A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s17.2

v3.c42.s17.2

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