A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c20.s3.6

v1.c20.s3.6

The above data permit to conclude with certainty that Dṛḍhabala’s contributions to the Cikitsāsthāna consist of chapters nine to thirteen, fifteen to eighteen, twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-six to thirty, which makes a total of sixteen chapters. The seventeenth chapter is either twenty-three (viṣa), ascribed to Dṛḍhabala by Cakrapāṇi and other commentators, or twenty-five (dvivraṇīya), written by Dṛḍhabala according to the colophon. The relative weight of the evidence points to chapter twenty-three as a contribution of Dṛḍhabala, because the chapter colophons, being later additions, cannot be relied upon; 292 this is confirmed by Jejjaṭa, who ascribes chapter twenty-five unhesitatingly to the ācārya, i.e., Caraka.293