18 A Short History of Ayurvedic Veterinary Literature
Presidency, Buhler's List of Private Libraries and in those of Sanskrit MSS
found in Oudh, Sind and the N. W. F. P. Finally, Aufrecht mentions it as
having been published as Volume 27 of the Zeitschrift of the German Oriental
Society.
(iii) Ippocras the Indian
In the sixth century A.D., there lived another Indian veterinarian, who
has achieved European fame without apparently exciting the slightest notice
among his own countrymen. This may have been due to his having assumed
a European name, by which he is always known, that of Ippocras or Hippo
crates, while his Indian name is buried in the mists of history. His original
writings have been lost but many manuscripts purporting to be from his pen,
most of them undoubtedly spurious, still exist. A 15th century manuscript,
now in the British Museum, (No. 27626) has, however, been accepted by Del¬
prato as a genuine though incomplete copy. In this work, he describes himself
as a ' doctor and native of India from Scind '. He entered the service of
Chosroes of Persia (531-579 A.D.), a renowned patron of learning, by whom he
was granted a licence to practise and was commissioned to produce a veterinary
work dealing with the horse. In the ninth century, a certain John of Damascus
was apparently employed by Haroun-al-Rashid to translate this work from the
Sanskrit (or Persian ?) into Arabic. In the 12th century, Moses of Palermo
re-translated it into Latin and so presented it to Europe at a time when vete
rinary literature in almost any form was urgently required.
The work of ' Ippocras, the Indian ' is of more interest as a link between
East and West, than as an addition to Veterinary knowledge. The 15th
century manuscript deals with ' strangles, catarrh, glanders, pustules on the
face, diseases of the eye, laminitis and other subjects all in a superficial man
ner, the most prominent feature being ' the cures ' (Smith). In the 25 chapters
of the original manuscript, there are said to be, in addition to the above, sec
tions on the telling of the age from the teeth, vices, and defects, treatment and
care after work ; also on broken wind, bit injuries, fever, cough, enlargement
of the glands of the throat, fractured coronet, oedema, splints, mallanders,
wounds on the feet, intestinal worms, lice, scabies, injuries from collision,
fistula and wounds,' chesel ' (i.e. an operation on the tushes and corner incisors
in order to improve the mouth for the bit), as well as on how to cure pains,
to cure horses which will neither eat nor drink (tetanus ?) and to fatten and
invigorate them.
This list appears to conform in some degree with other Indian veterinary
writings and lends support to the argument that Ippocras, the Indian, was a
genuine historical figure and not, as contended by some European authorities,
a ' mere figment of the imagination of some unscrupulous scholar ' or, as others
claim, ' in reality, Damascius of Athens '.
(iv) Jayadatta Suri
A later work on equine medicine, more famous than the above in the
country of its origin, is that of Mamasmant Jayadatta Suri called ' Aśva
Vaidyakam'.
Part of this manuscript has been translated in the Indian
Veterinary Journal, Volume III, by N. N. Majumdar. Another, compara
tively modern manuscript, professing to be an epitome of this work in 68