A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c17.2

v1.c17.2

The discovery, made simultaneously by S. Lévi⁹ and J. Takakusu,¹⁰ that a Caraka is mentioned as a physician attached to the court of Kaniṣka kicked up much dust. The references to this Caraka are found in two Chinese Buddhist texts. The first of these sources, the Tsa-pao-ts’ang-king,¹¹ translated from the Sanskrit¹² about A.D. 472 by Ki-kia-ye and T’an-yao, consists of a collection of stories, one of them telling that Kaniṣka was on friendly terms with the physician Caraka whose advice protected him from all illness. The second source, the Fou-fa-ts’ang-yin-yuen-king¹³ or Fou fa tsang yin yuan tchouan¹⁴ or Record of the twenty-three patriarchs,¹⁵ said to be a translation by Ki-kia-ye and T’an-yao again, is actually a forgery made in China towards the middle or the end of the sixth century,¹⁶ based on earlier works. Caraka¹⁷ is depicted in this work as a physician who, after presenting himself to Kaniṣka, saves the queen on two occasions, by means of his obstetrical skills, from dying during childbirth;¹⁸ disappointed, on account of the king’s inattentiveness to his counsels, he leaves the court and, finally, retires from worldly life.¹⁹