A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c17.41

v1.c17.41

A number of scholars suppose or are convinced that the Caraka of the Carakasaṃhitā belonged to or was connected with the Vedic Carakaśākhā or its descendants. J. Filliozat, 115 whose views have already partly been discussed, suggested that the Vedic Carakas, being not opposed to wandering physicians to the same extent as the Taittirīyas, may have been interested in medicine, and that a practitioner called Caraka may have belonged to their school. J. Filliozat added that the contents of the Carakasaṃhitā evoke the idea that it derives rather from a brāhmaṇa of a Vedic school than from a court physician, thus overlooking many of its aspects, in particular those indicating that part of the practices described are meant for the benefit of wealthy patients. One of the points to be taken into consideration according to J. Filliozat is the association of a second chief medical authority, Ātreya, with the Ātreyī school of the Black Yajurveda. 116 He is, however, cautious enough to state that all this does not signify at all that the author of the Carakasaṃhitā lived in the period of elaboration of the Yajurvedic saṃhitās, since the style of the former shows it to be not much anterior to the beginning of the Christian era.