A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c20.s3.57

v1.c20.s3.57

A.F.R. Hoernle was convinced that there was really no reason to connect Pañcanada with the Pañjāb. He also stressed that Dṛḍhabala refers to his birthplace as a definite locality (pura), not as a region. He added that several places are known which are called Pañcanada. One of them, mentioned in the Skandapurāṇa (Kāśīkhaṇḍa) 589 is a sacred place in the region of Vārāṇasī; this may well be the locality meant by Gaṅgādhara in his commentary on the Carakasaṃhitā as the native place of Dṛḍhabala. 590 Hoernle further remarked that a place called Pañcanada appears to have once existed in Kaśmīr, near the confluence of the rives Jhelam (Vitastā) and Sindhu; its place is indicated by the village of Pantzinōr, which lies close to what was the original site of that confluence in the later half of the ninth century, in the reign of king Avantivarman. 591 Hoernle concluded that this Pañcanada in Kaśmīr must have been Dṛḍhabala’s home. 592