is written in two main parts ‘prathamam-likhaami’ and ‘naanaatantraani sandrushya’. Part 1 has 3 sections (‘likhaami’) – beginning and ending sections are in the same textual format (ours AB and AP sections). And middle section deals with edible medicinal materials ‘khaa’ (ours MM section). Part 2 of the scripture has same type of contents (‘naanaatantraani sandrushya’) about diseases and their treatments (our section DF).

Word ‘bhavadbhamau’ additionally indicates that presence of two ‘bh’ characters in a word is equivalent to character ‘m’.

Character-set ‘vad’ in the middle means ‘speech’, hence points out to effect of various types sounds, particularly in health matters. ‘bhavadbhamau’ tells us of twice repeated character half-soft ‘d’ This is the indication of wherefrom this volume ‘Bhavaprakashah’ begins with its mai contents - A/89, confirmed by the heading ‘Granthaarambhaah’ there. Herefrom begins application of Vedic Sanskrut Grammar.

Further, ‘bhavadbhamau’ points out to presence of 3 ‘m’ characters (in a verse-line) indicates that the line states about some important event during Vedic Era with its Time-frame (Date).

Fifth Statement – 5-character word ‘naanaatantraani’.

This word has two meanings – 3 other subjects dealt by this scripture, and family of maternal grandfather (of Chandragupta, the first Emperor of India of Gupta dynasty).

Editing of the original text written by the primary Authors was done by two similar-looking persons of maternal grandfather of Chandragupta. These two persons were Lakshmi and Shaaradaa, twin sisters of Ganesh.

Note – All relationships in this scripture are said with reference to ‘Chandraguta’ who was son of Vishnu and Lakshmee, and the first Emperor of Gupta Dynasty. Lakshmee and Saraswati were twin sisters of Ganesh, original names of Lakshmee and Saraswati were Mariam and Mariam (same). Bible refers to them as ‘Mariam’ and ‘Another Mariam’. Original name of Ganesh was Jesus Christ. Their father’s family is referred to by word ‘Vansh’ in this scripture.). 

Three other subjects are dealt by this scripture through hidden meanings of visarg-marked words. 3 words related to these subjects are found in the first part of the scripture which are anuswar-marked and similar to a word made-up from the first 3 characters of the visarg-marked word (‘naanaatantraani sandrushya’).

Sixth Statement – Word ‘sandrushya’.     

Word ‘sandrushya’ (meaning ‘similar looking’) contains a joint character soft ‘dru’ that has a shape of dogit 6 in Devanagaree script, indicating that the joint character means number 6, hence the sixth statement of the Authors. In Vedic Grammar, word ‘sandrushya’ applies on two words which have equal number of characters, and have same vowel-marks in the same order.