A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s45.20

v3.c44.s45.20

(3) The Vaidyavilāsa²⁶² is a therapeutic treatise in verses²⁶³ of various metres,²⁶⁴ arranged in ten chapters (taraṅga). The first seven chapters repeat almost verbatim the contents of the Cikitsāmañjarī, with numerous additions, a few omissions, and occasionally a different order. Chapter eight deals with the purification (śodhana) and killing (māraṇa) of the metals and with other subjects belonging to rasaśāstra. Zinc (yaśada) is absent among the metals and replaced by ārakūṭa (a kind of brass). A disease, called strīprameha, probably identical with somaroga, is mentioned. Chapter nine describes the thirty-two rasas of chapter seven of the Cikitsāmañjarī, plus seventeen additional ones. Chapter ten is concerned with the examination of the pulse and of the urine, as well as with the messenger sent to the physician, the characteristics of a good physician, the examination of the patient, and, finally, weights and measures. The eulogistic epithets conferred on the author himself, which are frequent in the Cikitsāmañjarī, are absent from the Vaidyavilāsa.²⁶⁵ The contents of the Vaidyavilāsa prove that it is an expanded and improved version of the Cikitsāmañjarī.²⁶⁶