A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s2.1

v3.c42.s2.1

Parts I to III, the three medical treatises of the collection, comprise a total of 1,323 verses and some prose;¹⁶ almost all the stanzas are written in three metres, the śloka, triṣṭubh, and āryā; the śloka predominates, taking up about seventy percent of the whole. The total number of different metres is twenty-three;¹⁷ part I, in proportion to its extent, contains an extraordinarily large number, not less than nineteen, distributed over 132 verses; in part II there are nine metres to 1,119 verses, and in part III four metres to seventy-two verses. It is evident from this familiarity with metrical writing that the author of the three medical treatises was well versed in Sanskrit composition. Although the substance of part II, which is a compilation, is not his own original composition, certain portions of it may well be his own contribution, not only the ten introductory verses, but also a number of scattered stanzas.¹⁸ In contrast with the treatise in part II, the treatises in parts I and III do not consist of compilations from earlier sources, but are rather original compositions.