A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s17: Contents of the Rogaviniścaya or Mādhavanidāna
A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s17
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Contents of the Rogaviniścaya or Mādhavanidāna
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The work called Rogaviniścaya³ by the author himself (1.2),⁴ but generally known as the Mādhavanidāna, is the earliest compendium on the group of five subjects collectively called nidāna, which consist of nidāna in its restricted sense (aetiology), pūrvarūpa (prodromes), rūpa (symptomatology), upaśaya (therapeutic diagnosis), and saṃprāpti (pathogenesis). The first chapter of the treatise is devoted to the characterization of these five concepts and a number of related issues, while the remaining sixty-eight chapters contain descriptions of the nidāna, pūrvarūpa, rūpa and saṃprāpti, and also in many cases the upadravas (complications) and signs indicating incurability (asādhyalakṣaṇa), of all the diseases recognized by Mādhava. The work ends with an enumeration of the diseases dealt with⁵ and two concluding verses.
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The Mādhavanidāna, which contains about 1,530 verses, is primarily a work that draws upon earlier treatises,⁶ chiefly the Carakasaṃhitā, Suśrutasaṃhitā, and Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā. Sources of minor importance are the Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha⁷ and Ravigupta’s Siddhasāra.⁸ As not all the verses can be traced to these five works, Mādhava must have utilized some still unidentified or lost earlier texts, while, moreover, he may have composed parts of his treatise himself. The fact that Mādhava made use of unidentified treatises is attested by some verses which derive from texts vaguely referred to as ‘another book’ by the commentators on the Caraka- and Suśrutasaṃhitā.⁹ Moreover, the first verse of the chapter on bhagna (44.1), which looks like a quotation, consists of the answer by an unnamed authority, who may be Ātreya, to a question put by Hutāśa (= Agniveśa); 44.2–7 may be from the same unknown source, which is not the Carakasaṃhitā.¹⁰
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In spite of its compilatory character, the Mādhavanidāna is an important treatise. Verses on nidāna -- scattered over several sections of the works of Caraka, Suśruta and Vāgbhaṭa -- have not only been collected in it, but also selected and arranged so as to form coherent descriptions of diseases. In some cases Mādhava failed in organizing his matter carefully, thus making the seams of his patchwork stand out clearly.¹¹
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The majority of the chapters of the *Rogaviniścaya* are made up of verses from more than one source, but exceptions are not infrequent. 12 The stanzas chosen by Mādhava not only show variants, but are sometimes loosely related to the corresponding accepted readings of Caraka, Suśruta and Vāgbhaṭa, or they even consist of alternative readings recorded as such by the commentators. 13 Descriptions of disorders occurring in the saṃhitās in prose appear in a versified form in Mādhava's work. 14 Sometimes verses based on prose passages from the *Suśrutasaṃhitā* are preferred to stanzas on the same subject found in Vāgbhaṭa's works. 15
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A few chapters may have been written, partly or completely, by Mādhava himself, 16 unless they have been taken from an unknown text. Odd verses from an unknown source or by Mādhava are far from rare. 17
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A major contribution of Mādhava is the new order in which the diseases were arranged by him. A similar attempt had already been made by Ravigupta, but it was Mādhava's scheme that became standard and was adopted by a large number of authors.
v3.c42.s17.7
The *Rogaviniścaya* is concerned with six out of the eight divisions (aṅga) of āyurveda; rasāyana and vājīkaraṇa, being subjects connected with treatment, are left out of consideration. The six divisions represented are kāyacikitsā (chapters 2–19, 22–37, 49–54), bhūtavidyā (chapters 20–21), śalya (chapters 38–48 and 55), śālākya (chapters 56–60), kaumārabhṛtya (chapters 61–68), and agadatantra (chapter 69). The reasons for this particular manner of arranging the material remain obscure.
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The creation of this new alignment was facilitated by dividing the book into a rather large number of chapters as compared with the corresponding parts of the saṃhitās of Caraka, Suśruta and Vāgbhaṭa, which often describe groups of diseases, sometimes rather distantly related, in one single chapter. Examples illustrating Mādhava's procedure are the separate chapters on dāha (a syndrome characterized by a burning sensation; 19), 18 nāḍīvraṇa (fistulas; 45), 19 upadaṃśa (affections of the male member; 47), 20 visarpa (erysipelas; 52), 21 asṛgdara (menorrhagia and metrorrhagia, as well as fluor; 61), 22 and stanaroga (diseases of the mammary glands; 66). 23 The reverse procedure is also adopted; the *Mādhavanidāna* contains a small number of new clusters: nidrā (excessive sleepiness) and tandrā (lassitude) occur in the same chapter (17) as mūrchā (fainting) and saṃnyāsa (prolonged loss of consciousness); 24 ānāha (obstructive abdominal swelling) is described along with udāvarta (a group of disorders arising from restraint of the natural urges; 27). 25
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Mādhava's inventiveness in arranging the disorders also appears from the changed order of the members of groups of disorders, in comparison with their order in the sources. Examples are found in the chapters on galagaṇḍa (goitre), etc. (38), 26 and netraroga (eye diseases; 59). The composition of these groups does not always tally with that found in the works of Caraka, Suśruta and Vāgbhaṭa, since the author of the *Rogaviniścaya* made his own decisions. An example is the group of disorders known as upadaṃśa, which has been enlarged by adding liṅgavarti, also called liṅgārśas (warts on the penis; 47.6–7). 27 In the chapter on kṣudrarogas (55) 28 he adopts the order of the *Suśrutasaṃhitā*, but diminishes the number of diseases from forty-eight 29 to forty-three by leaving out visphoṭaka, pāmā, vicarcī, rakasā, 30 masūrikā, 31 and carma-
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kīla, 32 and adding a new item, śūkaradamṣṭraka. 33 The chapter on mukharoga (diseases of mouth and throat; 56), mainly based on Suśruta, adds the disease karāla (56.20), described by Vāgbhaṭa. 34 The chapter on bālaroga (children's diseases; 68) contains descriptions of pārīgarbhika (68.10–11) 35 and mahāpadma (68.14–15ab), 36 borrowed from the *Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha*.