A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s23.t3: Date

v3.c43.s23.t3.1

The terminus ad quem can be determined from Rāghavabhaṭṭa’s quotations from the Kaiyadevanighaṇṭu, which prove that the work antedates the year 1493. The oldest dated MSS were copied in 1514657 and 1514/15.658 The lower limit can be deduced from various indications. The references to the diseases masūrikā, vardhma and somaroga establish that Kaiyadeva is later than Mādhava, Vṛnda, and Vaṅgasena. The description of the plant called pītakaravīra659 may indicate a rather late date, since it does not yet occur in the Madanapāla- and Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu, where only the white and red karavīra are mentioned,660 whereas it is recorded in the Rājanighaṇṭu.661 If Kaiyadeva’s father was indeed the Sāraṅga who wrote the Virasiṃhāvaloka for king Virasiṃha, the upper limit is some decades after the year 1383. The combined evidence indicates that the Kaiyadevanighaṇṭu was composed in the period 1400–1450.