Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

explanation an instance of drawing enquiry by deception ? Strange coincidence ! What does the expression mean ? A moment’s thought reveals the truth that what is meant by the words is that dreams do correspond with subsequent facts ; that the number of instances is few ; and, lastly, that such correspondence does not admit of any explanation. It should be borne in mind that the Rishi, in these lessons, does not say that every dream foreshadows the reality. What he says is that certain dreams of persons afflict¬ ed with illness are fulfilled. As already observed, the subject de¬ serves to be investigated and studied with care before dismissing it as the raving of ignorance and superstition.

The omens connected with messengers despatched for fetching the physician, or those connected with the physician’s doings or •condition at the time or the sights he sees while on his way to the patient’s house, are, no doubt, difficult to swallow. It should be remembered, however, that they are not mentioned -as exercising any influence of their own on the result of treatment, vis., death or . cure. On the other hand, they are sanctioned as accidents or co¬ existing facts. Even here the value of observation cannot be ignored. That men whose minds were acutely logical should set importance on such accidents and connect them with such a grave fact as the life or the death of a patient, may not, perhaps, mean much, for the grossest superstitions have been seen to ,exist side by side with the advanced notions of science in m'inds of undoubted culture. There is no exploded theory in science that cannot be revived if such an argument be regarded to have much force. For all that, when men of advanced culture put forth a statement alleg¬ ing observation to be its foundation, the truth or otherwise of such statement -may easily be tested by observation. The Rishis do not pretend to the possession of a sixth sense by help of which they come forward to interpret certain dreams of diseased persons. They appeal only to those senses which all -men possess. As such, they should not be shut out of court on the -strength of our own prejudices. They ARE ENTITLED to a fair hearing.- Science re¬ gards nothing to be -superstition without a careful examination. It is earnestly expected that statements made in these parts, however wild and fanciful apparently, will not be rejected without a careful examination.

Palamau, Bengal^ The 2otk July 1902.

My dear Panditjee,

The XXVI 1 1th Part of the Charaka-Samhita has just reached me, redirected from Bogra, which place I left in September last. Since then one other Part, I think, I have received, but I thank you all the same for remembering me occasionally. On opening the present Part I was most agreeably surprised to read, on its very first p'a'g<e, ah account of the Ayurvedic Institute which you have started and I could not help exclaiming — “At last.”

For many years past. I have silently watched the great revival that is going on all over India. Out of the 'depths of a dinriforgotten past, wave after wave was being thrown forward by some strange and mysterious force, and on the crest of each, came borne along India’s old -religion, her philosophy, her literature, her science, and even some of her manners and customs long since dead. As one huge wave after another came rolling on, each grander and more majestic than its predecessor, my heart thrilled in expectancy, but grew weary of waiting for the one, I have been straining my vision for, viz ,, -India’s great system of medicine long relegated to the regions of darkness and oblivion. At last it has come and may the Ayurvedic Institute -live long and help in restoring it to its proper place in the temple of India’s future, in all its ancient majesty and grandeur !