A Concise History of Science in India c8.s2.t3.2

c8.s2.t3.2

Next in importance as well as in age (with the possible exception of *Kāśyapa Saṃhitā*) come two works with somewhat similar names, the *Aṣṭāṅga Saṃgraha* also known as *Vṛddha Vāgbhaṭa* and the *Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya*, known simply as *Vāgbhaṭa*. Both are comprehensive works on therapeutics and surgery, one in prose-*cum*-verse and the other in verse alone. From the distinctive name of the first work as the ‘ancient’ Vāgbhaṭa, some assumed differences in quality, and from the very fact of the existence of two different works, it has been supposed that there were two different authors of this name, one earlier and one later. The authors (or author) in both cases, however, claim the same parentage and profess the same school of Buddhist faith. It is known that Vāgbhaṭa was the son of Siṃhagupta, an inhabitant of Sind and a disciple of Avalokita, the Buddhist sage, but no separate particulars are available about the other author. The internal evidence also shows an identity of style, medical views and mode of presentation, and there is no real evidence to show that there was more than one author of this name.b