A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s8: Nārāyaṇa

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c44.s8

Language: English

v3.c44.s8.t1 Contents — 42 parts
v3.c44.s8.t2 Special features — 73 parts

Nārāyaṇa

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Nārāyaṇa was the author of a remarkable and interesting monograph on fevers, called Jvaranirṇaya.⁵⁴⁵

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The treatise consists of 405 verses,⁵⁴⁶ for the greater part ślokas, arranged in five chapters (prakaraṇa). It deals exclusively with the pathology of fevers, not with their treatment.

The opening verse is a maṅgala addressed to Gopāla, i.e., Kṛṣṇa. Chapter one (upodghātaprakaraṇa; forty verses) is about general principles of pathology and therapy. Chapter two (pṛthagjātaprakaraṇa; sixty-two verses) treats, as its title indicates, of fevers caused by one doṣa (44–51: anilajvara; 52–54: pittajvara; 55–56: kaphajvara).⁵⁴⁷ Apart from this, it is also concerned with fever in general, its nidāna, samprāpti, prodromes and symptoms (1–24), its number of types (25 and 32–35), and with irregular fevers (viṣamajvara: 36–43). Chapter three (dvandvajaprakaraṇa; twenty-five verses) has fevers by two doṣas for its subject. The fourth and longest chapter (tridoṣajaprakaraṇa; 241 verses) is about fevers by three doṣas. It distinguishes and describes prakṛtisamasamaveta types (2–15)⁵⁴⁸ and numerous vikṛtiṣamasamaveta types. After enumerating the symptoms of samnipāta fever in general (41cd–47),⁵⁴⁹ and those of the fever called abhinyāsa or hataujas (48–51ab),⁵⁵⁰ a verse is inserted about the swelling at the root of the ear which appears towards the end of a saṃnipāta fever (51cd–52ab),⁵⁵¹ whereupon the subject of abhinyāsa fever is continued, distinguishing several varieties of it (52cd–57ab). Then three series of thirteen saṃnipāta fevers of the vikṛtiviṣamasamaveta type are characterized: the first series (58–101ab) is said to be taken from the Bhālukitantra;⁵⁵² the second series (102–115) occurs, in a different order, in Śārṅgadhara’s Triśatī (175–187);⁵⁵³ the third series (119–138ab) is also found in that text.⁵⁵⁴ Chapter four includes descriptions of the fevers called madhara (139cd–142), pralepaka (143–144)⁵⁵⁵ and vātabalāsaka (145),⁵⁵⁶ the śitapūrva and dāhapūrva fevers, etc. (148cd–160),⁵⁵⁷ the irregular fevers together with their viparyaya types and their symptoms when they are located in the seven dhātus of the body (161–226), saumya and tīkṣṇa fevers (227–229), the stages of fever (230–236), and the signs of release from fever (237–241). Chapter five (āgantujaprakaraṇa; thirty-seven verses) deals with exogenous (āgantu) fevers (1–14), curability and incurability of fevers (15–17), and signs indicating the approach of death (18–33).

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Sources indicated by the author are: Bhāluki (4.101 and 214), Caraka, (1.2; 5.37), Jejjaṭa (3.20; 4.176), Khāraṇādi (4.36–37),⁵⁵⁸ Mādhava (4.153), muni (i.e., Vāgbhaṭa; 4.197), Nāgabhartar (4.166), ṛṣi (i.e., Vāgbhaṭa; 1.33), sāmpradāyikāḥ (4.212), Suśruta (3.19; 4.36; 5.37), tāntrikāḥ (4.53), tārkikāḥ (2.21), Vāgbhaṭa (4.16, 41, 153), and Vṛddhasuśruta (4.102). The Carakasaṃhitā, Suśrutasaṃhitā, Aṣṭāngahṛdayasaṃhitā, Aṣṭāngasaṃgraha and Mādhavanidāna were, however, utilized on a larger scale than appears from the above list.⁵⁵⁹ In a number of instances the author refers to his own view as opposed to that of others.⁵⁶⁰

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*Special features* The author distinguishes first the usual six types of irregular fever: satata, prātyahika (= anyedyuṣka), tṛtīyaka, caturthaka, tṛtīyakaviparyaya and caturthakaviparyaya (2. 38–39), but describes later four viparyaya types: satata-, anyedyuṣka-, tṛtīyaka-, and caturthakaviparyaya (4.186–189).⁵⁶¹ Fevers by vāta are said to be of three varieties: satata, śuddhasatata and śuddhaprātyahika (2.42). Fevers by two doṣas may present the same three varieties, with the exception of the fever by kapha and pitta (3.14), because vāta is absent there. Tṛtīyaka and caturthaka, however, are never caused by two doṣas, but always by three (3.24). The distinction between prakṛtisamasamaveta and vikṛtiviṣamasamaveta fevers,⁵⁶² and that between prākṛta and vaikṛta types,⁵⁶³ have an important place throughout the work, as well as the periods of time during which a particular fever presents itself.⁵⁶⁴ The madhara fever, characterized by eruptions in the throat and on the chest, together with lassitude (tandrā), and occurring in Mahārāṣṭra, is described as an example of those fevers which were omitted by the ṛṣis and ācāryas (4.138–142).⁵⁶⁵

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*The author* At the end of the work (5.36), the author mentions that his name is Nārāyaṇa, that his father instructed him in the śāstras, and that his brother was his preceptor in medicine. According to the colophon, the author’s name is Nārāyaṇa Paṇḍita and his father’s Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita.⁵⁶⁶ These indications suffice to identify him as the younger brother of Nā-

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ganātha, who wrote the Nidānapradīpa, and as one of the teachers of Lakṣmaṇa Paṇḍita, who composed the Yogacandrikā.⁵⁶⁷ Besides the Jvaranirṇaya, Nārāyaṇa wrote a commentary on Śārṅgadhara’s Triśatī.

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*Date* Nārāyaṇa can be assigned to the sixteenth century, since he was the younger brother of Nāganātha and one of the teachers of Lakṣmaṇa Paṇḍita. This date is corroborated by his commentary on the Triśatī, because the latter work was written during the fifteenth century.

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*The Rājanighaṇṭu or Nighaṇṭurāja* The Rājanighaṇṭu⁵⁶⁸ or Nighaṇṭurāja,⁵⁶⁹ also called Abhidhānacūḍāmaṇi,⁵⁷⁰ is the largest extant lexicon of materia medica; it deals with the names and properties of medicinal substances, as well as with a series of related subjects.

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*Contents*⁵⁷¹ The work consists of about 3,300 verses,⁵⁷² arranged in twenty-two chapters (varga), preceded by an introduction (prastāvanā; twenty-three verses), and followed by a section on ekārthas and anekārthas (258 verses). One of the introductory verses (3) contains a salutation addressed to Śiva, Brahmā, Indra, the Aśvins, Ātreya,⁵⁷³ Dhanvantari, Caraka, and Suśruta.

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The author declares to have collected all those names of medicinal substances which are useful to a physician, regardless whether they are of Sanskrit, Prakrit, or Apabhraṃśa origin (10). He announces his intention to describe the drugs according to their traditional usage (rūḍhi), svabhāva, local names (deśyokti), special characteristics (lāñchana), names based upon similarities (upamā), vīrya, and names employed in foreign countries (itarāhvaya) (13). He adds that he has taken into consideration their names in the languages of Karṇāṭa and Mahārāṣṭra, and that he regards it as useful to know their names in the languages of Āndhra and Lāṭa⁵⁷⁴ (18). A short table of contents is found at the end of the introduction (20–21). The first chapters have no parallel in other nighaṇṭus.

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Chapter one (ānupādivarga; thirty-nine verses) is concerned with the characteristics of the various types of country (deśa) and soil (kṣetra), the deities presiding over the types of soil, the characteristics and uses of trees and other kinds of plants and their products as dependent on the type of soil they are growing on, the definitions of the five classes of plants, the characteristics of plants considered to be of the male, female or neuter gender, and the relationship between parts of plants and the five mahābhūtas. Chapter two (dharaṇyādivarga; seventy-one verses) deals with synonyms for earth, mountain, forest, etc.; it also contains a list of nakṣatravṛkṣas.⁵⁷⁵

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Chapters three to thirteen contain enumerations of the names and properties of medicinal substances, arranged in the following groups: guḍūcyādi-,⁵⁷⁶ śatāhvādi-,⁵⁷⁷ parpaṭādi-,⁵⁷⁸ pippalyādi-,⁵⁷⁹ mūlakādi-,⁵⁸⁰ śālmalyādi-,⁵⁸¹ prabhadrādi-,⁵⁸² karavīrādi-,⁵⁸³ āmrādi-,⁵⁸⁴ candanādi-,⁵⁸⁵ and suvarṇādivarga.⁵⁸⁶

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Chapters fourteen to seventeen are about articles of food: water, the sugarcane and its products, types of sugar derived from other plants than the sugarcane, honey, and alcoholic drinks (chapter fourteen: pānīyādivarga); milk and other dairy produce, kāñjika and similar products of acid fermentation, urines and oils (chapter fifteen: kṣīrādivarga); grain and pulse (chapter sixteen: śalyādivarga); meat (chapter seventeen: māṃsādivarga).

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Chapter eighteen (manuṣyādivarga) is about names of human beings, anatomical terms, and some related subjects, chapter nineteen (simhādivarga) about the names of animals, chapter twenty (rogādivarga) about the names of diseases, about medicinal preparations, the tastes and their combinations, etc., chapter twenty-one (sattvādivarga) about the three guṇas and the character of human beings dominated by one of these, the three doṣas and the constitutions, weights and measures, divisions of time, the quarters of the sky, etc., and chapter twenty-two (miśrakādivarga) about groups of medicinal substances.

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The work ends with ekārthas and anekārthas, the latter being divided into groups of names having two up to eleven meanings. These lists of ekārthas and anekārthas pose a number of problems since some of the ekārthas have one meaning in the Nighaṇṭu,⁵⁸⁷ while, moreover, some synonyms figuring in these lists are not found there.⁵⁸⁸

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⁵⁸⁷ [text of the note]

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⁵⁸⁸ [text of the note]

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The style of the Rājanighaṇṭu, especially that of the prastāvanā and the concluding verses of each varga, is rather ornate. The arrangement of the medicinal substances differs considerably from that found in the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu, apart from the contents of a few vargas, notably the śatāhvādi- and candanādivarga. The strings of synonyms, usually longer than those of the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu, are rarely identical with those of the latter work,⁵⁸⁹ whereas the verses describing the properties of drugs more often are.⁵⁹⁰ A conspicuous feature is the mention of the number of synonyms at the end of each series.

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⁵⁸⁹ [text of the note]

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⁵⁹⁰ [text of the note]

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The Rājanighaṇṭu describes more medicinal substances than the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu⁵⁹¹ and distinguishes a larger number of varieties. On the other hand, a small number of drugs included in the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu are absent from the Rājanighaṇṭu, e.g., śvāsāri (Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu 1.72), kapaṭa (1.82–83), guṇtha (1.83–84), kāsa ghnī (1.98–100), vijayā (1.130–131), śvetapuṣpī (1.252–253), the varieties of yavānī (2.93–94), girisindūra (3.103–104), vaṭasaugandhika (3.114–115), jalapippalī (4.64–65), and kiṅkirāta (5.156–158). The compilatory character of the Rājanighaṇṭu is, in the same way as in the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu, apparent from quotations,⁵⁹² which are, however, less frequent than in the latter work.

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⁵⁹¹ [text of the note]

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⁵⁹² [text of the note]

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Sources mentioned by the author of the Rājanighaṇṭu in the introductory verses are: the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu, the works of Madana⁵⁹³ and Halāyudha,⁵⁹⁴ the Viśvaprakāśa,⁵⁹⁵ the Amarakoṣa, and the Śeṣarāja.⁵⁹⁶ He states explicitly that Dhanvantari's treatise is his chief authority and model. Some more works referred to are Bṛhatsuśruta, Nāradīya(tantra), and Nārāyaṇī.⁵⁹⁷

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⁵⁹³ [text of the note]

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The Rājanighaṇṭu is quoted or referred to in Ambikādattasāstrin's commentary on the Rasendrasārasaṃgraha, Baladeva Prasāda Miśra's Āyurvedacintāmaṇi, Bhānuji Dīkṣita's commentary on the Amarakoṣa,⁵⁹⁸ the Bṛhannighaṇṭuratnāka-

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⁵⁹⁸ [text of the note]

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ra,⁵⁹⁹ Cūḍāmaṇimiśra's Rasakāmadhenu, Gulrājśarmamiśra's commentary on the Āyurvedaprakāśa,⁶⁰⁰ Hāraṇacandra's commentary on the Suśrutasaṃhitā, Haridattaśāstrin's commentary on the Rasataraṅgiṇī, Indu's Śaśilekhā on the Aṣṭāṅgasamgraha,⁶⁰¹ Jīvānandavidyāsāgara's commentaries on Gopālakṛṣṇa's Rasendrasārasaṃgraha and Kaṇāda's Nāḍīvijñāna, Khare's commentary on the Rasaratnasamuccaya, Lakṣmīrāma's commentary on the Siddhabheṣajamaṇimālā, Mādhava's Āyurvedaprakāśa, the Pāradasaṃhitā, Raghunātha's Bhojanakutūhala,⁶⁰² the Śālīgrāmanighaṇṭubhūṣaṇa of the Bṛhannighaṇṭuratnākara, Āśubodha and Nityabodha Senagupta's commentary on the Rasaratnasamuccaya,⁶⁰³ Priyavrat Śarmā's auto-commentary on his Dravyaguṇasūtra, Śivadattamiśra's commentary on his Śivakoṣa,⁶⁰⁴ the Tāmbūlamañjarī, the Smṛtyarthasāgara,⁶⁰⁵ Yādavjī Trikamjī's Rasāmṛta, the Yogaratnākara,⁶⁰⁶ and Yogīndranāthasena's commentary on the Carakasaṃhitā.⁶⁰⁷ It is quoted as Abhidhānacūḍāmaṇi in Kṛṣṇadatta's commentary on Trimalla's Śataślokī.

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⁵⁹⁹ [text of the note]

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Naraharipaṇḍita is quoted in Priyavrat Śarmā's auto-commentary on his Dravyaguṇasūtra. Narahari is mentioned in Śailendrasimha's Vaidyacintāmaṇibhaiṣajyasaṃgraha.

Special features

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The number of medicinal substances described in the Rājanighaṇṭu and absent from the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu is too large to be enumerated.

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Some of the more interesting new plants added are: agnidamani (śatāhvādi 59–61),⁶⁰⁸ āhulya (śatāhvādi 167–168),⁶⁰⁹ aparvadaṇḍa (śālmalyādi 77–78),⁶¹⁰ asīśimbī (mūlakādi 183–184),⁶¹¹ aśvakatharā (parpaṭādi 114–115),⁶¹² bheṇḍā (śatāhvādi 26),⁶¹³ bhṛṅgāhvā (mūlakādi 47),⁶¹⁴ brahmadāṇḍī (parpaṭādi 133),⁶¹⁵ cāṇikā (śālmalyādi 147),⁶¹⁶ dharaṇīkaṇḍa (mūlakādi 91–92),⁶¹⁷ dhūmapraṭṭrā (parpaṭādi 34–35),⁶¹⁸ ekavīra (śālmalyādi 17–18),⁶¹⁹ gaṅgāpattrī (karavīrādi 162),⁶²⁰ gomūtrikā (śālmalyādi 128),⁶²¹ gorakṣadugdhī (parpaṭādi 142–143),⁶²² gorakṣī (parpaṭādi 94–95),⁶²³ guṇdāsinī (śālmalyādi 148–149),⁶²⁴ hastikanda (mūlakādi 80–82),⁶²⁵ hastisuṇḍī (parpaṭādi 77),⁶²⁶ hemā (guḍūcyādi 42–44),⁶²⁷ himāvalī (pippalyādi 245–246),⁶²⁸ jambū (parpaṭādi 84–85),⁶²⁹ jaraṇadruma (prabhadrādi 81–82),⁶³⁰ jhaṇḍū (parpaṭādi 141),⁶³¹ jhiñjhirīṭā (śatāhvādi 201–202),⁶³² kaivartikā (guḍūcyādi 119–120),⁶³³ kāmavṛddhi (śatāhvādi 196–197),⁶³⁴ kaṇṭapuṅkhā (śatāhvādi 74),⁶³⁵ karajodī (mūlakādi 121),⁶³⁶ kārī (śālmalyādi 64–65),⁶³⁷ karṇasphoṭā (guḍūcyādi 136–137),⁶³⁸ karuṇī (karavīrādi 105–106),⁶³⁹ kaṭvī (guḍūcyādi 138–139),⁶⁴⁰ kevikā (karavīrādi 115–116),⁶⁴¹ kolakanda (mūlakādi 83–84),⁶⁴² kurī (śalyādi 138),⁶⁴³ kuṭumbinī (parpaṭādi 78–80),⁶⁴⁴ mahāpiṇḍī (prabhadrādi 140–141),⁶⁴⁵ majjara (śālmalyādi 133),⁶⁴⁶ mākaṇdī (mūlakādi 42–43),⁶⁴⁷ mālakanda (mūlakādi 97–98),⁶⁴⁸ manthānaka (śālmalyādi 136),⁶⁴⁹ māyāphala (pippalyādi 259),⁶⁵⁰ mudgara (karavīrādi 77–78),⁶⁵¹ nakhanispāvikā (mūlakādi 192),⁶⁵² niḥśreṇikā (śālmalyādi 130),⁶⁵³ nilāmlī (śatāhvādi 176),⁶⁵⁴ pācī (karavīrādi 163–164),⁶⁵⁵ pakvaṇḍa (śālmalyādi 43),⁶⁵⁶ pallivāha (śālmalyādi 137),⁶⁵⁷ paṇyāndhā (śālmalyādi 139–141),⁶⁵⁸ peū (mūlakādi 48),⁶⁵⁹ putraḍā (śatāhvādi 159–160),⁶⁶⁰ putraḍātrī (guḍūcyādi 142–143),⁶⁶¹ śākuruṇḍa (pippalyādi 243–244),⁶⁶² samudraphala (pippalyādi 216–217),⁶⁶³ sarpiṇī (parpaṭādi 125),⁶⁶⁴ śāśāṇḍulī (mūlakādi 217–218),⁶⁶⁵ śilpikā (śālmalyādi 129),⁶⁶⁶ śimṛḍī (śatāhvādi 164– 165), 667 śolī (mūlakādi 44), 668 śrītala (prabhadrādi 95–96), 669 śrīvalli (śālmalyādi 74–75), 670 śulī (śālmalyādi 150–151), 671 svarṇulī (śatāhvādi 162), 672 śvetā (parpaṭādi 132), 673 śvetāmlī (śatāhvādi 175), 674 tairiṇī (śatāhvādi 127), 675 takrāhvā (śatāhvādi 161), 676 taraṭī (śālmalyādi 73), 677 ukhala (śālmalyādi 125), 678 uṣṭrakaṇḍī (karavīrādi 139–140), 679 viṣṇukanda (mūlakādi 89–90), 680 and vṛścikā (parpaṭādi 126). 681

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⁶⁴⁹ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁰ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵¹ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵² [text of the note]

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⁶⁵³ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁴ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁵ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁶ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁷ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁸ [text of the note]

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⁶⁵⁹ [text of the note]

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⁶⁶⁰ [text of the note]

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⁶⁶¹ [text of the note]

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⁶⁶² [text of the note]

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⁶⁶³ [text of the note]

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⁶⁶⁴ [text of the note]

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⁶⁶⁵ [text of the note]

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⁶⁶⁶ [text of the note]

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New varieties, added by the author of the Rājanighaṇṭu to those described in the Dhanvantariyanighaṇṭu, are also rather numerous. Some of these are: ari (a variety of khadira; śālmalyādi 30), 682 bhūtumbī (a variety of alāmbunī; mūlakādi 167–168), 683 bṛhajjīvantī (a variety of jīvantī; guḍūcyādi 40–41), 684 catuṣpattrī (a variety of pāṣāṇabhedaka; parpaṭādi 45–46), 685 cīṇākarṇatikā (a variety of trapuṣa; mūlakādi 213–214), 686 gorakṣatumbī (a variety of alāmbunī; mūlakādi 162–163), 687 kaidarya (a variety of nimba; prabhadrādi 13–14), 688 kaliṅga (a variety of trapuṣa; mūlakādi 169–170), 689 karkaṭa (a variety of vayasthā; āmrādi 198–199), 690 karkaṭī (a variety of trapuṣa; mūlakādi 202–204), 691 kāṣṭhadhātrī (a variety of vayasthā; āmrādi 160–161), 692 kṣīratumbī (a variety of alāmbunī; mūlakādi 164–166), 693 mahānīlī (a variety of nīlī; śatāhvādi 84–85), 694 mṛgākṣī (a variety of trapuṣa; mūlakādi 178–180), 695 nīlapunarnavā (a variety of punarnavā; parpaṭādi 121–122), 696 sarpaṭanu (a variety of bṛhatī; śatāhvādi 26–27), 697 śīlavalkā (a variety of pāṣāṇabhedaka; parpaṭādi 43–44), 698 śvetabṛhatī (a variety of bṛhatī; śatāhvādi 28–29), 699 tāmrakaṇṭaka (a variety of khadira; śālmalyādi 26–27), 700 vaṭapattrī (a variety of pāṣāṇabhedaka; parpaṭādi 41–42), 701 and viṭkhadira (a variety of khadira; śālmalyādi 28–29). 702

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Chapter nineteen is about the names and their synonyms of forty-eight animals. Interesting among these are, for example: brāhmaṇī (8), 703 jāhaka (10), 704 karṇajalū-kā (13), 705 kīṭikā (46), 706 kokaḍa (5), 707 maṅkora (47), matkuṇa (17), 708 pakṣmayūkā (44), 709 pallī (11), 710 three kinds of pipīlikā (14–16), 711 ṣaḍbindukīṭa (48), śvetayūkā (45), 712 tailakīṭa (39), and yūkā (43). 713

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Chapter twenty mentions two series of the eight divisions (aṣṭāṅga) of āyurveda: (1) dravyābhidhāna, gadaniscaya, kāya, saukhya, śalyādi, bhūtanigraha, viṣaṇigraha, bālavaidya (20.42); (2) śalya, śalākya, kāya, bhūta, viṣa, bāla, rasāyana, vṛṣya (20.43). Noteworthy names of disorders from the same chapter are, for example: hṛdgranthi = hṛdvrana (24), jātharagranthi = gulma (10), kṣudrasphoṭa = kañcikā (7), lūtā = carmavraṇa = vṛkka (11), pītasphoṭa = pāmā (7), pramilā = taṇḍrā (28), pṛṣṭhagranthi = gaḍu (10), śākhāpitta (27), sacivāmaya = visarpa (3), śikhin = śvāsa (6), sūkṣmasphoṭa = vicarcikā (7), śuṇṭhikāsphoṭa = samcārī (7), tuṇḍa = sthaviṣṭha (22), udanyā = tṛṣṇā (17), utprāṇa = śvāsa (14).

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Chapter twenty-two enumerates three groups of lohas (metals): the three lohas: suvarṇa (gold), rajata (silver), tāmra (copper) (22.11); the five lohas: the three lohas, to which vaṅga (tin) and nāga (lead) are added (22.11); the eight lohas: the five lohas, to which kānta, muṇḍaka and tīkṣṇaka (varieties of iron) are added (22.14). The eight mahārasas are: darada, pārāda, sasya, vaikrānta, kānta, abhraka, mākṣika, and vimala (22.15). The eight uparasas are: khecara, añjana, kaṅkuṣṭha, gandha, āla, gairika, kṣiti, and śaileyañjana (22.16). The sāmnyarasas (= sādhāraṇarasas) are: kampilla, gaurī, capala, kaparda, śaila, sindūraka, vahnijāra, and bodaraśṛṅga (22.17). The ten kinds of kṣāra derive from śigru, mūlaka, palāśa, cukrikā, citraka, ārdraka, nimba, ikṣu,

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śaīkharika, 714 and mocikā (22.18).

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The author The author introduces himself as Narahari, Narasimha, Nṛhari and Nṛsimha, 715 son of Īśvara. 716 He was a resident of Kaśmīr, 717 of royal blood, 718 and took part in warlike activities. 719 His favourite deities were Śiva and Pārvatī. 720 Additional, but questionable, 721 information is found in the colophons of some MSS. 722 This information is as follows: Narahari was the son of Īśvarasūri, 723 a physician who was also called Caṇḍeśvara, 724 and the disciple of Amṛteśānanda 725 who belonged to the śiṣyaparamparā of Somānanda; 726 he was a resident of Simhapura in Kaśmīr. 727

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Narahari is sometimes credited with two more medical works, the Guṇasārasamuccaya and the Vāgbhaṭamaṇḍana. 728 The latter is by a different Narahari. 729

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Date The terminus post quem of the Rājanighaṇṭu can be deduced from the sources mentioned by the author. The latest of these sources being the Madanapālanighaṇṭu, composed in 1375, the Rājanighaṇṭu cannot be earlier than the fifteenth century. 730 The terminus ante quem is provided by quotations in two works dating from the seventeenth century, Bhānuji Dīkṣita's commentary on the Amarakoṣa (first half of the seventeenth century) 731 and Raghunātha's Bhojanakutūhala.

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The evidence collected by P.V. Sharma 732 in order to establish that the Rājanighaṇṭu is posterior to the Bhāvaprakāśanighaṇṭu and may date from the seventeenth century is invalid in my view. His first argument, the description of the plant called pītakaravīra 733 by the author of the Rājanighaṇṭu (karavīrādi 16), while the plant is absent from Bhāvamiśra's work, can be discarded because this plant was already known to Kaiyadeva. 734 His second argument, the presence of kulañja(na) 735 in the Rājanighaṇṭu (pippalyādi 55), known as ugragandhā sugandhā to Bhāvamiśra (harītakyadivarga 105), does not carry much weight, since kuliñja(na), a synonym of kulañja(na), was already prescribed by Śārṅgadhara in his Triśatī (168) and Soḍhala in his Gadanigraha (lehādhikāra 342). 736 His third argument, the presence in the Rājanighaṇṭu of a series of drugs, such as kālāñjanī (śatāhvādi 186–187), 737 kāmavṛddhi (śatāhvādi 196–197), karpūrataila (kṣīrādi 125) and sarvakṣāra (pippalyādi 257–258), whereas these are not described in the Bhāvaprakāśanighaṇṭu, is inconclusive, because the Rājanighaṇṭu contains a large number of medicinal substances which are not found in any other nighaṇṭu. His fourth argument, the description of jhaṇḍū (parpaṭādi 141), 738 may be important as a clue to the date of the Rājanighaṇṭu, provided that P.V. Sharma is right in his identification and his claim that it was introduced into India at the end of the sixteenth century. 739 The same applies to the plant called himāvalī (pippalyādi 245–246), but only if it is actually the same as the dvīpāntaravacā of the Bhāvaprakāśanighaṇṭu (harītakyadivarga 107–108), i.e., cobacīnī or sarsaparilla, as suggested by P.V. Sharma. 740

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P. Hymavathi 741 developed his own views regarding the date of the author of the Rājanighaṇṭu, basing himself on the (erroneous) conviction that he was a disciple of Śrīkaṇṭhapaṇḍita, the śuddha Śaiva and medical author. He asserts that Narahari or Narasimha hailed from a brāhmaṇa family adhering to the Kaśmīr school of Śaivism, which was introduced in the southern part of India after the establishment of Mohammedan rule in the North. ⁷⁴² The date of Śrīkaṇṭha (A.D. 1300-1360) and the fact that the Rājanighaṇṭu is later than the Madanapālanighaṇṭu made him conclude that the former work must have been written shortly after the latter, towards the end of the fourteenth century. P. Hymavathi identifies Naraharī’s patron as Narasimha IV, who ruled in Kaliṅga between A.D. 1378 and 1409.

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⁷⁴² ...

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The evidence available, however, points to the fifteenth or sixteenth century as the period of composition of the Rājanighaṇṭu. The identity of jhaṇḍū and himāvalī, and the date of their introduction into India, may prove to be clues enabling us to narrow the limits.

Linked texts (5)

Rājanighaṇṭu (Nighaṇṭurāja, Abhidhānacūḍāmaṇi) — Narahari Paṇḍita, Sanskrit
Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā — Śārṅgadhara (physician), Sanskrit
Bhāvaprakāśanighaṇṭu — Bhāvamiśra 1550, Sanskrit
Gadanigraha — Soḍhala, Sanskrit
Madanapālanighaṇṭu (Madanavinoda) — Madanapāla (Ṭāka), Sanskrit