The History of Indian Literature c10.68

c10.68

P. 266 ff. In complete opposition to the former dreams about the high antiquity of Indian medicine, Haas has recently, in *Z. D. M. G.*, xxx. 617 ff. and xxxi. 647 ff., characterised even the most ancient of the Indian medical texts as quite modern productions, to be traced to Arabian sources. In the accounts given by the Arabs themselves of the high repute in which Indian medicine stood with them, and of the translation of works of the kind, which are specified by name, from Saṁskṛit into Arabic, he recognises hardly any value. As regards the latter point, however, there exists absolutely no ground for throwing doubt upon statements of so definite a character made by the old Arab chroniclers; while, with respect to the former point, the language of Suśruta, Charaka, &c., is distinctly opposed to the assignment to them of *so* late a date. At the same time, every real proof of the presence of Greek (or even Arabian) conceptions in the works in question, will have to be thankfully received. But the early existence of medical knowledge in India would in no way be prejudiced thereby, as its beginnings are well attested by evidence from the Vedic period, especially from the Atharvaveda.