A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c42.s9.2

v3.c42.s9.2

A story about the transmission of the teachings embodied in the Kāśyapasaṃhitā is told in the last chapter of the Kalpasthāna (226–227): “The great sage Kaśyapa composed, for the benefit of mankind and by order of Brahmā, by the force of his austerities and seeing it with the eye of knowledge, a treatise, which was bestowed on the sages. Jīvaka, the son of Ṛcīka,⁷ free from ignorance and pure, the first to understand this great treatise, made a condensed version of it. The sages, however, disapproved of the words of this child (i.e., Jīvaka). Thereupon the pure Jīvaka, only five years old, plunged into the Gaṅgā at Kanakhala,⁸ to emerge again in a moment, full of wrinkles and with grey hair. Astonished on witnessing this miracle, the sages gave him the name of Vṛddhajīvaka, accepted his treatise, and regarded him as the foremost among the physicians. When this treatise got lost during the Kali age, the yakṣa Anāyāsa⁹ preserved it, intent on the welfare of mankind. The learned Vātsya, who was of Vṛddhajīvaka's lineage, obtained this great treatise, after propitiating Anāyāsa. After a complete study of the three Vedas, the Ṛg-, Yajur- and Sāmaveda, together with their auxiliary works (vedāṅga), and after appeasing Śiva, Kaśyapa and the yakṣas with austerities and devotions, he revised the treatise composed by Vṛddhajīvaka for the prosperity of mankind, in order to acquire merit, fame, and happiness.”