A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s18.2

v3.c42.s18.2

Two disorders recognized as independent entities for the first time by Mādhava are śūla (piercing, colic-like pain; 26) 38 and visphoṭa (diseases in which vesicles or blisters appear; 53). The *Suśrutasaṃhitā* deals with śūla in its chapter on the treatment of gulma (visceral swelling), where it is in the first place regarded as a secondary affection in cases of gulma (U.42.66cd–69ab), and secondly as an autonomous disease (U. 42.73cd–88a). Mādhava's chapter on śūla, made up of twenty-two verses which may have been composed by himself, precedes that on gulma (28), 39 and does not contain a single statement on a relationship between the two. The disease called visphoṭa is not absent from the classical saṃhitās, but is only cursorily referred to there as forming part of a group of disorders. The *Carakasaṃhitā* mentions it in the chapter on śvayathu (inflammatory swellings; Ci.12.90cd), together with kakṣāḥ (herpes zoster) and other skin eruptions, while Suśruta (Ni.13.18) and Vāgbhaṭa (A.h.U.31.9ab = A.s.U.36.9) regard it as one of the kṣudrarogas. 40 Mādhava gives the disorder an independent status, and devotes a separate chapter to it, consisting of eleven verses, which, with one exception, may be of his own making.