A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c20.s2.14

v1.c20.s2.14

These references to Agniveśa in Vāgbhaṭa’s works do not warrant the conclusion that the Agniveśatantra was still extant in Vāgbhaṭa’s times. The only passage in Vāgbhaṭa’s works containing a particular view of Agniveśa is found in the chapter on fever of the Nidānasthāna (A.h.Ni.2.61–62a; A.s.Ni.2.63–64a): the crisis of saṃtata fever occurs on the seventh, tenth or twelfth day according to Agniveśa, whereas Hārīta declares that the critical days are the fourteenth, eighteenth and twenty-second.²²⁴ The verse quoted as deriving from Agniveśa is absent from the Carakasaṃhitā,²²⁵ but its contents fully agree with verses which do form part of its text (Ca.Ci.3. 53cd–61ab). Probably, Vāgbhaṭa summarized the essence of what he knew to be the opinion expressed in the Carakasaṃhitā; however, one cannot exclude that he was acquainted with a view traditionally ascribed to Agniveśa. This does not mean at all that the evidence collected from Vāgbhaṭa’s works proves that the Agniveśatantra was available to him.