Bull. Ind. lost. Hist. Med. Vol. XXI1 pp.1 to 7

NARASIMHAPANDITA

P. HYMAVATHI.*

ABSTRACT

f.lrom the ancient times there were manv medical scholars in Andhradesha,

ho achieved an out-standing fame. Some of them composed medical

w ks which were admired and studied by the scholars and students all

over India. But unfortunately. we do not get proper and sufficient

information about these scientists since they did not give much information

of their personal life. Narasimhapandita is one among such scholars whose

whereabouts remained in confusion and misunderstanding. The present

study is aimed at making an effort in establishing the place and date of the

scholar.

From the ancient times, therewere many medical scholars in Andhr-adesa who achieved an outstandingfame. Some of them composedmedical works which were admiredand studied by the scholars andstudents all over India. But unfor-tunately, we do not get properand sufficient information of thesescientists since they did not givemuch information of their personallife. Some of them mentioned eitherthe name of thier father or preceptorand sometimes did not give evensuch information. It indicates thefact that they were interested only in

the development of the science andleast bothered about their fame.Their longing for the human welfareis very much appreciable but theirreluctance to fame became an obstaclein our attempts to reconstruct thehistory of medicine. Nrslmhapanditais one among such scholars whosewhereabouts remained in confusionand misunderstanding. The presentstudy is aimed at making an effort inestablishing the place and date ofthe scholar.

Nrsirnhapandita is the author ofa famous medical lexicon entitled

* Lecturer, A.B A. & C. College, Warangal-506002 (India).

2

Raj aniqhan t u also called Nighal.1turiijaand Abhidhana Cudamani. Nrsimhais also called as Narahari. Nrhari andNrsiruhapandita. He is the son ofIswara sun or Candiswara. whobelonged to Kasmiriidyavarilsacaryapararnpara. and a resident of Simha-puri. Hitherto all the scholars believedthat Nrsimnepandita was the residentof Kashmir. But it is a hasty con-clusion. It they have studied thecolophon carefully, they would haverealised the fact that he belonged to.\ndhradesa, a student of Srikan rhaand a resident of Vikramasirilhapuri.

Sirnhapur i is another name toNellore. The name Simhapuri cameto this place on account of aJain monk :\carya Sirnhanafidi. Itis because Sirnhanafidi consecratedthe idol of Jain. whose bearer is alion, it is said. the town came to beknown as Simhapuri ". Sri KavututiRarnacandra Rao opined that, theplace came to be known as Simhepuriafter the name of its founder,Simhavisnu. the Brhatpallava king(575-600 A.D.)~. Anyway, it is awell known fact that the town is calledas Sirhhapuri and Vikramasimhaputi.In this town, there is a temple of LordNrsimna in D aW.1uvar i street. Thelocal deity of NeJlore is Candiswari(also called lrukalamrna) , Thus wecan SEe that the names of Nrs imhaand his father Candlswara or T';waraSur i are related to this; place. Theywere the popular names there.Nrs imhapandita mentioned that his

BUll. Ind. t nst, Hist . Med. Vol. XXI

patron was Nrsirnha", The scholarslike Garbe, Keith and Dutt Sharmasearched for the king who patronisedthis scholar. But they did not findout the King with the name Nrsimharuling at the time the other scholarsassumed i.e. after 1400 A.D. Hencethey thought that Simhadeva ruledKashmir from 1235 A.D. to 1250 A D.4But it cannot be accepted since thedate of its writing did not tally withit. Nrstmhapandita mentioned thathe had consulted many works suchas Dhanwantarrva Nlqhantu, Madana-pa la Niqhantu. Halavudha and others,but states that he mainly followedthe opinions of the DhanwantariyaNiqhan tu." Then it is clear that thework is later than the MadanspalaNiqhantu dated 1374 A.D. This factrules out the opinion of Garbe. Keithand C utt Sharma that his patron wasSimhadeva of Kashmir.

Then the problem arises that whowas Nr simha that patronised Nrs irnha-pan.Iit a. Simhapuri or Vikramasimha-PUrl remained for sometime underthe rulers of Kalinga. In thefourteenth century, two personshaving the name Nrsirnhadeva ruledOrissa. The kings of this dynastywere famous for their munificentactivities. They received scholarsfrom various places and patronisedthem in their kingdom. They grantedlands to the Brahmin scholars. That'swhy, scholars from various parts ofthe country came to their kingdomand settled there. Especially after

Narasimilapandita - Hymavathi.

the establishment of the Mohamma-dan rule in the North, many scholarsstarted coming to the South forpatronage and for the protection andpropagation of their faith in theSouth. Arn.iuq them the KashmirBrahmin sect was one. TheseBrahmins propagated Kashrnira Sai-vism in :\ndhradesa. Temples werebuilt for Kashmira Rudre iwara in thefourteenth century. Druppalli inscri-ptio n" dated 1306 A. 0, registers OJ

grant made by Bollamaraju andRang2PPiJ Rudradeva to God KashmiraHudreswer a Nrs irnhapanditas fore-fathers might have belonged toKashmira Saiva school of philosophyas he is mentioned in the colophonas belonging to Kii;miriidyavamsaciiry-apararnparanvava. Among the fiveschools of Saivism in Andhradesa, itwas one. Nrsimha or Nrh ari mentionsthat his guru is ~.rikal~~ha. Let usobserve tho colophon at the end ofthe first chapter which forms a sourceof information supporting the aboveopinion: 7

IIi Srivaidv apati murdhanvaratnabhar ana sr irnadiswar a siirisunuSt ik an t ha caranarvinda sevasevaka-rajahams a ~ri Kasmiradyavamsacaryaparamparanvaya ~rinrsimhapaD(litaviracita nighal~~utajapara namadheyapervavava \ i abhidana cudarn a 1.1 i an u-padi varqah pratharnah.

This colophon informs us thatNrsirnhapandita had the title Vaidva-patirnurdha nvo ratnabher anals nkara.

3

which means a crest jewel among thescholar-pbvslcians. It further means:

~rimadiSwarasiiri sunu - the sonof Iswarasuri. Srlkan t hacarandr avindasevasevaka rajahamsa-the best amongthe people who served the fdet ofSrikantha Srikasmiradyavamslcarya-oarampaia nvava - one who. is adescendent of a family which followsKiismiradya Saivisrn as its family faith.Nrsimhapawlitavirllcita - Written byNraimhapandita. Nigha nt u rajii.,Jdra r.a-madheya - having another name asniqhant uraja. Parvavavati-containinosynonyms (to the medical substances),Abhidhanacudan.anl - in Abhidhana-cUt.lamani. Anupadivargal) pratharnah-the first chapter is anupadivarqa.

Thus this colophon makes it clearthat Nrsimhapandita, the son ofIswarasuri and the desciple ofSrikantha, wrote the work Abhidhana-cudarnani also called NighaD\Uriija.It also informs us that he belongedto a family which followed Kasmira-dvasaivism and he had the titleVaidyapatimurdhanyaratnabharal)a -lankara.

Another colophon which appearsat the end of the sixteenth chapterruns thus:

Iti Srivaidyaraja rajahamsa Sri-madiswar a SlHi sunu srlmadarnrtakaragadasiilamkara carana kamala nisvan-dana prasada makarandaswadanivasundarendira vedacitta sutkara sri

4

Kasrniradvavarnsacara paramparan-vaya S,ri Nrsirnhapandlta viracitanigh 3[.1 ~utajapar anama parvavava t ibnojvavarqapars narno dhanvavarqah,

Nrsirnha is mentioned here 6S

one who is blessed by the grace ofLord Dhanwantari (Amrtakara) andHarihar anatha, ( Gadasulalarnkara ).Thus this colophon informs us thatNrs irnhapandita had an Arnrtahastaand he was blessed by the grace ofDhanwantari and Harlharanatha. Hariharanatha cult originated in Andhra-desa from Vikramasimhapuri (Nellore)in the eleventh century. There is atemple of Lord Hariharanatha inVikramasimhapuri. He is engravedas bearing gada (mace, the weaponof Visnu) in one hand and slila(trident, the weapon of Lord Siva) inanother hand.

Thus we can say that Nrsirnha-pandit a, the author of Rajaniqhant u,or Abtudhanacudarnani. was theresident of Simhapuri or Vikramasim-hapuri and hailed from a Brahminfamily which followed traditionallythe Kasmiradya Saivism. He wasthe desciple of Stik ant ha who wasalso a great scholar in Ayurveda.:=;rikcI)~ha followed Suddha Saivisrn,Though Nrslmha is said to havebelonged to K1bmiradyavamsacarya-par arnpara, he followed his ownpath in religious views. He paid hisobeisance to Lord Harihar anatha (anembodiment of Vis nu) and Siva andDhanwantari (an avatara of Visnu).

Buf/. Ind. Inst. Hist. Med. Vol. XXI

According to Fillozat, Rajanighal,ltudates from the fourteenth century,Gode opines that it is written atabout 1450 A. D. T. Chowdhuryassumes that the work was writtenabout 1400 A D. It is supported byMeulenbeld", The textual evidenceproves that it was written only afterMadan apalaniqhantu which WE.S

written in 1374 A.D. Nrsimha s guruSrikantha also belonged to this period.He was the author of medical workssuch as Vaidyakasarasangraha alsocalled Hitopadesa and Yogaratnavali.The famous scholar - brothers Vidya-ranva. Savana (author of AyurvedaSudhanidhi) and Bhogana tha werehis students. If these were Nrsirnha'sseniors, his date of taking instructionat the feet of Srikantha could be placedin the first half of the fourteenthcentury. The Bitragunta inscnptloritinforms us that ::;rikal.ltha was alivein 1356 AD.

Nrsirnha's patron must be Nr-simha IV, who ruled Kalinga between1378-1409 AD. Nrslrnha IiI ruledthe kingdom of Kalinga between1327-1353AD. Buthe must not bethe king who patronised Nrsimha-pandita, since we found that theauthor followed Mcdanapalaniqhanruwhich was written in 1374 A D.Hence it is clear that he was patronisedby Nrsimha IV. During his reign,the Velama King of Racakol,l<;la andthe Reddi kings of Kond avtdu ledexpeditions on the Kalinga kingdomand occupied some parts of Andhra

Neresimh spendite - Hv mevetbi,

region which were previously capturedby the Kalinqa Kings. It seems thatin 1386 A. D. Nellore was capturedby the Reddi kings .fl.t the end ofhis reign, Nrsimha IV lost manyparts of his empire. Hence it ispossible to think that Nrslrnha-pandita might have 'Mitten his workRiijanighal)tu before 1386 A.D.There seems not much gap betweenthe writing of Madanapataniqhentuand Rajaniqhantu. It makes us thinkthat Madanepataniqhanru becamefamous soon after its inceptionespecially in Andhrade~d. the place ofits origin and Nrslmhapandita mightbe also in touch with its author. Hemight hive written RajanighaDtuapproximately between 1380-1386A.D., V\ hen Nrsimhade < j IV wasruling the Kingdom.

Nrsimhapandita wrote two othermedical works i.e, Gunasarasamuc-

5

cava!? and Vagbhatc.mawlanamI1.His three medical (Sanskrit) worksgained popularity within a shortperiod. Eepeciallv RajanighalHu wasvery much favoured by the physiciansall over the country. The palmleafmanuscript copies of this work canbe found available throughout India.This work contains new medicalsubstances which were not mentionedin the previous works such asDhanwantariya niqhantu and Madan-epalaniqnantu. Gunasaras arnuccavais also a work on materia medica.Viigbhatamawlanam is a commentaryon A~\iingahrdaya of Vagbhata. Thecopies of these works are foundavailable in Talugu and Sanskritscripts. The copies of RajanighaDtuor Abhidhanacudarnani are availablein Telugu, Kannada and Nandinaqanscripts. It indicates the wide popula-rity of the works of Nrslmhepandita.

6 Butt, Ind. tn st. Hist. Med. Vol. XXI

REFERENCES;

1. Bharati, April. 1986, p. 50.

2. K V. Ramcchandra R.IO, "Tikkanayugamlo Nelluru Teerutennulu",Vikramasimhapuri Mandelaserwaswamu, 1980, p. 17.

3. G. J. Meulenbeld, Madhavanlds-na and Its Chief Commentary, (Leiden,1974), o. 406.

4. Ibid.

5. A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Govt. OrientalManuscripts Library, Madras, Vol. 23, No. 13254, pp. 8928-30.

6. Sasanasamputi (Tel), Parts. 1 & 2, Saraswatinilayam, Hyderabad, 1973pp, 251-57.

7. A Descriptive catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Govt. Oriental ManuscriptsLibrary, Madras, No. 13254, pp. 8829-30.

8. G. J. Meulenbeld. op cit. p. 406.

9. Vikramasimhapuri Mandai sarwaswamu, p, 135.

10. Oriental Library, Mysore, Ms. No. 5198.

11. Ibid. No. A 101.

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