கஜ வைத்தியம்

Title in original script: கஜ வைத்தியம் The manuscript is composed of a text of palm leaves numbered from 1 to 56 and a last leaf without a number. The manuscript is in good condition and complete. A few leaves are slightly damaged by larvaes. The text, entitled Kaja Vaittiyam, is written in verses, It deals with the behaviour and the characteristics of elephants, It explains how to categorise the elephants according to their bodily features, notably their skin colour, physical structure and age. The text provides information on pregnancy, and on diagnosis and treatment of elephant diseases. It indicates the different measure of aṅkucam, i.e, the stick used to control elephants. The text seems to be an adaptation and translation from the Sanskrit text Gaja Śāstra (kaja being the Tamil orthography for the sanskrit word gaja) written by Pālakappiyar Muṇi, edited with translation in Tamil by K.S.Subrahmanya Sastri, and summary in English by S. Gopalan. This present text was published in 1958 by The Trichinopoly United Printers, Tiruchirapalli. Size of the manuscript: 19.4cm x 3.1cm. The palm leaves are numbered from 1 to 56, the last leaf being not numbered. The manuscript is in good condition and complete. A few leaves are slightly attacked by larvaes.