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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s33.t2: Special features

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s33.t2

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English

Special features

v3.c43.s33.t2.1

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.

v3.c43.s33.t2.2

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.

v3.c43.s33.t2.3

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.

v3.c43.s33.t2.4

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

v3.c43.s33.t2.5

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

v3.c43.s33.t2.6

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

v3.c43.s33.t2.7

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.

v3.c43.s33.t2.8

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).

v3.c43.s33.t2.9

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).

v3.c43.s33.t2.10

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

v3.c43.s33.t2.11

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

v3.c43.s33.t2.12

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.

v3.c43.s33.t2.13

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).

v3.c43.s33.t2.14

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)

v3.c43.s33.t2.15

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).

v3.c43.s33.t2.16

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

v3.c43.s33.t2.18

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

Cites (4)