A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c17.12

v1.c17.12

The medical authority Caraka and the work going under his name became widely known only in the Gupta period. The earliest authors acquainted with him and his treatise are Vāgbhaṭa and Bhaṭṭārakahariścandra. These facts, and the loss of a considerable part of the *Carakasamhitā*, made P.V. Sharma insist, as already mentioned, that Caraka may have been a Śaka physician, which would explain that his treatise failed to gain wide acceptance and got partly lost, until Dr̥ḍhabala supplied the missing parts. Dr̥ḍhabala was of Śaka origin too, in P.V. Sharma’s eyes,⁴⁸ but in his times the Śakas had become an integral part of Indian society.⁴⁹