The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c6.62

c6.62

Agniveśa is again a mythical figure. The *Mahābhārata* knows of an Agniveśa or Agniveśya as receiving the secret of the arms (*Dhanurveda*) from Bharadvāja; this was a magic arm of Agni. He communicated this secret to the son of Bharadvāja, Droṇa. Hence, here, Agniveśa receives lessons from Bharadvāja just as he does in the *Caraka-saṃhitā*; the only difference lies in the fact that in the medical treatise he receives it by intermediaries and not directly. The *rapprochement* of the two stories shows that, on both the sides, it is a legend; there is no reason to believe that the Agniveśa, first a pupil, then master of Āyurveda, is a personage more historical than the Agniveśa, at first a pupil, then master of Dhanurveda. It is, even then, possible that a medical author had received the name or surname of a mythical master, as it seems to have happened in the case of Ātreya.