Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s12: The Abhidhānaratnamālā

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s12

Language
English

Contents

The Abhidhānaratnamālā

v3.c43.s12.1

The *Abhidhānaratnamālā*,¹ also called *Ṣaḍrasanighaṇṭu*,² is an anonymous lexicon that only gives synonyms of medicinal substances.³

Contents

v3.c43.s12.t1.1

The work is arranged in six chapters (skandha), corresponding to the six tastes, madhura, amla, lavaṇa, tikta, kaṭu, and kaṣāya, with respectively 76, 21, 6¹/2, 110¹/2, 62, and 107 verses.⁴ This new type of arrangement provided the treatise with its second title.⁵ After enumerating all the items of a group at the beginning of a chapter, the author gives synonyms of each drug. With regard to its contents the work is related to the *Aṣṭānganighaṇṭu*.⁶

v3.c43.s12.t1.2

The *Abhidhānaratnamālā* is quoted by Mallinātha in his commentary on Māgha's *Śiśupālavadha*.⁷

v3.c43.s12.t1.3

A commentary on the *Abhidhānaratnamālā*, called *Padarocanī*, was written by Veṅkaṭārya or Veṅkaṭapatipaṇḍita.⁸

Special features

v3.c43.s12.t2.1

Noteworthy names of medicinal plants are: ādārī (4.96a); ajjhaṭā (4.78c); ārāmaśitalā (= kukkuṭamardaka, 4.97ab); brahmadaṇḍī (= avākpuṣpī, 5.59c); brāhmaṇayaṣṭikā (= padmā, 4.29b); cāṇakya (5.31a); ḍolāphala (1.23a); haladī (= haridrā, 4.18ab); huṃkāra (= bahukaṇṭaka, 6.53d);⁹ jalajambū (= nāḍeyī, 6.23cd); jharasī (4.98cd);¹⁰ jharjhara (6.50ab); kabarī (= kākolī, 1.13ab; = kacchurī (6.62c); khaṭvā (1.51d);¹¹ lavaṇī (= kaṅgunī, 4.53c; = tīkṣṇapattrā, 6.72a); mahākadamba (6.56a); maheraṇarasā (= śallakī, 6.56cd–57ab); nadīkāntā (= prācībalā, 5.61a);¹² nahikā (= śukanāsā, 4.105cd); papphaṇa (= vṛkadhūmaka, 6.50b); sālāma (5.31c); sidhraka (6.51); śṛṅgarīṭī (= poṭagalā, 1.19c); sthalaśṛṅgāṭaka (1.38d); talapoṭaka (6.64d); turyapiṇḍī (6.73a); vajravallī (= śṛṅkhalā, 5.59b); vāsantī (5.55a); vaṭapattrikā (= mohinī, 4.106); vātaṅginī (6.66); vijayā (= bhaṅgī, 4.74a); yakṣadṛś (= kuberākṣī, 4.28ab).¹³

v3.c43.s12.t2.2

Rudrākṣa is regarded as a synonym of pārāvata (2.19c).¹⁴ Musk (5.45) and civet (5.46ab) are known to the author of the *Ṣaḍrasanighaṇṭu*. Mercury is elaborately described (6.101–103), but opium is absent.¹⁵

v3.c43.s12.t2.3

The author At the end of one MS,¹⁶ the work is said to have been written by the elder brother of Caturaracita (-rakṣita?).¹⁷ More information about the author is not available.¹⁸

Date

v3.c43.s12.t3.1

The lower limit is provided by the quotations from the *Abhidhānaratnamālā* in Mallinātha's commentary on the *Śiśupālavadha*. Hence the work cannot be later than the early fifteenth century. Its affinity with the *Aṣṭānganighaṇṭu* may indicate that it is posterior to about A.D. 800–1000.

Cites (3)