| ABOUT THE BOOK : | The Paryayaratnamālā or Ratnamālā is a lexicon, written by Madhava Bhiṣaj or Madhavakara. The text of the Ratnamālā consists of about 1,300 ardhašlokas, but the edition numbers them from 1 to 1758 in the following way: ardhaslokas 1-578, pādas 579-1424, ardhapadas 1425-1472, ardhaślokas 1473-1758. The treatise is primarily a nighantu, and, though it goes beyond the limits of medical terminology. It consists, apart from six introductory (1-12) and two concluding verses (1755-1758), of a synonymous (13-1472) and a homonymous section (1474-1640), followed by a section containing definitions (1642-1754). The contents are summarily listed in ardhaslokas 9-12. The synonyms are dealt with first in Slokas (13-216) and ardhaślokas (218-578), followed by pādas (580-1424) and ardhapādas (1425-1472). The synonyms are usually given separately, in the nominative, without making much use of dvandas and ekasesas. The names of plants. animals, inorganic substances, articles of food, etc. (13-854), are accompanied by their vernacular counterparts. The homonyms are divided into apyarthas (words with a single additional meaning each, given in the locative and indicated by the particle api), dvyarthas (words with two meanings) and bahvarthas (words with more than two meanings), distributed as follows: apyarthas (one apyartha in one pāda) (1474-1504), dvyarthas (one dvyartha in one pada) (1505-1554), dyvarthas (one dvyartha in one ardhashloka) (1555-1586), and bahvarthas (1587-1640). The bahvarthas have from three to eight meanings and are arranged in such a way that the number of acceptations increases. The section dealing with definitions covers dietary articles (1642-1686), paribhāşā (technical rules; 1687-1735), and mana (weights and measures; 1737-1754). The junctions between the various parts are indicated in the text itself (217; 579; 1473; 1641). The synonymous section is concerned with medicinal plants (13-188), followed by a heterogeneous series of terms (189-217) and medicina plants again (218-421). The work proceeds with minerals and metals (422-445), salts and caustic substances (446-451), sugar and related articles (452-455), medicinal substances (456-480), dairy produce (481-486), cow dung (487), names of animals (488-508), human beings and related terms (509-539), various terms (540-561), deities and other non-human beings (562-574), religious terms (575-578), medicinal substances and some medical terms (580-734), animals (739-822), various terms (823-828), cows and products of the cow (839-848), cereal products (849-862), medical terms (863-876), anatomical terms (877-944), parts of plants (945-954), various terms (955-1296), the seasons (1297-1302), the lunar mansions (1303-1314), colour adjectives (1315-1330). various terms (1331-1388), names of diseases (1389-1424), and various terms (1425-1472). |
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