A Concise History of Science in India c8.s8.t2.1

c8.s8.t2.1

Many scholarly works on *Āyurveda* proper were written during these six centuries. One of the earliest was the *Saṃhitā* of *Śāriṅgadhara* (thirteenth century), which, for the first time in the history of Āyurvedic works, includes opium in the *materia medica*, possibly following Chinese or Arabic practice; mercurial and other metallic compounds are also freely used in the text. A voluminous and possibly later treatise is by Vaṅgasena, with the title *Cikitsāsaṃgraha*. This work, which is not to be confused with an earlier work of the same name by Cakrapāṇidatta, has always been known as *Vaṅgasena*, possibly to avoid this confusion. It has been a popular handbook in Bengal for many centuries and is available in all respectable collections. The author claims in a concluding colophon that his work is a redaction of an earlier *saṃhitā* by the sage Agastya of South India fame and the legendary originator of the Sittar school of pseudo medicine. But, though it contains many prescriptions from this school, its language and presentation prove its later date of composition.a The *Yogaratnākara*, another comprehensive and monumental treatise on *Āyurveda* by an unknown author, has been popular in South India for many centuries; its chemical methods for preparing drugs are extremely valuable. Possibly the most renowned work during this period is that of Bhāvamiśra (fifteenth-sixteenth century). This work, *Bhāvaprakāśa*, contains an exhaustive list of diseases and their symptoms and a complete list of drugs current in his time. This encyclopaedia includes the aetiology and treatment of syphilis, a disease introduced into India by Portuguese seamen in the fifteenth century. Its list of drugs includes many that were not previously included in Indian medicinal usage, including metallic preparations and imported drugs.