A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c47.100

v3.c47.100

PĀLAKĀPYA: *Hastyāyurveda*.⁵²⁹ The *Hastyāyurveda* is a comprehensive treatise on elephant-medicine.⁵³⁰ It is composed partly in verse, partly in prose,⁵³¹ and is divided into four sections: mahārogasthāna (eighteen chapters), kṣudrarogasthāna (seventy-two chapters), śalyasthāna (thirty-four chapters), and uttara- or parivārasthāna (thirty-six chapters).⁵³² It is written in the form of a dialogue between Romapāda, king of Aṅga,⁵³³ who, surrounded by many sages, in his capital Campā,⁵³⁴ is instructed in the science of hastyāyurveda by the greatest authority on this subject, Pālakāpya. The structure of the work resembles in some respects that of the Caraka- and Suśrutasaṃhitā⁵³⁵ and is also reminiscent of Bharata's *Nāṭyaśāstra*.⁵³⁶ Each chapter opens with particular questions by Romapāda which are answered by Pālakāpya. The way in which the contents of the *Hastyāyurveda* are arranged differs from that of the classical saṃhitās. By far the larger part of the general subjects is not dealt with in the first sthāna, but in the third and fourth ones. The basic medical concepts are the same as those in human