Arienne M. Dwyer
Prov. 351, Handbook of Medicine is summarized by the philologist and Ambassador Gunnar Jarring as "[a]n anonymous treatise, being a practical handbook of medicine and the treatment of different diseases, to which is added, beginning with f. 45b prescriptions of other kinds, e.g. methods against thieving and dealing with thiefs, and furthermore drawings of various kinds of amulets (f. 46b-47a). On f. 52b-53a an eulogy of the qualities of the book, quoting i.e. the holy Luqmān."
The work, 54 folios, likely dates from the early 20th century. Jarring notes that "[t]here is no date in the book but there is a receipt glued on to f. 2a carrying the date 1331/1912-13 which may roughly indicate the year of the copying of the book." The work was likely copied from several sources, since there are prescriptions against diseases, prescriptions against general misfortunes, and also amulet drawings.
The book was purchased in 1929 by Jarring in Kashgar, written on poor-quality Khotan paper, and appears to represent common medical practice of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the southern Tarim Basin area. The name of a former owner of the Handbook, Molla 'Abd-ul-Hamid, appears on f. 53b.
The volume has a cardboard binding and is covered with blue cloth with a flower pattern; Ambassador Jarring donated it to the Lund University Library in 1982, as part of the Jarring collection of Eastern Turkistan manuscripts; the Lund University Library continues to be exemplary in sharing its resources with researchers.
The Handbook of Medicine begins with a prayer, and then an invocation of the planets. (In between, there are some notes in a different hand accounting for livestock; these are likely the owner's notes and not related to the Handbook.)
The treatments and prescriptions begin on f. 5 and follow the pattern in two-clause sentences: a diagnosis x in the first clause, and a treatment in the second clause y (for x, do y). Many afflictions appear on a single folio, and it is often difficult to discern a systematic pattern or ordering of the afflictions; at most, a number of cures for the same or similar afflictions will appear together (e.g. earaches, childbirth difficulties, etc.) This apparent lack of systematicity suggests that the copyist may have copied from many sources, with each copyist adding new formulae over time.
The Handbook of Medicine covers many physical and mental afflictions as well as certain personal problems (such as recovering stolen or lost goods). From a simple count of terms in the manuscript, we can still discern that the Handbook primarily concerns the diagnosis of bodily illnesses, and preparation of formulas to cure those illnesses. Faith and prayer are an integral part of the healing process.
The most frequent words in Prov. 351 are: make* (95 instances), black (55); body (48); God (45); woman (45); penis (43); oil (40); water (40); formula (39); hair (39); man (39); sugar (38); mithqal (37); eat* (63); heal* (60); pain (35) white (35); blood (32); cold (32); mix (32); gallbladder (31); milk (31); say* (31); become (29); dry (29); hot (29); day (28); heart (28); person (28); seed (28); surah (28).
The ten most frequent nouns in Prov 351 are: body (48); God (45); woman (45); penis (43); oil (40); water (40); formula (39); hair (39); man (39); sugar (38). The most frequent verbs are: make (95), eat (63), heal (60), mix (32), say (31), become (29), dry (29). The most frequent adjectives are: black (55), cold (32), hot (29).
The most common diagnoses are cold, and heat; the most common ingredients are oil, water, sugar, seeds, and milk. Materials -- many common, some rare -- are mixed together and consumed or applied topically. Diagnoses were performed by a doctor.
The social prestige of this doctor- and formula-based type of medical treatment as exemplified in this Handbook in the early 20th c. southern Tarim area is evident from a number of factors. First, this type of handbook is relatively common, whereas trance-medium based healing sources are rarer. Secondly, such medical treatment receives the stamp of approval of the high religion, as it is the Muslim holy sage Luqmān لقمان (in the 31st surāh of the Qur'ān) is portrayed here as the originator of herbal medicine (ff. 28-29, ff. 52b-53a). Finally, the ties of these practices to the elite Persian culture are unmistakable, as the Handbook is based on Greco-Persian formulas and contains a large number of Persian medicinal terms.
Jarring Prov. 351 Handbook of Medicine, may be studied in four views:
Citation: Dwyer, Arienne M. 2018. Introduction to the Handbook of Medicine (Prov. 351). In Arienne M. Dwyer and C.M. Sperberg-McQueen (PIs), 2015-2018. Annotated Turki Manuscripts from the Jarring Collection Online. https://uyghur.linguistics.indiana.edu/atmo.html
Credit: Painting of Mahmud al-Kashgari © 1981 by Ghazi Emet.
