Ancient Manuscript with Mantras on How to Use Weapons mentioned in the Mahabharata

An ancient manuscript with mantras on how to use weapons mentioned in the Mahabharata was found in the collection of Ashtavaidyan Vaidyamadham Cheriya Narayanan Namboodiri in Kerala. Late Ashtavaidyan Vaidyamadham Cheriya Narayanan Namboodiri had submitted 1300 bundles of manuscript written in palm leaves for digitization. Among them a 63-folio manuscript in palm leaves, believed to be rewritten about 120 years ago, provides information on how to use all the deadly weapons mentioned in the Mahabharata.

How to use the weapons are described in 48 mantras. The manuscript will be soon available online.

Times of India reports 

"It was Cheriya Narayanan Namboodiri's wish to digitize all his manuscript collections — 1,300 bundles — for the benefit of researchers, students and the future generation. The particular manuscript was noticed while we were digitizing the collections using the most reliable method, reprography," said A R Krishnakumar, project manager at Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS). Krishnakumar is part of a team from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi that has been bestowed with the responsibility of digitizing all the manuscripts available with both public and private parties in the country. 

It is the only manuscript retrieved so far in the country that tells how to operate the weapons.