A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.s2.15

v1.c23.s2.15

Some of the Indologists, who studied MSS of the Suśrutasaṃhitā or its editio princeps, expressed disagreeing opinions on the structure of the text. F. Hessler, who translated the Suśrutasaṃhitā into Latin, 120 regarded the whole work, its Uttaratantra included, as composed by one author, a very ancient Suśruta. 121 Others were inclined to see the parts in verse as older than those in prose, which were supposed to form a kind of commentary or complement. 122 An early scholar who clearly stated that the text of the Suśrutasaṃhitā consists of layers belonging to various ages and must be the result of a series of revisions was G. Liétard; he also stressed that the Uttaratantra cannot be but a kind of appendix of a later date. 123