A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c20.s3.2

v1.c20.s3.2

Dṛḍhabala’s own words do not specify which chapters of the Cikitsāsthāna were available to him and which chapters were missing from Caraka’s text. The obvious assumption that the last seventeen chapters are meant is only justifiable if all the evidence that can be collected agrees. A preliminary question, however, presents itself first: what is the correct order of the chapters of the Cikitsāsthāna.²⁸⁰ Two different arrangements are known from MSS and editions. The most current order, adopted first by N.N. Sengupta and B.C. Sengupta,²⁸¹ followed by Gaṅgādhara, has: (1) rasāyana, (2) vājīkaraṇa, (3) jvara, (4) raktapitta, (5) gulma, (6) prameha, (7) kuṣṭha, (8) rājayakṣman, (9) unmāda, (10) apasmāra, (11) kṣatakṣīṇa, (12) śvayathu, (13) udara, (14) arśas, (15) grahaṇī, (16) pāṇḍuroga, (17) hikkā and śvāsa, (18) kāsa, (19) atīsāra, (20) chardi, (21) visarpa, (22) tṛṣṇā, (23) viṣa, (24) madātyaya, (25) dvivraṇīya, (26) trimarmīya, (27) ūrustambha, (28) vātavyādhi, (29) vātaśoṇita, (30) yomivyāpad.²⁸² The second arrangement, adopted by Jīvānanda Vidyāsāgara,²⁸³ differs in the order of chapters nine to twenty-five: (9) arśas, (10) atīsāra, (11) visarpa, (12) madātyaya, (13) dvivraṇīya, (14) unmāda, (15) apasmāra, (16) kṣatakṣīṇa, (17) śvayathu, (18) udara, (19) grahaṇī, (20) pāṇḍuroga, (21) hikkā and śvāsa, (22) kāsa, (23) chardi, (24) tṛṣṇā, (25) viṣa. Opinions differ concerning the answer to the question which arrangement should be regarded as the original one. The views expressed are related to the problem which chapters are to be ascribed to Dṛḍhabala.