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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s44: Praharāja or Yogipraharāja

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s44

Language
English

Contents

Praharāja or Yogipraharāja

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Praharāja or Yogipraharāja was the author of the *Vaidyālaṃkāra* and the *Vaidyahṛdayānanda*. 150

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The *Vaidyahṛdayānanda* 151 is a work of 268 verses in diverse metres, arranged in five chapters (prakāśa). It is written in the form of a dialogue between husband and wife, the latter being addressed in a flowery style reminiscent of the works of Lolimbarāja and Hastiruci.

Contents

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Chapter one (eighty-one verses) begins with a maṅgala in praise of Kṛṣṇa, and deals, after an introduction and some verses on general subjects, with the treatment of fevers (14–81). Chapters two to four are about the treatment of other diseases. Chapter five describes a number of rasayogas against various disorders and for vājīkaraṇa purposes.

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The order of the diseases disagrees with the scheme of the *Mādhavanidāna*. Chapter two is concerned with atisāra, grahaṇī, arśas, agnimāndya, gulma-plīhan, udara, kṛmi, śūla, hṛdroga, udāvarta, vṛddhi, vidradhi, and ślīpada. The subjects of chapter three are kāsa, śvāsa, hikkā, svarabheda, raktapitta, kṣaya, pāṇḍuroga, śotha, vātaroga, vātarakta, ūrustambha, āmavāta, prameha, somaroga, sthaulya-kārśya, mūtraṛcchra, mūtrāghāta, and aśmarī. Chapter four describes the treatment of arocaka, chardi, tṛṣṇā, mūrchā, madātyaya, dāha, amlapitta, unmāda, apasmāra, kuṣṭha, śītapitta, visphoṭa, masūrī, vraṇa, viṣa, bhagandara, upadaṃśa, galagaṇḍa, pādaroga, nakharoga, oṣṭharoga, kṣudraroga, nāsāroga, mukharoga, karṇaroga, netraroga, śiroroga, pradara, puṣparodha, garbhiṇīroga, garbhacalana, mūḍhagarbha, sūtikāroga, and bālaroga.

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The materia medica presents no noteworthy features.

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Paying homage to Kṛṣṇa is recommended a number of times (2.16 and 30; 3.17) as a therapeutical measure.

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The only authority referred to is Caraka (2.4).

Special features

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The chapter on fevers mentions a dāhajvara separately (1.24–27). 152 Chapter two contains recipes against śothātisāra (2.12) and chardyatisāra (2.13). The only type of mūtrāghāta referred to in chapter three is uṣṇavāta (3.43). Chapter four mentions a small number of kṣudrarogas (4.35–36); it contains a formula against amenorrhoea (puṣparodha).

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Some diseases are absent: visarpa, śūkadoṣa, yonivyāpad, and yonikanda; vardhma, śītalā, and phiraṅga are neither referred to.

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The *Vaidyahṛdayānanda* mentions a nose-ornament (nāsābhūṣāmaṇi); P.K. Gode regarded it as the nose-stud, which, in his opinion, is a typical ornament of South Indian ladies, as contrasted with the elaborate nath of the ladies of Mahārāṣṭra; he concluded that the author hailed from South India. 153 D.C. Sircar objected to this view, asserting that nose-studs are popular among all classes of women in Eastern India. 154

The author

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Yogipraharāja 155 was a son of Nīlakaṇṭha of Vatsa gotra, also called Jamadagnideva, who was an astrologer (jyautiṣa) and the preceptor of the chief queen of king Vikrama of Nandapura. 156 He was an expert in many sciences. 157

Date

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P.K. Gode suggested that the *Vaidyahṛdayānanda* has been written after A.D. 1550; his argument was that the expression anaṅgaraṅgapravīṇa (one proficient in anaṅgaraṅga) refers to Kalyāṇamalla’s *Anaṅgaraṅga*, a work on the science of love, assigned by some to the closing decades of the fifteenth century. D.C. Sircar objected that Gode’s interpretation is open to doubt because the expression mentioned may simply mean ‘someone proficient in the art of love’; moreover, the date of Kalyāṇamalla is disputed.

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King Vikrama of Nandapura has been identified by D.C. Sircar 158 as Vikrama I of Jayapura 159 in Orissa, 160 who ruled in the third quarter of the seventeenth century. Yogipraharāja can therefore be assigned to the second half of that century. 161

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