A critical archival study of unpublished Sanskrit Ayurveda manuscripts preserved in libraries of England

Background: Manuscriptology is an important part of literary research in Ayurveda. India is the biggest repository of manuscripts. Outside India, England is a significant repository that preserves a large number of Sanskrit Ayurveda manuscripts. A large portion of them remain unexplored and unpublished. Objective: To create a curated list of unpublished Sanskrit Ayurveda manuscripts preserved in the libraries of England. Materials and methods: This descriptive, archival, bibliographic study conducted between October 2023 to January 2025 involved the identification of repositories of England such as the Bodleian Libraries, Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, Cambridge University Library, and the British Library as well as the Sanskrit Ayurveda manuscripts preserved in them. This list of manuscripts was cross referred with data bases like Bharatiya Kriti Sampada IGNCA and various other scholarly references for the curation of unpublished Sanskrit Ayurveda manuscripts. Well preserved manuscripts were included whereas scantly foliated, damaged manuscripts were excluded. Results: Unpublished manuscripts that are unique to the libraries of England was identified like Jvarapaddhati, Sadhyasadhyapareeksha, and Sadvaidyakaustubha in Oxford, Chikitsa Prabandha Samuccaya and bhava cintamani in Wellcome Institute, Rajamartanda in Cambridge university library etc. Various manuscripts that are found in the libraries of England as well as in some repositories of India were also identified. Conclusion: The study brought out the archival wealth of Ayurveda manuscripts in England many of which are unexplored. Even though digitization and availability vary, most of the libraries have fairly well preservation methods. This study opened a plethora of unpublished manuscripts which demand domain specific expertise from Ayurveda scholars. Digitization, free access and scholarly initiatives are vital between the two countries for the advancement of Ayurveda.