The Bower Manuscript is known for being a valuable source on which one of the following subjects in ancient India ?
- A.Medicine
- B.Mathematics
- C.Astronomy
- D.Chemistry
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Medicine. The Bower Manuscript is valued above all for its medical texts, which make it one of the oldest surviving records of Ayurveda. It is a birch-bark manuscript in Sanskrit written in the Gupta script, usually dated to about the 4th to 6th century CE. It was found in a Buddhist stupa near Kucha in Chinese Turkestan and bought in 1890 by Lieutenant Hamilton Bower, after whom it is named; it is now kept in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Of its seven texts, three are medical, including the Navanitaka, which deals with powders, decoctions, oils, the uses of garlic and the care of children. The rest are charms and divination. Option B is wrong because the famous early mathematical manuscript is the Bakhshali Manuscript, found near Peshawar. Option C is wrong because astronomy is the subject of works such as the Aryabhatiya, not of the Bower Manuscript. Option D is wrong because chemistry (rasashastra) texts belong to a much later period. Exam tip: Bower Manuscript is medicine; Bakhshali Manuscript is mathematics.
Practice Questions
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- C.Mahatma Gandhi at the start of Dandi March
- D.All India Congress Committee in 1947
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