A History of Indian Medical Literature v2.c30.200

v2.c30.200

2 Cakra says (ad I.1.1–2) that indra is a synonym of prāṇa (vital breath); a sign indicating the end of life is a riṣṭa or indriya (Pāṇini 5.2.93 is referred to); the presence of one or more riṣṭas establishes that a disease is or has become incurable. See on the concept of ariṣṭa: Cakra ad Ca.Sū.1.62–63ab, 30.25, Ni.6.16, I.2.4–5, 9.14–17, 11.29; Cakra and Ḍalhaṇa ad Su.Sū.28.3; Cakra ad Su.Sū.³⁰.3 and 33.1–2; Gayadāsa ad Su.Ni.1.1–2; A.h.Śā.5.2–4ab; A.s.Śā.9.2; Kusumāvalī ad Siddhayoga 80.1–4. See on ariṣṭas in medical works: J. Jolly (1901): 23–24 (C.G. Kashikar 28–30). See on ariṣṭas in general: S.A. Dange (1987): 379–383; R. Dvivedī (1973): 3–18; J. Filliozat (1952). Ariṣṭas were collected and systematically arranged (from Caraka, Bhela, Hārīta, Suśruta and Vāgbhaṭa) in Rāmānāth Dvivedī’s Ariṣṭa-vijñān, written in Hindi, with many Sanskrit quotations (1973). A work entirely devoted to ariṣṭas is Durgadeva’s Riṣṭasamuccaya. Ariṣṭas are also dealt with in non-medical texts, for example the Narapatijayacaryā, Liṅgapurāṇa I.91; compare L. Gopal, 1982: 64), Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa (43.1–37; see F.E. Pargiter, 1969: I, 207–209; compare P.V. Sharma, 1992g: 95 and L. Gopal, 1982: 64), Vāyupurāṇa (19; compare L. Gopal, 1982: 64), Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa (see L. Gopal, 1982), and Śivatattvaratnākara (V.1.62–88ab). A Telugu text dealing with them is the Jaiminīyabhāratamu (see P. Hymavathi, 1993: 237). Sanskrit works on omina and portenta are numerous; an important example is the Adbhutasāgara, begun in A.D. 1168 by Ballālasena and completed by his son Lakṣmaṇasena (see A.B. Keith, 1973: 534; R.C. Majumdar, 1974: 370–371; Winternitz III, 572). An early collection of omina is found in the Atharvavedapariśiṣṭa (50–72). See on the importance of prognostics in other medical systems: L. Edelstein (1967b); J. Filliozat (1952); *R. Labat (1951); *Th. Meyer-Steineg (1913).