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Yogasataka: Texte médical attribué à Nagarjuna

by Jean Filliozat

The origin of ayurvedic medicine in a treatise with highly complex authorship attribution.

Yogasataka filliozat 1979 cover

Type: e-book

Publisher: Textes sanskrit et tibétain, traduction française, notes, indices, Pondicherry: Institut Français d'Indologie, vol 62

Edition: Digitalized by Archaeological Survey of India, Internet Archive

Published: 1979

Author: Jean Filliozat

Pages: 209

Languages : English, French

ADB Library Catalog ID: eMED4

Download ebook (pdf, 16.658 MB)
Download ebook (pdf, 16.658 MB)

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Yogaśataka or Yogashataka (योगशतक) is the name of an Ayurvedic treatise often attributed to written by Pandita Vararuci, ​‘yoga’ meaning drug formulas and ​‘śataka’ hundred [107, precisely, as the treatise is ordained in 107 stanzas]. It follows the classification of eight medical categories (astanga), adding to them one section on fever treatments (jvaracikitsa) and one on purgatives and laxatives (pancakarman).

In his introduction, the author does not give many insights on the ​‘Nagarjuna’ to whom he attributes this text. Was he the famous Nagarjuna (Klu-sgrub in Tibetan), a Mahayana Buddhist monk and philosopher who articulated the doctrine of emptiness (shunyata) and is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Madhyamika (“Middle Way”) school, an important tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy? 

This celebrated philosopher’s personal life remains a mystery debated by researchers. He might have lived between 150 and 250 CE, and in multiple places in India, including in the south. One tradition holds that he founded a university on the banks of Krishna River, ​“a great centre of learning attracting a large number of teachers and students form distant parts of the world”, according to the Acharya Nagarjuna University [ANU, a modern center of higher education in Guntur, Andrah Pradesh, India]. Several scholars claim he was born in Vidharba, Nagpur District nowadays part of the state of Maharashtra.

Modern researchers tend to think that there was a separate Ayurvedic writer called Nāgārjuna who wrote numerous treatises on Rasayana. Also, there is a later Tantric Buddhist author by the same name who may have been a scholar at Nālandā University and wrote on Buddhist tantra. The brand Nagarjuna Ayurveda from Kerala is nowadays’s highly popular in India, selling everything from balms to eye drops.

Add to the conundrum the fact that Nagarjuna is said to have written one of his collyrium recipes directly on a pillar in the old city of Pataliputra and we are in complete terra incognita, since Pataliputra, the capital city of several Indian dynasties thought to have existed in the vicinity of modern Patna, remains an archaeological puzzle to the day. In 2023, Bijoy Kumar Choudhary, Director of the Bihar Heritage Development Society, noted that ​“the archaeological remains, unearthed so far, are frankly to too scanty to showcase the rich heritage of Pataliputra.” (​‘Unravelling Pataliputra’, Times of India, 23 April 2023)

The author was well-aware of these difficulties, since he added a Summary in English at the end of the book (pp 205 – 6): 

“The plants and products prescribed in its formulas are well known elements of the general materia medica and their efficiency has been recognised since long not only in India and surrounding countries but in Ancient Europe also.
In fact this short book has been in use from Central Asia till Srilanka.
Later it has been translated into Tibetan, included in the Tanjur and has been commented upon by Bu-ston.
In Srilanka it is also represented by several mss. and has been printed several times together with a Sinhalese explanation. […]
Many of its formulas are quoted, sometimes with reference to Nagarjuna, and more often without any reference, in classical ayurvedic books like Vagbhata, Cakradatta etc…[…]
We had to examine the works ascribed to Nagarjuna or to several authors bearing his name.
The Chinese pilgrim and Buddhist philosopher Hiuan-tsang, in the Vllth century like Yi-tsing, describes the bodhisattva Nagarjima living 500 years before him (500 is a rough number but, in this case, fit to join the very time of Nagarjuna) as a great alchemist also, taking pills to prolong his life. He has no objection to admit he was both this alchemist and the philosopher of the sva- bhdvasunyatd. This is in accordance with the independant traditions which ascribe medical, chemical and even magical works, i.e. every kind of technical performances, to this Buddhist philosopher.
The examination of these medical and chemical works gives evidences of concordances between the teachings of the Uttaratantra of the Susrutasamhita (for which Nagarjuna is given as pratisamskart) and some data of Yogasataka and also with a theory on the absence of svabhdva in the substance (dravya) taught in the Rasavaisesikasutra also ascribed to Bhadantanagarjuna.
Finally there is a possibihty but no evidence to ascribe, with the majority of the ancient traditions, to Nagarjuna several medical works, including the Yogasataka which has got the greatest popularity. But, if we accept the information given by Yi-tsing, we have to admit that the compiler of the Yogasataka Uved in the Vlth century and belonged to a tradition of Nag^uniyas having its root in the milieu of Nagarjuna himself.”

While the attribution remains a question mark, further research will benefit from this translation, in particular the transliteration of so many Sanskrit names of plants and medical procedures. For instance, compare the index of Sanskrit names with the list of medicinal plants used in Cambodia drawn up by Pauline Dy Phon in her Dictionary.

Mushkaka2

Schrebera swietenioides Roxb, the Mushkaka tree (document from Herbarium JCB, Digital Flora of Karnataka, a remarkable online resource on South Indian flora).

Tags: medicine, medicinal plants, ayurveda, Indian science, India, Sanskrit

About the Author

Jean Filliozat2

Jean Filliozat

Jean Filliozat (4 Nov 1906, Paris, France – 27 Oct 1982, Paris) was a French linguist specialized in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Tamil, who, as an ophtalmologist initially, studied the history and philosophy of Indian medecine with an emphasis on Ayurveda.

According to Arion Rosu’s biographical note [in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Harrassowitz Verlag 1984, Vol. 134, No.1, pp. 15 – 23], his fascination for India started in his teenage years, after reading Leconte de Lisle’s Les Poèmes antiques, in particular the first vedic hymn dedicated to Surya. For five years, he attended Prof. Sylvain Lévi’s lectures in Sanskrit language and literature at College de France, specializing in Tamil texts and other trends in Hindu-Buddhist philosophy under the direction of linguist Jules Bloch, tibetologist Jacques Bacot and archaeologist Alfred Foucher.

Director of studies at the École pratique des hautes études from 1941 to 1978, he taught at Collège de France from 1952 to 1978. In 1955, he established the Institut Français d’Indologie (IFI) at Pondicherry, and served as director of the École Française d’Extrême Orient (EFEO) from 1956 until 1977.

His son Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat (b. 1936), who also became a Sanskrit scholar under the supervision of Indian Sanskritists Narasimhacharya Iyengar and N. Ramachandra Bhatt, married in 1968 South India historian Vasundhara Filliozat, a specialist in Karnataka temples who had worked with IFI and Jean Filliozat when she was researching the history of the Vijayanagar Empire. Their daughter Manonmani Filliozat-Restif is a curator of French national cultural heritage [Patrimoine] and historian specializing in the history of communities linked to the Indian Ocean.

A member of the Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres since 1966, vice-president of the Societe Asiatique in 1974, doctor honoris causa of Benares University in 1981, Jean Filliozat has published (non exhaustive list, numerous book recensions omitted here):

Publications

  1. “Sur la ​“concentration oculaire” dans le yoga”, in Yoga, Internationale Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Yoga-Forschung 1, 1931, p 93 – 102.
  2. “La théorie grecque des humeurs et la médecine indienne”, Hippocrate, 1933.
  3. “Étude de démonologie indienne. Le Kumâratantra de Râvana et les textes parallèles indiens, tibétains, chinois, cambodgiens et arabes”, Paris, Cahiers de la Société Asiatique, IV, 1937.
  4. “Grammaire comparée, conferences de Jules Bloch, Émile Benveniste, Jean Filliozat”, Annuaires de l’École pratique des hautes études, 1939, p. 57 – 59.
  5. Magie et médecine, Paris, P.U.F., 1943, 147 p. (Collection mythes et Religions).
  6. “La force organique et la force cosmique dans la philosophie médicale de l’Inde et dans le Veda”, Revue Philosophique, Nov-Dec 1943.
  7. “La doctrine des brahmanes selon Saint Hippolyte”, Revue de l’histoire des religions, Jul.-Dec. 1945, p 59 – 91.
  8. Les inscriptions de Vîrapatnam, Comptes-rendus de l’Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 1947.
  9. “Alexandre et l’Inde”, L’information historique, 1947.
  10. “Le sommeil et les rêves selon les médecins indiens et les physiologues grecs”, Journal de Psychologie, 1947.
  11. “Le sanskrit analogue du latin dans l’Inde ancienne et actuelle”, Rythmes du Monde, 1947.
  12. Fragments de textes koutchéens de médecine et de magie, Paris, Adrien Maisonneuve, 1948, 157 p.
  13. “Les deux Asoka et les conciles bouddhiques”, Journal Asiatique, 1948.
  14. “L’interprétation occidentale de la pensée indienne”, Éducation, 1949.
  15. La Doctrine classique de la médecine indienne: ses origines et ses parallèles grecs, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1949 (2d edition, Paris, Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient, 1975). 
  16. “Taoïsme et Yoga”, Dân Viêt Nam, 1949.
  17. (with L. Renou and al.), L’Inde classique: Manuel des études indiennes, t. 1, Paris, Payot, 1949 ; t. 2, Paris, EFEO, 1953.
  18. “Pensée antique et science moderne”, France-Asie, 1950.
  19. “L’orientalisme et les sciences humaines”, Bulletin d’études indochinoises 26, 1951, p 573 ssq.
  20. “Le symbolisme du monument du Phnom Bakhen”, BEFEO 44 – 2, 1951, p 553.
  21. “Continence et sexualité dans le bouddhisme et dans le Yoga”, Études carmélitaines, 1951.
  22. “Une bibliothèque de la Renaissance en Chine”, Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé (BAGB),1953 (3), p 113 – 125.
  23. “L’aventure portugaise dans les mers de l’Inde” [with Jean-Baptiste Aquarone], BAGB, 1953 (3), p. 62 – 79.
  24. “Les premières étapes de l’indianisme”, BAGB, 1953 (3), p. 80 – 96.
  25. “La découverte du bouddhisme” [with Henri de Lubac, Henri Bernard-Maitre], BAGB, 1953 (3), p. 97 – 112.
  26. Les relations exterieures de l’Inde, Pondichery, Institut francais d’indologie, 1956, 2 vols.
  27. “Nouvelles recherches sur l’hindouisme et son expansion”, Journal des Savants (JS), 1962 (3−4), p. 193 – 212.
  28. The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine. Its origins and its Greek parallels, translated from French by Dev Raj Chanana, New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1964.
  29. Studies in Asokan Inscriptions, translated by R. K. Menon, Calcutta, Indian Studies Past and Present. 1967.
  30. “L’abandon de la vie par le sage et les suicides du criminel et du héros dans la tradition indienne”, AA, 1967 (15), p. 65 – 88.
  31. “Les symboles d’une stèle khmère du VIIe siècle”, AA, 1967 (16), p 111 – 117.
  32. “Les Dravidiens dans la civilisation indienne”, Journal des Savants (JS), 1969 (2), p. 74 – 91.
  33. “Notice sur la vie et les travaux de M. Georges Cœdès (1886−1969)”, BEFEO, 1970 (57), pp. 4 – 24.
  34. “Les théories psychologiques de l’Inde”, Bulletin de la Société française de philosophie 66 – 3, 1972, p. 73 – 96.
  35. ““Les inscriptions des premiers rois de la dynastie Sangama de Vijayanagar” par Vasundhara Filliozat”, Annuaires de l’École pratique des hautes études, 1971 – 1972, p. 821 – 822.
  36. Un texte de la religion kaumâra. Le Tirumurukârrupatai, Pondicherry, Institut français d’indologie (PIFI,49), 1973.
  37. “Représentation de Vāsudeva et Saṃkarṣaṇa au IIe siècle avant J.C.”, AA, 1973 (26), p 113 – 123.
  38. Laghu-prabandhā, choix d’articles d’indologie, [ intr. by Colette Caillat and Ludwik Sternbach, with a bibliography of Jean Filliozat], Leiden, Brill, 1974 (ISBN 9789004039148).
  39. La doctrine classique de la médecine indienne. Ses origines et ses parallèles grecs, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, EFEO, 1975 (2nd ed.).
  40. “M. Beden et C. Guérin : Le gisement de vertébrés du Phnom Loang (province de Kampot, Cambodge). Faune pleistocène moyen terminal (Loangien)”, BEFEO, 1975 (62), p. 507 – 508.
  41. Philologie indienne, Conferences, see Annuaires de l’École pratique des hautes études 1945 – 1978.
  42. “Besoins et perspectives de l’indologie”, Annuaire du Collège de France 78 (1977÷1978), p 605 – 9 [his last lecture].
  43. Discours du Directeur de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, séance solennelle pour la célébration du 75e anniversaire de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1976, 120 – 2 pp. 333 – 341.
  44. Yogasataka: Texte médical attribué à Nagarjuna, Pondicherry, Institut Français d’Indologie, 1979, 207 p. 
  45. “Ecologie historique en Inde du Sud: le pays des Kallar”, BEFEO 67, 1980, p. 103 – 123. 
  46. “La valeur des connaissances gréco-romaines sur l’Inde”, JS, 1981 (2), p. 97 – 135.
  47. “Sur l’identification des maladies dans l’Ayurveda”, in Les médecines traditionnelles de l’Asie, Strasbourg, 1981, p. 140 – 9.
  48. “Sur le çivaïsme et le bouddhisme du Cambodge, à propos de deux livres récents [1) Adhir Chakravarti : The Sdok Как Thom inscription, Part I. A study in Indo-Khmer Civilization, 2) Hermann Kulke : The Devarâja Cult]”, BEFEO, 1981 (70), p 59 – 100.
  49. Albert Le Bonheur, Jean Filliozat (1906−1982) et les arts asiatiques, AA, 1984 (39), p. 108 – 109.
  50. (with J. André), L’Inde vue de Rome: Textes latins de l’antiquité relatifs à l’Inde, Paris, Les Belles Lettres. 1986.
  51. Religion, Philosophy, Yoga: A Selection of Articles, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1991.
  52. (avec Louis Renou) L’Inde classique. Éd. Maisonneuve, Manuel des études indiennes, Tome I, Paris 1985, réimpression 2004. (ISBN 2−7200−1035−9)
  53. Les philosophies de l’Inde, Paris, PUF, vol. 932, 2006; repub. in Que Sais-je? collection, 2022.