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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s33: Vaṅgasena

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s33

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English

Contents

Vaṅgasena

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Vaṅgasena is the author of a comprehensive textbook, ¹⁴⁷⁷ called Cikitsāsārasaṃgraha, ¹⁴⁷⁸ but often referred to as Vaṅgasena ¹⁴⁷⁹ after its author. Other titles are Cikitsāmahārṇava, ¹⁴⁸⁰ Cikitsāsaṃgraha, ¹⁴⁸¹ Cikitsātattvasaṃgraha, ¹⁴⁸² Vaidyavallabha, ¹⁴⁸³ and Vaṅgadattavaidyaka. ¹⁴⁸⁴

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¹⁴⁷⁷ [Text of note 1477]

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¹⁴⁷⁸ [Text of note 1478]

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¹⁴⁷⁹ [Text of note 1479]

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¹⁴⁸⁰ [Text of note 1480]

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¹⁴⁸¹ [Text of note 1481]

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¹⁴⁸² [Text of note 1482]

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¹⁴⁸³ [Text of note 1483]

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¹⁴⁸⁴ [Text of note 1484]

Contents

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Vaṅgasena's treatise contains 11,000–12,000 verses (mostly ślokas) and some prose, ¹⁴⁸⁵ arranged in ninety-six chapters. The first 124 stanzas are devoted to general subjects, such as definitions of nidāna, pūrvarūpa, rūpa, upāśaya and saṃprāpti (1.9–15), the seasons (1.50–52), the constitutions (1.66–72), the doṣas (1.73–79), weights and measures (1.95–113), patients not to be treated (1.114–117), etc. An (incomplete) table of contents of the work follows (1.125–133). The bulk of the treatise (the remaining part of chapter one and chapters two to seventy-five) are about the diseases and their treatment. This section is followed by chapters on sneha, sveda, vamana, virecana, bastikarman, dhūmapāna, kavala, and nasya, svasthavṛtta, pharmacology, ṛtucaryā, ariṣṭa, and definitions of a series of actions of drugs.

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¹⁴⁸⁵ [Text of note 1485]

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The chapters on diseases are arranged by the eight aṅgas: kāya and śalya (sixty-four chapters), śālākya (five chapters), kaumārabhṛtya (two chapters), agada (one chapter), rasāyana (one chapter), and vājīkaraṇa (one chapter).

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The subject matter of the jaladoṣādiyoga chapter is of a remarkable type and does not fit in with this scheme. Besides being concerned with the treatment of disorders caused by polluted water (jaladoṣa), it has some recipes suitable for making women submit to male advances (vaśīkaraṇa), improving the qualities of the sexual organs in males and females, preventing flaccidity of the breasts in women, delaying ejaculation in men, causing sterility or curing it, etc.

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The more or less heterogeneous contents of the chapter on rasāyana show a good deal of influence from iatrochemistry; it describes rasāyanayogas for a long series of diseases, treats of śirobasti and the marmans, and enumerates even the nānātmaja diseases.

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Vaṅgasena is heavily dependent on Mādhava in the arrangement of the diseases; his verses on nidāna are taken from Mādhava's Rugviniścaya, 1486 at least for the larger part. This is not to say that almost nothing new is found in Vaṅgasena's nidāna, when compared with Mādhava, for it contains many variants, 1487 and its order deviates at many places. 1488 More interesting, however, are the numerous stanzas that cannot be traced in Mādhava's work, as well as the new disorders described. Vaṅgasena's therapeutic prescriptions failed to receive much attention, 1489 but deserve more study, 1490 since a few at least cannot be traced in earlier works. 1491

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The chapters on snehapāna up to that on sthavavṛtta and the chapter on ṛtucaryā are concerned with subjects that follow upon the section on specific therapy in many treatises. Numerous verses in these chapters are taken from Vṛnda's Siddhayoga or the Cakradatta.

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The chapter on dravyaguṇa 1492 describes the tastes, etc., the actions of a restricted number of medicinal substances, the best varieties of these, and substitutes to be used in the absence of particular drugs. The gaṇapāṭha chapter enumerates thirty-seven groups of drugs, together with their actions. 1493 The next chapter, based on Caraka, 1494 and called saṃśodhanasaṃśamanarasadravyādīnāṃ vargādhikāraḥ, has fourteen groups (varga) of drugs, appropriate for the purpose of saṃśodhana and saṃśamana, or dominated by a particular taste. Three chapters (dhānyavarga, māṃsavarga, śākaphalavarga) are about the properties of articles of food. Two chapters (vyañjanāmāṃsavyañjana and matsyavyañjana) are concerned with prepared foods, and one chapter (dravadravya) is about fluids. The next chapter, on ariṣṭas, contains mainly material from the Suśrutasaṃhitā (Sū.28–33). The last chapter, called dīpanācānadravyavyalakṣaṇa, gives definitions of a series of technical terms denoting particular actions of drugs and is the earliest one of this type on the subject. 1495 The treatise ends with four verses (vaṅgasenotpatti) on Vaṅgasena's life and work.

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Authorities to whom prescriptions are attributed are: the Aśvins, 1496 Ātreya, 1497 Bhāradvāja, 1498 Bhāskara, 1499 Girirājaputrī (i.e., Pārvatī), 1500 Girīśa (i.e., Śiva), 1501 Idānibhandhacarya, 1502 Kāṅkāyana, 1503 Kāśika, 1504 Kāśyapa, 1505 Nāgārjuna, 1506 Śamkara, 1507 Siddhanātha, 1508 Śrīviśvarūpa, 1509 Tārā, 1510 Vaideha, 1511 Videha, 1512 and Viṣṇu. 1513

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Vaṅgasena rarely refers to his sources, but three works of Nāgārjuna are mentioned by name: Lohaśāstra (rasāyana 474), Rasāyanasaṃhitā (rasāyana 166), and Yogasāra (strīroga 91). One formula derives from the Āśvinasaṃhitā (gulma 76–78). Hārīta's opinion on a particular subject is once referred to (jvara 502). G. Mukhopadhyaya claims that Vaṅgasena quotes Kapilabala. 1514

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Authors and works quoting from or referring to Vaṅgasena or his work are: the Ārogyāmṛtabindu, Āśubodha and Nityabodha Senagupta's commentary on the Rasaratnasamuccaya, the commentary on the Āyurvedābhisāra, 1515 the Āyurvedīya Khanijavijñāna, Bhāvamiśra's Bhāvaprakāśa 1516 and its glosses, 1517 Binod Lall Sen's

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Āyurvedavijñāna, 1518 the Bṛhadrasarājasundara, Candrata's Yogaratnasamuccaya, 1519 Devasimha Viṭṭhal's Bṛhadāsavāriṣṭasaṃgraha, Vācaka Dīpacandra's Laṅghanapathyanirṇaya, Dalhaṇa, 1520 Gopāḍaśarmamiśra, 1521 Hariprapanna in his Rasayogasāgara, Hemādri, 1522 Kāśīrāma, 1523 Māgacandra, Meghamuni's Meghavinoda, 1524 Niścalakara's Ratnaprabhā, 1525 the Pākamārtaṇḍa and Pākārṇava, the Rasoddhāratantra, Śrīkaṇṭhadatta, 1526 Śrīvāṇeśvara Bhaṭṭācārya's Rasaratnadīpikā, 1527 Sukhānanda's commentary on Lolimbarāja's Vaidyajīvana, Trivikrama's Lauhapradīpa, 1528 Vaidyarāja's Sukhabodha, and the Yogaratnākara. 1529

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Vaṅgasena's treatise was one of the sources of Āryadāsa Kumārasimha's Kvāthamaṇimālā, Viśvanātha Dvivedī's Rasendrasambhava and of the Ma'din al-Šifā'. It was (anonymously) used as a source by the author of the interpolated portion of Niścalakara's Ratnaprabhā. 1530

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Commentaries on Vaṅgasena's work may have been written by Vaidyanātha 1531 and Trivikrama. 1532

Special features

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Vaṅgasena deviates from the Mādhavanidāna by inserting stanzas from other sources, splitting up chapters, combining them in new ways, and adding new diseases. Insertions occur especially in the chapters on jvara, netraroga, strīroga, and bālaroga. Vaṅgasena has separate chapers on rājayakṣman and kṣatakṣaya, 1534 hikkā and śvāsa, 1535 śūla and pariṇāmaśūla, 1536 udāvarta and ānāha, 1537 galagaṇḍa, gaṇḍamālā, granthi, and arbuda. 1538 Mādhava's gynaecological chapters are replaced by one chapter on strīroga.

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A noteworthy feature is the addition of chapters on bhasmaka, bradhna, and snāyuka, diseases that are not separately dealt with in Vṛnda's Siddhayoga and the Cakradatta. Vaṅgasena describes the pathogenesis, symptoms and therapy of bhasmaka, a disorder characterized by an excessive activity of the digestive fire. 1539 Bradhna is described together with kuraṇḍa, two disorders with swelling of the inguinal canal and the scrotum as their chief symptom. The verse on bradhna is identical with that on vardhma in Vṛnda's Siddhayoga (40.20); kuraṇḍa, said to differ from bradhna in being painless, is added from an unknown source. The treatment of bradhna is the same as that of Vṛnda's vardhma, apart from one extra recipe. 1540 Formulae against kuraṇḍa are absent. The characterization of snāyuka is a somewhat expanded version of the description found in the Siddhayoga (55.15–17); its treatment, partly the same as in the Siddhayoga, is more elaborate.

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The description of the disease called urograha, a very painful swelling of the upper and lateral parts of the abdomen, may be the earliest one, unless this disorder was already known to Vāgbhaṭa; 1541 Vaṅgasena also deals with its treatment.

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Worthy of attention is Vaṅgasena's enumeration of the five types of splenomegalia (plīhodara; udara 121–127).

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The chapter on masūrikā adds a verse (33) on a variety called kodrava or kakṣāka, originating from kapha and vāta.

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Somaroga (strīroga 82–85) and the related mūtrātisāra (strīroga 90) are two disorders recognized for the first time in Vaṅgasena's work, in the chapter on women's diseases. Somaroga is a polyuria, occurring in women only; when of long standing, it is called mūtrātisāra. 1542

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Aversion to sexual intercourse in women (strīvidveṣa or strīdoṣa) is also dealt with in the chapter on women's diseases (prose between 90 and 91); the passages on this group of disorders are quoted from the strīdoṣacikitsāpariccheda of Nāgārjuna's Yoga-sāra. Three types are distinguished, caused respectively by fate (daiva; for example, incompatible horoscopes of husband and wife), an awkward (avidagdha) husband, and a female rival (sapatnī). 1543 Rituals, sometimes accompanied by the application of drugs, are thought to be helpful in overcoming the woman's resistance; statuettes (puttalikā), made of particular substances, homage paid to the Kumārīs, and mantras, are important elements of the rituals described.

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Two interesting children's diseases mentioned are paścāttaka (bālaroga 114–119), a vraṇa (sore or ulcer) affecting the anal region, probably also known as vicchi, vicchī and vicchinna 1544 (bālaroga 120–122), and śayyāmūtraṇa (bālaroga 126–128), enuresis nocturna. 1545 The description of the children's disease upaśīrṣaka, omitted in the Mādhavanidāna, is borrowed by Vaṅgasena (bālaroga 129) from Vāgbhaṭa. 1546 The bad effects of the inauspicious, too early eruption of teeth are dealt with in a series of verses (bālaroga 140–144), followed by the prāyaścitta required in such cases (bālaroga 146–148).

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The rasāyana chapter contains a number of recipes which are specifics against particular diseases (262–318). The same chapter describes the marmans (prose between 331 and 332, 332–350) and enumerates the nānātmaja disorders by vāta, pitta and kapha (351–369).

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The chapter on ariṣṭas has verses on the examination of a patient's eyes (netraparīkṣā 178–186), face (mukhaparīkṣā; 187–188), and tongue (jihvāparīkṣā; 189–192), followed by an elaborate description of the examination of the urine (mūtraparīkṣā; 193–225), which includes, for the first time in Indian medical history, the tailabindu method, in which the form, assumed by a drop of oil on the surface of the urine, has diagnostic and prognostic significance. 1547

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Vaṅgasena's materia medica is mostly of the common āyurvedic type. He is, however, one of the earliest authors to prescribe Cannabis sativa Linn. (bhaṅgā; rājayaksman 83). 1548 Opium is still unknown to him. 1549

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The stage of development of rasaśāstra in Vaṅgasena's work deserves careful study, having been underestimated previously by J. Jolly, 1550 who claimed that the calcination of metals is not mentioned, while metals in general are only infrequently spoken of, though iron is elaborately described, as well as its killing (māraṇa), etc.

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Iron and its varieties are indeed described in a detailed way in the chapter on haemorrhoids (arśas 214–241). 1551 The usual three types of iron are listed: muṇḍa, tīkṣṇa and kānta; muṇḍa has three varieties: mṛdu, kuṇḍa and kaṇḍāra, tīkṣṇa is of six varieties: khara, yogara, sāra, karṇaka, drāvaka and romaka, kānta is divided into seven varieties: huntāla, tāra, vaṭṭa, vājara, kāla, bhrāmaka and cumbaka (arśas 214–225); besides the already mentioned types, pāṇḍija loha is referred to (arśas 229 and 266).

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Various other metals are mentioned in the treatise: copper (tāmra) occurs at many places in the chapter on rasāyana (53, 69, 101, 110, 115), lead (nāga) and tin (vaṅga)

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are referred to in the same chapter (95). Substances like sulphur (gandhaka), mica (abhraka), etc., are repeatedly prescribed. The killing (māraṇa) of diverse metals, not only iron, was well known to Vaṅgasena (rasāyana 77 and 95). He was also acquainted with a number of processes to which mercury should be subjected before using it medicinally (rasāyana 264 and 287: mūrchana; 461: śodhana).

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Remarkable is the occurrence of the terms yaśada (zinc; rasāyana 326) 1552 and śāṅkhadrāva (udara 176–178) in the relatively early work of Vaṅgasena. 1553

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Rasayogas are not uncommon among Vaṅgasena's formulae. 1554 Elements derived from religion 1555 and astrology 1556 are repeatedly found in the verses on treatment; mantras are regularly employed; two yantras are described. 1557 Tantric practices are referred to. 1558

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The names of the days of the week are known to Vaṅgasena. 1559

The author

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Vaṅgasena gives information about himself at the beginning and end of his work. Śiva, Caṇḍī and Sarasvatī are praised in the opening lines, which also provide us with the author's and his father's name, adding that Gadādhara, Vaṅgasena's father, was born in Kāntikā. 1560 The vaṅgasenotpatti at the end of Vaṅgasena's treatise opens as follows: "When Śrīkṛṣṇa, who had freed the earth of diseases, had left and had returned to his abode, it became filled with diseases and frightening again in a short time. On seeing this, I was born in the house of Gadādhara 1561 and made the earth healthy again". It ends with the words: "After being born in the house of Gadādhara, I redacted the work that was called Agastisamhitā 1562 before my birth. Thereafter it became well known under the name of Vaṅgasena. This book, being the quintessence of all the doctrines, will speedily confer success".

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The identity of Vaṅgasena's father with one of the persons called Gadādhara who are known from Sanskrit medical literature is a matter of speculation, for information on his literary activity is entirely lacking. It is improbable, on chronological grounds, that Gadādhara, the father of Vaṅgasena, wrote the commentary on the Suśrutasaṃhitā or the Vaidyaprasāraka, but Vaṅgasena's probable date does at least not conflict with identifying his father with Vaidyagadādhara or Gadādharavaidya, quoted in Śrīdharadāsa's Saduktikarṇāmṛta, compiled in 1205. 1563

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It is commonly assumed that Gadādhara and Vaṅgasena were of Bengal origin. 1564

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Gadādhara's birthplace has been identified as Kāñjivillī in Rāḍha (Western Bengal) 1565 and Kāntinagara of the Muzaffarpur district in Bengal. 1566

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Apart from the Cikitsāsārasamgraha, no other works by Vaṅgasena are known. 1567

Date

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It has long been known that Vaṅgasena cannot be dated later than the first half of the thirteenth century, on account of the dates of some early MSS. 1568 J. Jolly claimed that he might have been a contemporary of king Lakṣmaṇasena of the Sena dynasty. 1569 P.K. Gode considered him to have lived in the twelfth century at the latest, basing this view on quotations from Vaṅgasena in Hemādri's commentary on the Aṣṭāngahṛdayasaṃhitā. 1570 As Hemādri lived in the second half of the thirteenth century and P.K. Gode assumed a rather long interval of seventy-five years between the two, his conclusion was rejected by N.N. Das Gupta 1571 and H.V. Trivedi, 1572 who placed Vaṅgasena in the thirteenth century. D. Ch. Bhattacharyya discovered later that the Vaṅgasenasamgraha is quoted by Niścalakara, 1573 which lowers the date to the period before A.D. 1150–1200. 1574 Vaṅgasena is assigned to the period 950–1050 by Rām Kumār Rāy and Rājiv Kumār Rāy. 1575

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Evidence concerning Vaṅgasena’s chronological position is, as appears from the foregoing, of diverse kinds. Apart from the early MSS, which remain valuable testimonies, it derives from the text of his treatise and quotations from it in later treatises. The contents of the Cikitsāsārasamgraha show that Vaṅgasena was posterior to Mādhava, the author of the Rugviniścaya, which work he largely utilized, and Vṛnda, from whose Siddhayoga he borrowed. The common assumption that Vaṅgasena took many recipes from Cakrapāṇidatta’s Cikitsāsamgraha, 1576 although still to be tested, appears to be acceptable. 1577

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The sources specified by Vaṅgasena are of no avail in fixing his date. The rather developed state of rasasāstra prohibits placing Vaṅgasena earlier than Cakrapāṇidatta, while the absence of the examination of the pulse as a diagnostic tool forces us to regard him as earlier than Śārṅgadhara.

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A particular piece of internal evidence, namely the attribution of a formula to Śrī-viśvarūpa, 1578 led P.V. Sharma to date Vaṅgasena in the reign of king Viśvarūpasena of the Sena dynasty, who acceded to the throne in A.D. 1205 1579 or 1206. 1580 This view is, however, contradicted by the early date of some quotations from Vaṅgasena, 1581 which are of considerable value in determining Vaṅgasena’s terminus ante quem. Those found in Hemādri point to a date earlier than the second half of the thirteenth century; the single quotation in Ḍalhaṇa’s commentary on the Suśrutasamhitā lowers the limit to about A.D. 1200, and, finally, the quotation in Niścalakara’s Ratnaprabhā enables to conclude that Vaṅgasena lived in the period A.D. 1050–1100. 1582

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