Critical Study of the Manuscript Satkarmasangrah and Its Comparative Evaluation with Hathayogapradipika and Nighantratnakar
Author : Dr. Varsha S Mali-Irale and Dr. Prajakta D Matkar
Abstract :
Manuscripts constitute the primary carriers of India’s traditional medical and yogic knowledge systems. Among these, unpublished Ayurvedic–Yogic manuscripts preserve rare procedural details that are often absent or only partially described in classical treatises. Satkarmasangrah (SKS) is one such unpublished manuscript preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Pune. The present research is a comprehensive critical, textual, and comparative study of the manuscript Satkarmasangrah, focusing on its yogic and chikitsa karmas and their correlation with Hathayogapradipika (HYP) and Nighantratnakar (NR).
This study was conducted in three phases:
- Collection, transcription, and critical editing of the manuscript;
- Manuscriptological analysis including material, script, orthography, errors, and colophon; and
- Systematic comparison of the karmas described in SKS with those in HYP and NR.
The manuscript describes a wide spectrum of Shatkarmas, yogic purification techniques, and therapeutic procedures aimed at both disease prevention and cure. Several procedures align closely with HYP, while others correspond to chikitsa karmas described in NR. Importantly, the manuscript also documents certain karmas not found in either HYP or NR, highlighting its independent clinical and yogic relevance.
The findings suggest that Satkarmasangrah represents a transitional Ayurvedic–Yogic text of the early modern period (circa 17th–18th century CE), reflecting integration of NathSampradaya yogic practices with applied Ayurvedic therapeutics. The study underscores the necessity of critical manuscript research to rediscover, preserve, and contextualize indigenous knowledge for contemporary scholarship.
Keywords :
Satkarmasangrah, Manuscriptology, Shatkarma, Hathayogapradipika, Nighantratnakar, Ayurveda, Yoga, NathSampradaya.
