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 legible handwriting, copied in samvat 1850 i. e. 1793 A.D., to which we have had access whenever required. We have also obtained a transcript of it from the Kásmír Library. The Benares and the Kásmír Mss. agree in all essentials, but differ in certain places from the Puna edition. The text we have adopted is thus based upon a comparison of the Deccanese and N. Indian exemplars. Third, while Rasaratnákara and Rasárnava are Tantras pure and simple in which alchemy is incidentally dwelt upon, R. R. S. is a systematic and comprehensive treatise on materia medica, pharmacy and medicine. Its methodical and scientific arrangement of the subject-matter would do credit to any modern work, and altogether it should be pronounced a production unique of its kind in Sanskrit literature. Its value is further enhanced from the fact that the materia medica portion is harmoniously blended with chemistry.

The author, whoever he may be, is very anxious to establish his identity with Vágbhata,