A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s30.6

v3.c42.s30.6

The separation of the two layers present in the *Kusumāvalī* is a difficult task that, nevertheless, can partly be carried out by careful study of the quotations by authors who are earlier than Nārāyaṇa. Fortunately, Niścalakara’s references to the views of his guru are for a large part in agreement with opinions expressed in the *Kusumāvalī*, which means that passages of the *Kusumāvalī* that verbally or almost verbally recur in the *Ratnaprabhā* as interpretations ascribed to Niścala’s guru are old and not due to Nārāyaṇa. ¹⁵⁶ The same applies to Niścala’s quotations from Rakṣita(pādāḥ). This state of affairs appears to suggest that Śrīkaṇṭhadatta based himself on the interpretations of his teacher, Vijayarakṣita, in the composition of his commentary on the *Siddhayoga*, for Niścala’s guru, by some supposed to be Vijayarakṣita himself, belonged to the line established by Vijayarakṣita and Śrīkaṇṭhadatta. ¹⁵⁷