A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c23.s2.3

v1.c23.s2.3

A scholar who assumes that one and the same Suśruta first wrote a Sauśrutatantra, which was rewritten later and thus transformed into the Suśrutasaṃhitā, is R. Śāstrī.62 He expresses as his opinion that the Suśrutasaṃhitā is based on the earlier surgical treatises by those four of the seven pupils of Divodāsa who are mentioned at the end of chapter four of the Sūtrasthāna. The concluding verse of this chapter says that the treatises of Aupadhenava, Suśruta and Pauṣkalāvata form the basis (mūla) of other works on surgery (śalyatantra). This implies, according to Dalhaṇa, that the śalyatantras of the three pupils called Karavīrya, Gopurarakṣita and Vaitaraṇa, were considered to be less important than that of Suśruta. R. Śāstrī claims that these quotations partially agree, partially disagree with the text of the Suśrutasaṃhitā makes R. Śāstrī compare the relationship between Suśruta’s tantra and his saṃhitā with that between Vāgbhaṭa’s Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha and Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā.