The Bower manuscript includes fragments of three medical (Ayurveda), two divination and two incantations (Dharani) treatises. The collection had at least four scribes, of which three were likely Buddhists because the second, the sixth and the seventh treatises open by invoking the Buddha and other Buddhist deities. Two invoke Shiva, Vishnu, Devi and other Hindu deities. The discovery of the manuscript in remote China near Central Asian region is considered evidence of the spread and sharing of ideas in ancient times between India, China and Central Asia. It also contains excerpts of the Bheda Samhita text on medicine, a text whose damaged manuscript is in Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The medical fragments of the Bower manuscript have much in common with other ancient Sanskrit medical treatises such as those by Caraka, Sushruta, Ravigupta, Vagbhata and Kashyapa.