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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s29.t3: Commentaries

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s29.t3

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English

Commentaries

v3.c43.s29.t3.1

Three commentaries are known: ¹¹⁴⁵ (1) the Pradīpikā by Āḍhamalla; ¹¹⁴⁶ (2) the Gūḍhārthadīpikā by Kāśīrāma; (3) the Āyurvedadīpikā or Gūḍhārthadīpikā by Rudrabhaṭṭa.

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¹¹⁴⁵ P.V. Sharma, *op. cit.*, p. 23.

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¹¹⁴⁶ Edited by P.V. Sharma, Varanasi 1963.

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(1) Āḍhamalla's commentary, called Pradīpikā in its introductory verses and Śārṅgadharadīpikā in the colophons, is the oldest one. In the introduction the author traces his descent in saying that he is of Śrīvāstavya lineage, ¹¹⁴⁷ that his grandfather was called Cakrapāṇi ¹¹⁴⁸ and his father Bhāvasimha. ¹¹⁴⁹ He adds that both were physicians and that Bhāvasimha, who was an expert in Suśruta, earned great fame and was honoured by the king. Āḍhamalla lived in Hastīkāntapurī, ¹¹⁵⁰ situated on the banks of the Carmaṇvatī, ¹¹⁵¹ during the reign of Jaitrasimha. ¹¹⁵² The introductory verses also indicate that Āḍhamalla, who refers to himself as knowing only a restricted number of treatises (nibandha), based his commentary on the words of his teacher. ¹¹⁵³ Āḍhamalla's devotion to Kṛṣṇa can be inferred from the concluding verses. One of these concluding verses presents a lacuna, which is especially unfortunate because it may either refer to another work by the same author, a pañjikā in 11,000 verses, or contain information on the date of completion of Āḍhamalla’s commentary.

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¹¹⁴⁷ *Pradīpikā* 1.1.3.

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¹¹⁴⁸ *Pradīpikā* 1.1.4.

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¹¹⁴⁹ *Pradīpikā* 1.1.4.

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¹¹⁵⁰ *Pradīpikā* 1.1.5.

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¹¹⁵¹ The modern Chambal.

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¹¹⁵² *Pradīpikā* 1.1.5.

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¹¹⁵³ *Pradīpikā* 1.1.6.

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Authors and works quoted or referred to by name in Āḍhamalla’s commentary are: Agniveśa (I.7.77cd–79ab, 1154 III.13.125–128), Amara (I.1.1), asmādīyasampradāya (III.11.122cd–128ab), Bhāluki (III.3.9–11), Bhānumatī (III.5.31; 6.23), Bhaṭṭāraka-hariścandra (III.11.108–110ab), Bhoja, 1155 Bhrgu (III.13.125), Cakra (II.2.43–75; 7.13–16; 9.58–60ab; III.3.14; 5.33; 10.13cd–19ab; 11.108–110ab), Cakradatta (II.8.10–22ab; III.4.18cd–20ab; 5.7cd–15ab; 6.8–11ab and 24cd–28ab; 8.14cd–15 and 24–32ab; 10.1–5), Cakṣuṣyeṇa (I.7.154), Caraka (often), Dravyaguṇāvalī 1156 (I.4.1a-b), Dṛḍhabala (I.7.105–115ab; III.3.14 and 30; 4.26cd–33; 5.7cd–15ab and 22–30; 6.11; 8.2 and 14cd–15), Gadādhara (I.7.153–171ab), Gayaḍāsa (I.7.171cd–172ab), Guṇāvalī 1157 (II.10.7cd–10ab), Hārīta (III.13.125), Hiraṇyākṣa (I.7.189–191ab), Jaijjaṭa (I.1.6; III.3.14), jyotiḥśāstra (I.3.11cd–13ab), Kārttika (III.10.13cd–19ab), Kā-rttikācārya (I.7.151cd–152), kāśmīrāḥ (III.8.2), Kāśyapa (I.7.196cd–202), Kharaṇāda (II.9.142–146ab), Khāraṇādi (III.4.12), Mādhava (often), Mādhavācārya’s Svasa-mgraha (I.7.149cd–151ab), Mādhavanidāna (I.7.80cd–82ab), Mādhavasaṃgraha (I.7.153–171ab), Mūlabhārata (I.5.48cd–50ab), Nāgārjuna (II.11.44–45), Nāmamālā (II.1.12), Nāmasamgraha (I.7.139), Nighaṇṭu (II.6.9cd), Nimi (I.7.153–171ab), Pārā-śara (III.6.3), Paribhāṣā (II.10.3), Ratnaprabhākara, i.e., Niścalakara (III.8.14cd–15), Ravigupta (III.8.2), Saṃgraha (I.7.115cd–121), Sanaka (I.7.38–39), Śārṅgadhara (III.6), 1158 Vāgbhaṭa (often), Vaidyālaṃkāra (III.2.1ab), Vaidyaprasāraka (II.7.13cd–15), Videha, 1159 Viṣṇusamhitā (II.6.81–89), 1160 Vṛddhabhoja (I.7.27cd–28), Vṛddha-kāśyapa (I.7.180d–182ab), Vṛnda (II.8.10–22ab; III.3.14), and Vṛṇḍatippaṇakāra (II.8.14).

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According to P.V. Sharma 1161 the Rasaratnasamuccaya is repeatedly quoted, which is hard to prove, since this work contains many verses from earlier treatises and is not mentioned by name. 1162

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A large percentage of Āḍhamalla’s quotations is not referred to a source mentioned by name. The Mādhavanidāna is repeatedly quoted anonymously. 1163

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Āḍhamalla consulted many manuscripts; 1164 he was interested in the correct readings of Śārṅgadhara’s text, as shown by the variants recorded in his commentary and the additional verses occurring in part of the MSS at his disposal. 1165

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Medicinal plants are occasionally described; 1166 many synonyms are recorded, as well as vernacular names. 1167

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Āḍhamalla’s alchemical knowledge appears from his comments on chapters eleven and twelve of the Madhyamakhaṇḍa. He mentions among the implements of an alchemist’s workshop two types of tulābhājana (tulā and ghaṇṭaka), three types of khalva (pāṣāṇa-, loha- and tāmrakhalva), two types of kaṇḍanī (śilā- and pāṣāṇakaṇḍanī), three types of koṣṭhikā (jāla-, kharpara-, bhūmikoṣṭhikā), two types of bhastrikā (bellows; karpara- and mukhabhastrikā). Mūṣās are divided into apakva and pakva types; the vajramūṣā is apakva; pakva types are gostanā, andhamūṣā, nalikāmūṣā, sampuṭīmū-ṣā, dholīmūṣā, iṣṭikāmūṣā, kṣaramūṣā, saindhavādilavaṇamūṣā, kharparamūṣā, kokilā-khyamūṣā, etc. Two types of saṃdīśa are mentioned (pattra- and kākamukhasaṃdīśa).

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Four types of puṭa are acknowledged: tuṣa-, karīṣa-, upala-, and khadirādikāṣṭhapuṭa. The yantras listed are adhaḥpātana-, agnisoma-, bāṇa-, bhūdhara-, cākī-, cakra-, cāra-ṇa-, damaruka-, dolā-, gajadantabhājana-, gandhakaṭahikā-, garuḍa-, jālikā-, kacchapa-, kāmsyabhājana-, kaṭāha-, mūṣā-, niyāmaka-, pāṣāṇa-, pātāla-, sāraṇa-, śilā-, tulā-, ū-rdhvapātana-, vālukā-, and vaṃśanalikāyantra. 1168

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Āḍhamalla’s date is not elucidated by his sources 1169 and depends in the first place on the identification of his royal patron Jaitrasiṃha, who was not the Cāhamāna king of that name, as that would lead to placing Śārṅgadhara not later than about A.D. 1250. Āḍhamalla may provisionally be assigned to the fourteenth century. 1170 The terminus ante quem is provided by a quotation from him in Vallabhabhaṭṭa’s commentary on Śārṅgadhara’s Triśatī.

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Āḍhamalla is cited in Āśubodha Senagupta’s commentary on Govindasena’s Paribhāṣāpradīpa; Āḍhamalla and his Śārṅgadharatippaṇī are also quoted in Gulrā-jśarmamiśra’s commentary on the Āyurvedaprakāśa.

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Parts of Āḍhamalla’s Pradīpikā are (anonymously) reproduced almost verbatim in an interpolated portion of the incompletely preserved text of Niścalakara’s Ratnapra-bhā on the Cakradatta. This portion, found in the two BORI MSS, 1171 covers the larger part of the chapter on netraroga, a chapter on rasādiśodhanamāraṇa (absent from the Cakradatta), and the chapter on śirāvyadha. The text commented upon is not that of Cakrapāṇi’s treatise, but has been borrowed in toto from the Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā. 1172

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Both text and commentary contain numerous variants which are valuable for the establishment of a correct text of the Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā and Āḍhamalla’s commen-tary.

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The unknown author of the interpolated portions adds some references to sources left unmentioned by Āḍhamalla. These are: Bhāluki (ad netraroga 155); Carakottaratantra (ad netraroga 38, 39, 71, 74–76); Jātūkarṇa (ad netraroga 60–61); Siddhasāra (ad netraroga 44); Suśruta (ad netraroga 152 and 155); Vāgbhaṭa (ad ne-traroga 152 and 154). The date of the author is posterior to that of the Yogaratnākara, which was also drawn upon for a chapter he added. This agrees with the date of one of the BORI MSS (Nr. 63), completed in Bīkāner in A.D. 1727. 1173

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(2) Kāśīrāma wrote a commentary called Gūḍhārthadīpikā, 1174 which covers the whole of the Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā. 1175 He does not give any particulars on his person, ex-cept from mentioning at the end that he completed his work under the reign of Śāh Salem, while it also becomes clear from the concluding verses that he was a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Śāh Salīm has sometimes been identified as the second son and successor of the Afghan ruler Sher Śāh (1540–1545), who died young in 1554, 1176 which would place Kāśīrāma in the middle of the sixteenth century. According to P.V. Sharma, in whose view this identification cannot be endorsed because Kāśīrāma quotes the Bhāvaprakā-śa, 1177 which dates from the same period, the Śāh Salīm mentioned at the end of the Gūḍhārthadīpikā must be Jahāngīr (1605–1627), who was called Salīm before his suc-cession to Akbar’s throne. 1178 This view may be correct, though it can be objected that Kāśīrāma does not refer to the Bhāvaprakāśa by name and the pertinent verse may de-rive from some other source put to use by Bhāvamiśra.

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Works and authors referred to or quoted by Kāśīrāma are: Agniveśa (III.3.1), Aśvinikumāramata (II.9.93–98), Ātreya (II.9.17–19ab), Bheḍa (III.3.9–11 and 14), Bhoja, Caraka, Gītā (I.5.57cd–58), Jaijjaṭa (II.9.8), Madanavinoda (II.11.40cd–43), 1179 Mādhavanidāna (I.7.12–13), Madhukośa (I.7.2–7ab), Nāgārjuna (II.11.48cd–53ab), Nidāna (I.7.80cd–82ab, 83–86, 100cd–101, 142–144ab, 146cd–149ab, 149cd–151ab, 153–171ab), Paribhāṣā (III.I.6), Pāṭañjala (II.11.48cd–53ab), Pathyāpathyanighaṇṭu 1180 (II.11.40cd–43), Rāvaṇa (I.5.48cd–50ab), Śataślokī (II.2.88–94; 6.54–57), 1181 Suśruta, Tisaṭa (II.9.66cd–71; III.3.1), 1182 Trivikrama (II.11.60–61ab), Vāgbhaṭa, Vaṅgasena (II.2.4 and 88–94; 6.54–57; 7.40–49; 9.66cd–71; 11.60–61ab), Vaṅgasenādinibandhakāra (II.6.54–57), Vaṅgeśvara (II.11.40cd–43ab), Viśva (III.11.1–2), Viśvakośa (II.1.2), Vopadeva (II.6.54–57), 1183 Vopadevaśataślokī (II.2.88–94; 6.105cd–107), Vṛddhasuśruta (I.7.2–7ab), Vṛnda (II.2.4, 88, 162–163ab; 6.105cd–107; 9.66cd–71), and Vyādi (I.1.1). 1184, 1185

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This list enables us to infer that Kāśīrāma is at least later than Madanapāla and probably later than Kaiyadeva. This does not solve the identity of Shāh Salīm.

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(Kāśīrāma’s) Gūḍhārthadīpikā is quoted in Yogendranātha’s Āyurvijñānaratnākara. 1186

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Kāśīrāma is sometimes confused with Kāśīnātha, the author of the Ajīrṇamañjarī. 1187

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Another inedical author, also called Kāśīrāma, wrote a Vaidyasarvasva, 1188 about which almost no particulars are known.

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(3) Rudrabhaṭṭa or Rudradharabhaṭṭa, 1189 son of the physician Konerībhaṭṭa, and royal physician to ‘Abdu’l-Raḥīm Khān-i-Khānān, wrote a commentary, called Āyurvedadīpikā or Gūḍhāntadīpikā, 1190 on the Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā, which has been preserved incompletely 1191 and is said to resemble Ādhamalla’s commentary. 1192 The same author composed a commentary on Lolimbarāja’s Vaidyajīvana and a comprehensive treatise on therapeutics. 1193 According to some, he also wrote a Saṃnipātakalikā. 1194 Kṛṣṇabhaṭṭa, Konerībhaṭṭa’s great-grandfather, has been credited with a commentary on the Carakasaṃhitā. 1195 As ‘Abdu’l-Raḥīm, the son of Bairam Khān, who was the guardian and protector of the young Akbar, lived during the latter part of the sixteenth and the first part of the seventeenth century, Rudrabhaṭṭa lived in that same period.

Cites (41)