A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s25.22

v3.c42.s25.22

Concerning Vijayarakṣita’s date one should recall that he refers to Cakrapāṇidatta as one of his sources, which permits us to fix the terminus post quem at about A.D. 1060. A disputed piece of evidence is an old MS of the Nidāna, completed in Nepal under the reign of king Jayaratnamalla on December 27, A.D. 1210;251 the name of the work is Śastramadhukośa in the colophon, though it only contains the text of the Nidāna with a line-by-line Newari translation; D.Ch. Bhattacharyya claimed that this MS testifies to the reputation of the Madhukośa in Nepal shortly after 1200.252 An important clue to the date of Vijayarakṣita is provided by Niścalakara, who states that he started writing his commentary on the Cakradatta after Vijayarakṣita’s death. This makes the latter’s terminus ante quem depend on that of Niścalakara, who wrote his commentary in the first half of the twelfth century according to D.Ch. Bhattacharyya, which would make it possible to establish Vijayarakṣita’s date at about A.D. 1100. P.V. Sharma, who disagrees with D.Ch. Bhattacharyya’s chronological scheme, which makes Rāmapāla the patron of Vijayarakṣita,253 fixed his date at about A.D. 1200;254 later, the same author preferred placing him during the reign of Viśvarūpasena or Keśavasena,255 the last notable kings of the Sena dynasty. 256 G. Hāldār257 regards Vijayarakṣita as the son of a daughter of Keśavasena, which would make him live in the second half of the thirteenth century. J. Jolly258 even supposed the Madhukośa to have been written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century.