A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s32: The Parahitasamhitā by Śrīnāthapaṇḍita

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s32

Language: English

v3.c43.s32.t1 Contents — 15 parts
v3.c43.s32.t2 Special features — 2 parts
v3.c43.s32.t3 The author — 13 parts
v3.c43.s32.t4 Date — 6 parts

The Parahitasamhitā by Śrīnāthapaṇḍita

v3.c43.s32.1

The Parahitasamhitā by Śrīnāthapaṇḍita ¹⁴⁵² is a comprehensive medical treatise from South India, chiefly based on the works attributed to Vāgbhaṭa.

The work consists of three kāṇḍas, the sādhāraṇa-, aṣṭāṅga-, and rasakāṇḍa. The sādhāraṇakāṇḍa contains five chapters (adhikāra): (1) prathamādhikāra, on the three doṣas and their seats, the seven tissues (dhātu) of the body, rasa, vīrya, etc.; (2) dravyanyācayādhikāra, on the properties of foods and medicinal substances; (3) svasthavṛttādhikāra, on the maintenance of health; (4) āturavṛttādhikāra, on the examination of patients and the principles of diagnosis and treatment; (5) prāyaścittādhikāra, on the treatment of diseases by acts of propitiation, etc. ¹⁴⁵³ The aṣṭāṅgakāṇḍa has eight chapters: (1) prathamādhikāra, probably concerned with kāyacikitsā; (2) kaumāratantra; (3) bhūtavidyādhikāra; (4) śālākyacikitsā; (5) sarvaśalyacikitsā; (6) viṣacikitsā; (7) rasāyanatantra; (8) vājīkaraṇatantra. ¹⁴⁵⁴ The contents of the rasakāṇḍa remain unknown, but are probably based on rasaśāstra texts.

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¹⁴⁵³ [text of the note]

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¹⁴⁵⁴ [text of the note]

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The chapter on śarvaśalyacikitsā has 724 and that on sarvaśalyacikitsā 657 verses, mostly ślokas, though other metres are also represented.

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The chapter on śālākyacikitsā contains sections on netraroga (1–308), karṇaroga (309–368), nāsāroga (369–392), mukharoga (393–551), and śiroroga (552–724). The chapter on sarvaśalyacikitsā is subdivided into sections on śopha, vraṇa and bhagna (1–201), bhagandara (202–241), granthi (242–264), arbuda (265–270), ślīpada (271–285), gaṇḍamālā and apacī (296–308), kṣudraroga (309–515), dehadaurgandhya and dagdha (489–515), and guhyaroga (516–657). The arrangement of the diseases in these two chapters agrees with that adopted by Vāgbhaṭa in most respects and many verses are taken from his works. ¹⁴⁵⁵ The series netra-, karṇa-, nāsā-, mukha- and śiroroga is also found in the Uttarasthāna of Vāgbhaṭa’s works. Remarkable, however, is the description of thirteen samnipāta fevers in the section on śiroroga (622–673). The names and symptoms of this series, consisting of saṃdhika or saṃdhiga, antakastha, ¹⁴⁵⁶ dṛgdāha or rugdāhaka, citta(vi)bhrama, śītāṅga or śītagātra, tāndrika, ¹⁴⁵⁷ kaṇṭhakubja, karṇika or karṇaka, bhagnanetra ¹⁴⁵⁸ or bhugnaḍṛś, raktaṣṭhīvin, pralāpaka or pralāpin, jihvaka, and abhinyāsa (622–636), are also met with, in the same order, in the Yogaratnākara (160–162), where they are said to be borrowed from some other treatise. The verses on the treatment of these fevers (637–673) also occur in the Bhāvaprakāśa (cikitsā 1. 641–694) and Yogaratnākara (184–190).

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¹⁴⁵⁵ [text of the note]

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¹⁴⁵⁶ [text of the note]

v3.c43.s32.t1.8

¹⁴⁵⁷ [text of the note]

v3.c43.s32.t1.9

¹⁴⁵⁸ [text of the note]

v3.c43.s32.t1.10

The order in which the diseases are described in the sarvaśalyacikitsā chapter partially agrees with Vāgbhaṭa, namely from vraṇa up to the kṣudrarogas. The number of the latter is fifty-five in the Parahitasamhitā (515), but only thirty-six in Vāgbhaṭa’s works (A.h.U.31.33; A.s.U.36.31). Their number has been increased by including śītapitta (326; 413–423), amlapitta (327–328; 424–445), masūrikā and sphoṭa (329–344; 446–488), snāyupravṛddhāmaya (345), ¹⁴⁵⁹ dehadurgandhya (a bad body odour), and dagdha (burns) (489–515). The presence of these diseases in the Parahitasamhitā indicates that it has been influenced by the Mādhavanidāna and Vṛnda's Siddhayoga or later works. The guhyarogas, which are said to be forty in number (657), comprise, in the same way as in Vāgbhaṭa's works, all the disorders of the male and female sexual organs. The number of diseases known is indicated in several instances and usually agrees with Vāgbhaṭa. ¹⁴⁶⁰

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¹⁴⁵⁹ [Text of note 1459]

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¹⁴⁶⁰ [Text of note 1460]

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With the exception of Vāgbhaṭa's works, the Suśrutasaṃhitā, and the Rasaratnasamuccaya, ¹⁴⁶¹ nothing is known with certainty about Śrīnāthapaṇḍita's sources. ¹⁴⁶² Later authors do not quote him.

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¹⁴⁶¹ [Text of note 1461]

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¹⁴⁶² [Text of note 1462]

Special features

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Apart from the peculiarities already referred to, some more features are worthy of mention. The treatment of galagaṇḍa and gaṇḍamālā is dealt with twice, in the śālākya chapter (514–520) and in that on śalya (286–308). That part of the śalya chapter which deals with the kṣudrarogas includes a description of harītakī and its seven varieties, and of āmalakī, vibhītaka, and triphalā (390–412). ¹⁴⁶³ At the end of some sections there occur verses on karmavipāka (śalya 199 and 238–241), but this is not a conspicuous element of the Parahitasamhitā, while, on the other hand, religious therapy plays a prominent role (śālākya 304–308, 391–392, 547–550, 716–724; śalya 199–201, 238–241, 469–470, 657).

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¹⁴⁶³ [Text of note 1463]

The author

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The name of Śrīnāthapaṇḍita appears in the colophon at the end of the śalya chapter, at the end of the last chapter of the aṣṭāṅgakāṇḍa, ¹⁴⁶⁴ and at the end of the sādhāraṇakāṇḍa. ¹⁴⁶⁵

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¹⁴⁶⁴ [Text of note 1464]

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¹⁴⁶⁵ [Text of note 1465]

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The name of his work, Parahitasamhitā, may refer to the Parahita physicians of Āndhra, though not necessarily so, as the title, which simply means ‘saṃhitā promoting the welfare of other (living beings)’, may be of the same type as, e.g., Kalyāṇakāraka.

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Members of families of physicians distinguished by the honorific title Parahita are known from four inscriptions: (a) Parahita III of Ātreyagotra, who was the prāṇācārya of Siṅgayanāyaka of Kōrukoṇḍa; ¹⁴⁶⁶ (b) Bhāskarārya, son of Parahita, of Kāśyapagotra; ¹⁴⁶⁷ (c) Siṅganārya, of Kāśyapagotra, son of Villanārya, grandson of Bhāskarārya and great-grandson of Periyavilla Parahita; ¹⁴⁶⁸ (d) Parahita IV, son of Kālanātha Bhaṭṭa. ¹⁴⁶⁹

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¹⁴⁶⁶ [Text of note 1466]

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¹⁴⁶⁷ [Text of note 1467]

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¹⁴⁶⁸ [Text of note 1468]

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¹⁴⁶⁹ [Text of note 1469]

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As appears from these inscriptions, there were two of these families, belonging respectively to the Ātreya- and Kāśyapagotra; the one was an older, well-established Telugu family and the other a Drāviḍa family which came from the South, learnt medicine from the already famous Āndhra family, and also adopted the title Parahita, either as a compliment to their preceptors or to gain prestige. In the inscriptions both families claim that an ancestor, Parahita I, treated a serpent that was suffering from a bone stuck in its throat, and that the success of the treatment resulted in this ancestor's being honoured with the name of sarpavyādhicikitsaka.

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The author of the Parahitasamhitā may have been a descendant of the Parahita families or one of their pupils, though his name does not occur in the inscriptions mentioning Parahita physicians. ¹⁴⁷⁰ Arguments for the view that the title Parahita was not reserved for one or more particular families of physicians, but could be given to any physician well versed in all branches of medicine who devoted his life to the practice of his art are given by P. Hymavathi. ¹⁴⁷¹

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¹⁴⁷⁰ [Text of note 1470]

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¹⁴⁷¹ [Text of note 1471]

Date

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The Madras MS of the Parahitasamhitā is written in nandināgarī, ¹⁴⁷² a type of script that was in common use during the time of the western Cālukyas, the Reḍḍi kings of Koṇḍavīḍu ¹⁴⁷³ and the earlier dynasties of Vijayanagar rulers; it went out of fashion after the sixteenth century. ¹⁴⁷⁴ Hence the MS was copied in the fifteenth or sixteenth century and the text may belong to the fifteenth century. This conclusion is corroborated by the absence of phirangaroga from the Parahitasamhitā, ¹⁴⁷⁵ a disease described for the first time in the Bhāvaprakāśa, which dates from the sixteenth century. ¹⁴⁷⁶