A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s5.t3: The author

v3.c43.s5.t3.1

The name of the author is not mentioned in the text, but he is referred to as Bhadanta Nāgārjuna in the colophons of Narasimha’s commentary on the work. His title Bhadanta,⁴²⁶ and also the addition of the term pravrajita to his name,⁴²⁷ may imply that he was regarded as a Buddhist, at least in later times.⁴²⁸ Ḍalhaṇa, who once quotes from the *Rasavaiśeṣikasūtra* without mention of its title, ascribes it to Nāgārjunācārya.⁴²⁹ J. Filliozat, one of the very few scholars to devote his thoughts to the work and its author, concludes that, as the views expounded in the work do not conflict with those of the *Mūlamadhyamakārikā* of the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna, both texts may have been composed by one and the same author.⁴³⁰ This identity cannot be established with any certainty; on the contrary, it seems much more likely that the two works were written by different persons, since no traces of Buddhism can be found in the *Rasavaiśeṣikasūtra*, which is mainly based on Sāmkhya and Vaiśeṣika views.⁴³¹ Sankara Menon⁴³² considered Bhadanta Nāgārjuna to be the same as a certain Nāgāvīrya, mentioned as his guru by Narasimha in his commentary (ad 1.2) on the work. This view cannot be substantiated and is completely arbitrary.⁴³³