PREFACE.

...attempted to expunge all spurious Spurious refers to portions that are not original or are of questionable authenticity, often added by later scribes. portions, or passages of questionable authenticity from the text in the light of the reasons stated above, and tried to restore it to its original form as far as possible after the progress of so many centuries since it first saw the light.

We may be asked the rationale of our conduct in undertaking the English translation of the Garuda Puranam one of the eighteen major Hindu religious texts, traditionally delivered by the divine bird Garuda to the sage Kashyapa. The question is natural enough; if the work is nothing but a compendium of Brahmanic rituals and mysteries, what is the profit of disinterring it from beneath the oblivion which it so unqualifiedly deserves? Our answer is that, in addition to the many mystic rites and practices, which legitimately fall within the range of studies in spiritualism, the Garuda Puranam contains three Samhitas systematic collections of knowledge or treatises, viz., the Agastya Samhita, the Brihaspati Samhita (Nitisara The Essence of Conduct or Ethics), and the Dhanvantari Samhita; any one of which would give it a permanent value, and accord to it an undying fame among the works of practical Ethics or applied medicine. The Agastya Samhita deals with the formation, crystallisation and distinctive traits of the different precious jems An archaic spelling of "gems.", and enumerates the names of the countries from which our forefathers used to collect those minerals. The cutting, polishing, setting, and appraising, etc., of the several kinds of jems and diamond, as they were practised in ancient India, can not but be interesting to artists and lay men alike, and the scientific truths, imbedded in the highly poetic accounts of their origin and formation, shall, we doubt not, be welcomed even by the present day mineralogists, if they only care to look through the veil and to see them in their pure and native nuditity Likely a typo for "nudity," meaning the raw or unadorned state of the facts.. In these days of Oriental research, it is quite within the possibilities of every ardent enquirer to make himself acquainted with the terms and technicalities of the science of our Rishis the inspired sages or seers who composed the Vedic hymns and scientific treatises, and we are confident that any labour he may bestow on the subject in connection with the Agastya Samhita will be remunerated a hundred-fold.

The next Samhita in the Garuda Puranam is the Brihaspati