APPENDIX III
THE INDIAN ELEMENTS IN THE PERSIAN PHARMA-
COLOGY OF ABU MANSUR MUWAFFAQ
On the preceding pages reference has repeatedly been made to the work of Abu Mansur as proving that the Persians were acquainted
with certain plants and products, or as demonstrating the interrelations of Persia and India, or of Persia and China. Abu Mansur's "Principles of Pharmacology" is a book of fundamental importance, in that it is the first to reveal what Persian-Arabic medicine and pharmacology owe to India, and how Indian drugs were further conveyed to Europe. The author himself informs us that he had been travelling in India, where he became acquainted with her medical literature. It therefore seems to me a useful task to collect here what is found of Indian elements in his work, and thus present a complete summary of the influence exerted by India on the Persia of the tenth century. It is not my object to trace merely Indian loan-words in Persian, although several not hitherto recognized (as, for instance, balddur, turunj, dared, pûpal, etc.) have been identified by me; but I wish to draw up a list of all Indian drugs or products occurring in Abu Mansur, regardless of their designations, and to identify them with their Indian equivalents. Abu Mansur gives the names in Arabic; the Persian names are supplied from Achundow's commentary or other sources. The numbers in parentheses refer to those in Achundow's translation.
J. Jolly has added to the publication of Achundow a few observations on Indian words occurring in the work of Abu Mansur; but the real Indian plants and drugs are not noticed by him at all, while his alleged identifications are mere guesswork. Thus he proposes for armak or armai Skr. amlaka, amlikâ, and âmra, three entirely different plants, none of which corresponds to the description of armak, which is a bark very similar to kurfa (Winterania canella), the best being brought from Yemen; it is accordingly an Arabic, not an Indian plant. Harbuwand (No. S76) is described as a grain smaller than pepper, somewhat yellowish, and smelling like Aloëxylon agallochum; according to Jolly, this should be derived from Skr. kharva-vindhyâ (" small cardamom "), but the question is not of cardamoms, and there is no phonetic coincidence of the words. The text says that kader (No. 500) is a wholesome remedy to soften the pustules of small-pox. Jolly proposes no less
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