Tantraguna – The ancient criteria for scientific writing

The scientific paper has been developed over the past three centuries into a tool to communicate the results of scientific inquiry. Scientific writing must have of a high standard because it is related with the process of gaining knowledge for the learned as well as new learners. In ancient era, specific writing methodology was adopted by the scientists to prepare standard and highly-scientific manuscripts in the field. Tools such as Tantrayukti (techniques for writing/decoding treatise), Tachchhilya (inclinations), Kalpana (compositions), etc., have been described in the classics to maintain the quality standards of scientific literature. Due to well-established writing methods, scientific literatures such as Samhita (Ayurvedic texts), Samgraha-grantha (compendia), Nighantu (lexicons), etc., were written uniformly and good quality literature was generated. The characteristics of good scientific writing for Shastra (treatise) have been described in the Vimanasthana of Charaka Samhita which is known as Tantraguna. The Tantraguna covers the key points of the writing such as language, order, length, method, etc. After reviewing and analyzing these Tantraguna, it can be concluded that the ancient writing method can be compared with some aspect to current introduction, methods, results and discussion structure of scientific writing. This analysis may help to empower and strengthen the current standards of scientific writing by editing new aspects of ancient writing method.