A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c20.s2.10

v1.c20.s2.10

The quotations from Agniveśa and a tantra or saṃhitā attributed to him raise several questions. Those which form part of the extant text of the Carakasaṃhitā cannot unhesitatingly be regarded as belonging to its oldest layer, the Agniveśatantra, on account of the possibility that the Carakasaṃhitā is cited.²¹⁹ Some quotations are related to verses or prose passages found in the Carakasaṃhitā, but a rather large number are absent from it. This last group is heterogeneous and comprises citations agreeing with views expressed in the Carakasaṃhitā, disagreeing with these views, or dealing with subjects not discussed in the Carakasaṃhitā. Part of the quotations are even decidedly of a rather late date. The technical rules (paribhāṣā) attributed to Agniveśa are most probably from a treatise entirely distinct from the Agniveśatantra that formed the basis of the Carakasaṃhitā.