The book is a treasure-house of the traditional system of Tibetan medicine. Dr Smanla T Phuntsog's keen observations and understanding of the system makes it's a valuable source of information for students and research scholars alike.

The book deals with the fundamental knowledge of human physiology and medication by traditional as well as modern methods. The chapter on dharmic physiology explains and illustrates the teachings of Buddha and it goes into the deeper aspects of mind and the insignificance of the body and its response to various curative applications and its true nature of physiology.

Of great importance is the listing of rare 493 herbs formulations and their therapeutic value. This surely will come handy as a ready-made presentation of medicinal formulations and curative applications.

In short, the book shows the mastery of the author on Tibetan medicine and functional system of health. The correlation of many aspects of Tibetan and modern medicinal applications gives us a clearer concept of the human physiology and its functional and curative systems.

Dr. Smanla T. Phuntsog, popularly known as Dr. Smanla, was born in a Amchi lineage family in a remote village of Tingmosgang, Ladakh. He did his pre-university course from the university of Jammu and Kashmir and obtained his medical graduation from Assam University. He received a gold medal during his academic career and enjoys the distinction of being the first medical graduate in the history of Ladakh region.
While in service he did his postgraduate course in Opthalmology from Punjab University and served in the state medical department as a senior opthalmic consultant and administrator. He is also a qualified Physician in traditional system of Tibetan Medicine and contributed a lot to its development. He is the author of several books. His book on Amchi Pharmaco-Therapeutic is popular amongst the Amchi practitioners. He is a multifaceted personality and has visited the whole of Europe, The Scandinavian countries, USSR, Southeast Asian countries and Mongolia in connection with good will missions, seminars, conferences, and lecture series in different disciplines. He is an ardent social worker, and a Buddhist scholar who is now the Director of Mahabodhi Karuna Charitable Hospital, Devachan, Leh - Ladakh.

Contents: Ancient Metria Medica: Sowa-Rigpa (Tibetan Science of Healing) by Dr. Smanla T. Phuntsog MBBS, MS
Chapter I Evolution of so-wa-rigpa (The historical perspective)	25
Chapter II Theories and practice of so-wa-rigpa. A brief study of human physiology is given in the chapter as per Amchi texts. An attempt has also been made to compare with modern physiology for which the functional aspects and certaun logical conclusion has been assessed. However, much more study, literary and clinical research, is needed.	29
Chapter III Dharmic Physiology	34
Chapter IV Properties and characteristics of single herbal drug	37
Chapter V Formularies of compound preparation for treatment of various diseases (Section I to Section XVII)	59
Chapter VI Shilajit (brag-zuan) (Trogoptrus Xanthipes) a wonder Amchi Medicine	152
Chapter VII Introduction to Tantric Psychiatry	158
Chapter VIII List of Tibetan medicine in alphabetical order and their botanical equivalenmt with reference Index	160
Chapter IX Amchi Medicine with Database. List of number of drugs in Botanical names and their equivalent in Tibetan. The transcription scheme is generally followed on the basis of the chart given in the beginning of the book. However, for expediency, some deviation has been made for the sake of Ladakhi readers. So, for example, as per norms of so-wa-rigpa, this has been rendered as so-wa-rigpa.	181
Chapter X Properties of precious stones, minerals and animal origin with pictorial Index.	199
Chapter XI Colour photos of medicinal materials of so-wa-rigpa	209