Part 7 - Medical authorities mentioned in the Yasastilaka

In Yasastilaka 3. 328 Somadeva refers to the opinions of several ancient medical writers about the right time for taking the principal meal of the day. They are Carayana, Nimi, Dhisana and Caraka. carayano nisi nimih punarastakale madhye dinasya dhisanasvarakah prabhate | bhuktim jagada nrpate mama caisa sargastasyah sa eva samayah ksudhito yadaiva || A casual reference to Caraka occurs also in Book VI, section 10: NETHER. Nimi is a very ancient authority, being quoted in Carakasamhita (Sutrasthana, Chap. 26). He is described as the king of Videha: 'H rasa iti nimirvaidehah, madhuramlalavanakatutiktakasayaksarah | ' Nimi is quoted also in Astangahrdaya of Vagbhata II,³ Ksirasvamin's commentary on the Amarakosa 2.5 28, Carayana can Dalhana's commentary on Susrutasamhita and other works. hardly be called a medical writer. In Vatsyayana's Kamasutra 1. 1. 12 Carayana is said to have treated the general section of the Kamasutra of Babhravya Pancala in a separate treatise. It is noteworthy that the opinion of Carayana referred to by Somadeva is actually found in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra 1. 4. 20. As explained in the Jayamangala commentary, Carayana recommends eating in the forenoon and the evening and not in the forenoon and the afternoon, as advised by Vatsyayana. A number of verses from Carayana is quoted in the anonymous commentary on Somadeva's Nitivakyamrrta, but as they are on Niti, it is difficult to say whether the two Carayanas are identical. 1 ' akalankadeva iva pramanasastresu ' 2 Hiralal: Catalogue of Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts in C. P. and Berar, p. XXVIII. 3 See list of authors cited in N. S. Edition. 4 See list of authors cited in N. S. edition.

In Book II the young prince Yasodhara is declared to be wellversed in the art of healing, like Kasiraja. Kasiraja is explained by the commentator as Dhanvantari. According to a tradition preserved in the Harivansa (Parva I, Chap. 29), in the dynasty of Kasa king Dhanva had a son named Dhanvantari, said to be an incarnation of the divine physician of that name on account of his knowledge of medical lore. In the same line of kings Divodasa came Divodasa came two generations after Dhanvantari, and it is remarkable that at the beginning of the Susruta-samhita Susruta and other sages are described as being instructed in medical lore by Divodasa Dhanvantari, the king of Benares : atha khalu bhagavantamamaravaramrsiganaparivrtamasramastham kasirajam divodasadhanvantari maupadhenava ... susrutaprabhrtaya ucuh | ' Dhanvantari' is here explained by Dalhana as 'an expert in surgery,' and it is clear that Divodasa, like his ancestor, was an expert in the art of healing and had the epithet Dhanvantari attached to his name. Divodasa is described in the Harivamsa (op. cit., verse 29) as the king of Benares, and in the Mahabharata (Anusasanaparva 30. 16 Cal. ed.) he is said to have founded the city. It appears that an ancient line of kings ruled in the country round about Benares, and both Dhanvantari and Divodasa belonging to this dynasty were famous as medical authorities and known as Kasiraja. The Harivamsa (op. cit., verses 26-7) tells us that Kasiraja Dhanvantari learnt the Ayurveda from Bharadvaja, and dividing it into eight sections taught them to his disciples. tasya gehe samutpanno devo dhanvantaristada | kasirajo maharaja sarvarogapranasanah || ayurvedam bharadvajat prapyeha bhisajam kriyam | tamastadha punarvyasya sisyebhyah pratyapadayat || Dhanvantari is cited as an authority in the Carakasamhita (S'arirasthana 6. 21), Astangahrdayas and other works. For a fuller discussion of the problem of Dhanvantari the reader may refer to the learned Sanskrit Introduction to the Nirnayasagar edition of the Susrutasamhita.