A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s24.2

v3.c42.s24.2

Moreover, it has been common knowledge for a long time that a number of Arabic authors mention an Indian medical treatise that may be the *Mādhavanidāna*. 218 Among the Indian medical works recorded by Ibn Abī Uṣaybi‘a (who died in 1270) in the twelfth book of his ‘classes of physicians’, the *‘Uyūn al-anbā’ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbā’*, 219 one finds a treatise with the title *bdān* or *ydān*, 220 already corrected into *ndān*, i.e., *Nidāna*, by Dietz 221 and H.H. Wilson. 222 Uṣaybi‘a observes that the signs of 404 diseases are described in the work without indicating their treatment. 223 This characterization points rather to a work like the *Mādhavanidāna* than to the *Nidānasthāna* of one of the classical saṃhitās, because a restricted number of diseases is dealt with in the latter under that heading. The *Nidāna* is also mentioned by Arabic authors who were earlier than Ibn Abī Uṣaybi‘a, namely al-Rāzī and Ibn Wādiḥ al-Ya‘qūbī. 224 The latter describes it in the same way as Uṣaybi‘a. Important new evidence came to light in 1928 with the edition of ‘Alī ibn Sahl al-Ṭabarī’s *Firdaws al-ḥikma*, i.e., Paradise of Wisdom. 225 In the so-called Indian books of this treatise 226 several Indian medical works are mentioned: *jrk*, *ssrd*, *ndān*, and *aṣṭāngahṛdy*, i.e., Caraka, Suśruta, *Nidāna* and *Aṣṭāngahṛdaya*. It is highly probable that *ndān* is the *Mādhavanidāna*, as no other famous Indian book with a similar title could have spread to the Arab world at so early a date (about A.D. 850). This reference to the *Nidāna* is the earliest one known in Arab literature. Because of its importance it may be expedient to summarize the most salient facts about this work and its author. 227