A groundbreaking discovery of twelve 7th-century copper plates has been made during a routine survey in the Ganjam district of Odisha. The inscriptions, written in a transitional Kalinga-Brahmi script, constitute an extensive Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia, detailing over 150 complex medicinal formulations. Most notably, the plates provide the first archaeological evidence of advanced herbal distillation techniques using specialized metallic retorts.
The text describes the process of extracting "essential essences" (early references to volatile oils) and mentions a specific "Royal Pharmacy" located within the Bhauma-Kara kingdom.
- Descriptions of surgical sterilization using aromatic resins
- Specific dosages for pediatric treatments
- Geometric diagrams of distillation apparatus
Linguists and historians note that this manuscript pushes back the known timeline for the systematic documentation of Rasa Shastra (iatrochemistry) in Eastern India. The plates are currently being stabilized at a regional conservation center before a full digital transcription is released to the international academic community.