The Bibliographic Database has been initiated by ITTM to provide basic information on the vast Tibetan medical literature that presently is spread over many countries and has, so far, not been documented. It will provide a first overview of the corpus of Tibetan medical literature as a whole, including early works from Sanskrit, Chinese, Persian and other languages that were translated into Tibetan between the 8th and 12th century, as well as original works compiled by Tibetan and Mongolian scholars until modern times. Its electronic presentation will allow a search according to each entry field as well as statistical analysis of various aspects of Tibetan medical literature.

Ray Kreisel, a computer specialist from Missoula, MT, USA, who had started with initial designs on this database in 1998, visited ITTM in November 1999. He has been providing his expert advice on the design of the database for all four bibliographic formats. The new addition of about 80 Tibetan medical books that have been collected from Nepal, Tibet and China during the year are being added to the database on an ongoing basis. We hope to be able to make this database available in the near future in the form of a CD ROM, or by publishing it on the Internet. A list of these Tibetan titles is available on request.

The entire project is conducted on an international net-working base in collaboration with various scholars in India and abroad. The moderation of the project is conducted by ITTM. The collected materials are compiled at the Trust's Centre Vijnana Niwas in Kalimpong.

We are aware of the incompleteness of this database as numerous manuscripts on Tibetan medical literature are not yet accessible at present. Many medical texts still lie hidden in the treasure houses and libraries of Tibetan monasteries, with individual Emchis in the entire Trans-Himalayan region, Buryatia, Siberia and Mongolia and in other libraries in China. We hope that the future will provide opportunities for scholars to trace those valuable materials and make them available for study and research.

We are inviting comments and innovative ideas on these formats from scholars the world over!

The database uses four different standard formats: 

I.  Existing manuscripts and xylographs;
34 details per title.
 Click here to view the format

II. Ancient treatises that are mentioned in other Tibetan medical texts but are not available in print;
11 details per title.
 Click here to view the format

III. Book publications and reproductions of manuscripts in book form in the Tibetan language;
18 details per title.
This format is also used for translations of primary sources into modern languages.
 Click here to view the format

IV. Facsimile prints of original Tibetan medical manuscripts in modern publications
16 details per title.
 Click here to view the format

We hope that this bibliography database will be of benefit to many scholars researching and promoting the science of Tibetan medicine the world over.

We are in the process to provide an online search of the Bibliography of the Tibetan medical texts that are available at the ITTM Library in Kalimpong.

 CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE ONLINE LIBRARY SEARCH