This publication is a rare Sanskrit work on Indian Medical Science, and it relates to "Nadi" or "the Science of feeling the pulse." Feeling the pulse is a universal practice among medical man, although the interpretations of the pulse-beats may be different in different systems. Among the allopathic medical man, the pulse-beats from an index to the heart-beats and the condition of blood-vessels. Among the Indian Medical man however, an elaborate system of diagnosis has been built upon the pulse-beats. These beats are said to reveal the excess or deficiency of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. These are the active substances in the living body that circulate throughout the system and are mainly responsible for the proper distribution and working of the respective systems of (1) physical energy, (2) of heating and (3) of cooling and lubrication of the machinery of the living body. The excess and deficiency of these three principles are mainly responsible for diseases; and the restoration of their proper proportions effects a cure. This being the basis of diagnosis, classification of diseases and treatment of diseases, the importance of an easy method of determining the excess or deficiency of the three principles cannot be over-estimated. The science of feeling the pulse has therefore been elaborately developed among Indian Practitioners. But the subject is more of a practical nature than a theoretical one. You can feel the pulse at one moment and identify the same kind of pulse again. But to describe it in words is next to impossible. There are numerous subtle differences in the flow of the pulse and in the crests and troughs of its wavy mention. The science has therefore been preserved by traditional proactive and actual demonstration of the teacher to the pupil. The written works on the subject are necessarily very difficult of being translated into the sensation of touch involved in the feeling of pulse. Unfortunately, however, the want of encouragement to indigenous medical practioners during the British rule has practically wiped away the skilled line of traditional practitioners well-versed in the art of feeling the pulse. We have now to revive the Science with the help of books. Books however are very few and scrappy and their descriptions vague and seemingly contradictory. To gather all the available texts and edit and publish them is therefore our first business. A treatise in twelve chapters in Sanskrit named Nadicakram that has been preserved in the Saraswati Mahal Library has now been published, and it is hoped other texts available in other places will soon be published. Sri K. Vasudeva Sastry, our Pandit for Research and Sri K. S. Subrahmanya Sastry, our Sanskrit Pandit, have spared no pains in editing the text and giving a faithful translation of the same in Tamil. The introduction which has been contributed by Sri K. Vasudeva Sastri is intended to explain the subject in all its implications and supply the missing portions of the subject from other sources. Our thanks are due to the learned editors for their valuable services. It is hoped that this publication will be found useful to students of Indian Medicine. We are grateful to the Government of Madras for their liberal grants that have helped us to publish this and other valuable manuscripts of this Library.
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