Rājamṛgāṅka (Ayurveda 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.

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.