A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c22.16

v1.c22.16

BAKULA, also called Bakulakara, Bakulamiśra, 34 and Vakula, 35 wrote one or more commentaries and a medical work in verse. He is quoted or referred to in the Bṛhannighaṇṭuratnākara, 36 by Gopāladāsa in his Cikitsāmṛta, Niścalakara, 37 Śivadāsasena, 38 Śrīkaṇṭhadatta, 39 Vācaspati, 40 and Vijayarakṣita, 41 Bakula wrote a commentary 42 on the Carakasaṃhitā 43 and probably also one on the Suśrutasaṃhitā. 44 A work in verse by Bakula is quoted by Niścala 45 and Śrīkaṇṭhadatta. 46 Niścala also mentions treatises by Bakula, called Bakulatantra 47 and Sāroccaya. 48 The quotations from Bakula(kara) indicate that he is later than Jejjaṭa, 49 Gadādhara, 50 Kārttikakuṇḍa, 51 Govardhana, 52 the Candrikākāra, 53 Vṛnda, 54 Naradeva, 55 and Cakrapāṇidatta, 56 while Bakula is earlier than Vijayarakṣita and Śrīkaṇṭhadatta, who quote him. Bakula may therefore have been either a contemporary of Cakrapāṇidatta or of a somewhat later date. 57 D.Ch. Bhattacharyya and G. Hāldār regard him as a Bengali and assign him to the eleventh century. 58 A. Pandey and K. Raghunathan regard the ending -kara of Bakulakara’s name as evidence supporting the view that he was a Bengali; these authors place him in the period between the first half of the eleventh and the first half of the twelfth century. 59 B. Tripāṭhī refers to him as a commentator of the thirteenth century. 60 Niścala bestows some flowery laudatory epithets on Bakula; he is called anavadyavaidya, vividhavidvadvṛndāraka, and mahopādhyāya. D.Ch. Bhattacharyya 61 supposed Bakula to have been a close connection of Niścala, may be his own uncle (pitṛjyeṣṭha), who is once mentioned in the Ratnaprabhā; 62 P.V. Sharma regards this as very unlikely, on account of the gap of time between Bakula and Niścala. 63