LESLIE HAMILTON SHIRLAW 19
chapters has been recorded by Mitra from Nepal. In this Jayadatta is said to
be the son of one Srimat Vijayadatta.
The ' Aśva Vaidyakam ', a curious mixture of rational medicine and
charms, opens with a study of the anatomy of the horse and its good and bad
points. It next treats of the size, motion, colour, span of life, stages of life
and the different races of horses. In treating of age, the work points out the
value of cavities, colour and grooves on the incisors as sure indications, warn
ing the reader at the same time about the wicked practice of ' bishopping '
(i.e. tampering with the teeth to conceal the horse's age). It continues with
the treatment of steril ty, the care of mother and foal, the names of drugs and
the mode of administering them, the feeding, stabling and breeding of horses,
and their care during the different seasons. Then follows a Sloka on the mode
of cauterization with caustics, methods of firing, the technique of operations
and phlebotomy and the administration of two forms of enema, Anuvasana
(oily) and Niruha (medicinal). The next section deals with the administra
tion of drugs through the nose, the modes of sweating and of giving oelaginous
drenches and the method of preparing medicated oils and butter. Sloka 10
is on the proper care of animals after exercise and the three signs prognosti
cating certain death. Sloka 11 give the symptoms of a disease called 'Mrgroga'
(glanders ?), which is characterized by the flow of offensive purulent matter
from the nostrils, always terminating fatally, and of another ' Utkarna '
(farcy ?), known by the harsh, rough pilage attended with glandular swellings
on the neck, chest and legs, followed by loss of power of action in the ears,
tail and skin of the body ; the swellings run to suppuration and bring on death.
Diseases of the eye such as Kacam (opacity), Pracaram (tumours), Raktam
(conjunctivitis), Patalam (cataract), and Manjajalam (fialria oculi) follow :
then diseases of the mouth and brain. Bleeding, blistering, actual cautery,
poulticing and fomentations are largely recommended and there is quite a com
prehensive list of Materia Medica, including the ' uses of garlic ' and ' drugs
given in balls as mentioned by the sages '. It is noteworthy that in this book,
for the first time, we find mention in a veterinary work of the Ayurvedic
Tridosha theory of humoral pathology so frequently met with in works on
human medicine. This theory is that disease is caused by the maladjustment
of the three humours (Doshas), i.e. Vata (wind), Pitta (bile) and Kafa (phlegm),
and that the work of the physician is to restore them to their proper balance
in the body.
Jolly maintains that this work belongs certainly to the later middle ages,
since in it opium is mentioned and this was unknown before 1424. It was
published in the Bibliotheca Indica in 1887. Quotations from it may
be found in the ' Sarangadhara-paddhati '. Manuscripts claiming to be
originals are reported by Peterson in his ' Report on the Search for Sanskrit
Manuscripts ', by Oppert in his List of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Private
Libraries in Southern India : by Mitra in his Notices (1871-90); by Deviprasad
in his Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Oudh : from the Library of the
Maharaja of Alwar and from that of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta.
(v) Other writers on Horse Medicine
Other erstwhile famous writers on equine medicine in India were ; Bhoja¬
raja, whose work on the subject, entitled ' Vaji Cikitsa ', is unfortunately no