A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s17.t2.11

v3.c43.s17.t2.11

The date of the Dhanvantariyanighaṇṭu, at least its terminus ante quem, can be determined from quotations in later works. Kṣirasvāmin’s commentary on the Amarakosa, which contains numerous quotations from it, testifies to its existence in the first half of the twelfth century. It may therefore have been composed in the period between A.D. 1000 and 1100,344 not earlier, because the Aṣṭāṅganighaṇṭu, which presents a less advanced stage of composition of a nighaṇṭu, can be assigned to the period 800–1000. The reference to the Dhanvantariyanighaṇṭu as one of his sources by Maṅkha (first half of the twelfth century)345 in his Anekārthakoṣa and the quotations in Vardhamāna’s Gaṇaratnamahodadhi (composed in 1140),346 Hemacandra’s auto-commentary on his Abhidhānacintāmaṇi (twelfth century) and Aruṇadatta’s commentary on the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā (earlier than 1200) confirm this dating. Some remarks in Kṣirasvāmin’s commentary347 seem to imply that he considered Amarasimha to have been acquainted with the Dhanvantariyanighaṇṭu or an earlier version of it, but this is unacceptable and not supported by internal evidence.348