CONTENTS: Foreword. Editorial note. Abbreviations. Part A: Paribhasa Prakarana. Part B: Dravyausadhi. Appendix. Ayurveda, the hindu system of healthcare has documented history since 2nd century B C, evident from the fact the period of Caraka Samhita - a treatise of ayurveda whose period is determined to be 200 B C. Ayurveda uses numerous substances of natural origin - herbal, animal, mineral, marine for various therapeutic applications to mitigate the clinical condition challenging the then population. Apparently, due to lack of a uniform identification system and different geo-cultural background of the authors, often the correct and unambiguous determination of the substances mentioned in the formulations has remained a challenge. During those days, to solve this problem, a distinct category of literature was developed in which the substances used for therapeutics were described in an objective to throw light on their identification. These texts were named as nighantu.