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AI-Assisted Decipherment of 9th-Century 'Nandinagari' Script Fragments Unveils Lost Sanskrit Treatises on Ancient Indian Theoretical Phytochemistry

📅 April 4, 2026 📰 Archaeology Magazine
AI-Assisted Decipherment of 9th-Century 'Nandinagari' Script Fragments Unveils Lost Sanskrit Treatises on Ancient Indian Theoretical Phytochemistry

Researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) have utilized a specialized deep-learning model to decipher fragmented Nandinagari manuscripts found in a private collection in the Western Ghats. The decoded texts, dating to the late 9th century, reveal a systematic approach to phytochemistry, detailing the extraction of complex alkaloids from medicinal flora. The manuscripts outline the chemical reactions required to isolate 'Visha-Ghna' (antitoxins) through controlled fermentation and thermal distillation.

This discovery provides a missing link between the classical Ayurvedic compendiums and the later medieval alchemical traditions of Rasashastra. The treatises include detailed diagrams of molecular changes described through ancient elemental metaphors, which the AI model successfully mapped to modern biochemical pathways. Scholars suggest these texts represent a lost school of experimental chemistry that flourished in the monastic academies of the Deccan before the Islamic incursions.

Original source: Archaeology Magazine