Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c6.s1.t10.3

c6.s1.t10.3

3. The Institutes of Vishnu, on account of its being partly written in prose, is supposed to belong, at least in its original form, to a considerably earlier date; but in its final redaction, it is placed (by Professor Macdonell) ‘not earlier than 200 A. D.’, or (by Professor Jolly) ‘in the third or fourth century A. D.’² But it is probable that isolated portions have been interpolated into the work at much later dates. In any case, in respect of the passage containing the Non-medical Version of the skeleton, there is sufficient evidence (§ 22) proving that it cannot have existed in the Institutes of Vishnu before the twelfth century A. D. Indeed, the very fact that the passage is in no way required by its context, suggests its being a much later otiose amplification, interpolated into the text from some other work. The surmise is confirmed by the fact that the passage in question is not found in all MSS. of the Institutes. On this point I have been able to test the following seventeen MSS. :³