Biographical Sketch of Cakrapāṇidatta

Cakrapāṇidatta, the celebrated commentator of Carakasaṃhita and Suśṛutasaṃhita, is adored by the Āyurveda fraternity by the epithets carakacaturānana and suśrutasahasranayana;⁴⁵ which means that one who has mastere the internal medicine and surgical traditions of Āyurveda. The very appellation speaks volumes of the scholarship of Cakrapāṇidatta. The appellation like cakrācārya (preceptor Cakrapāṇidatta) or, vāidyāgraṇi (the leader of physicians) and prāmāṇikāgraṇī (the leader of Āyurveda authorities) to Cakrapāṇidatta are substantive of the command and reverence he owned in the Āyurveda fraternity. Cakrapāṇidatta is believed to be a native of Mayūreshvara village Vīrabhūmi⁴⁶ or Varendra⁴⁷ district of Bengal. The author of Ratnaprabhaṭīkā on Cakradatta, Niścalakara gives a different domicile for Cakrapāṇidatta. He considers Vṛnda as a native of Varendra and unspecified different place to Cakrapāṇidatta⁴⁸. While commenting on the drug uccaṭaka Cakrapāṇidatta explains it as a popular drug among the physicians by the same name⁴⁹. Ḍalhaṇa reports that the plant is found commonly in Varendrī, Himalayas and on the plains of river Sarayu.⁵⁰ This observation by Ḍalhaṇa tends us to believe in the popular notion of Varendra origin of Cakrapāṇidatta. Cakrapāṇidatta was a kulīna⁵¹ of lodhrāvali family of the datta clan⁵². Ācārya Trikamji regards Cakrapāṇidatta to caste of vaidyajati or aṃbaṣṭhajati⁵³. The lineage is said to be still represented among the inhabitants of Shillong in Meghālaya⁵⁴. If the term kulīna in the autobiographical verse is not a later interpolation, then it is suggests the fact that by the time of Āyurvedadīpikā itself the kulīnism had made substantial inroads into the social and cultural life of Bengal. The commentary also contains shades of kulinism⁵⁵. Bharatamallika’s Chandraprabhā reports lodhrāvalī clan as one among the eight distinguished Vaidya families of Bengal⁵⁶. The author himself states that his guru is Naradatta. Sri. G. Haldar⁵⁷ identifies Naradatta as the author of Bṛhattantrapradīpa without much substantiation. The paucity of evidence prevents us from making any judgment regarding the authorship of Bṛhattantrapradīpatīka on Carakasaṃhitā but from the Āyurvedadīpikā⁵⁸ we can identify Naradatta as a perspicacious physician of kayacikitsā or the internal medicine⁵⁹. Further information regarding Cakrapāṇidatta is furnished by the autobiographical verse from Cakradatta and Āyurvedadīpikā. Cakrapāṇidatta hails from a noble and illustrious family of physicians⁶⁰. He was the son of Nārāyaṇa, the rasavatyadhikāri or superintendent of the royal kitchen and a mantri or minister of king Nayapāladeva and Bhānu was his elder brother⁶¹. Govindamukhopādhyāya considers, Bhānudatta, as the younger brother of Cakrapāṇidatta, the chief of army staff of Nayapāla.⁶²M.M.Gaṇanāthasen stresses the clout enjoyed by Bhānudatta from usage ‘bhānoranu prathitalodhrāvalīkulīna ‘in Cakrapāṇidatta’s autobiographical verse and reckons their family as a main landlord of that time⁶³. Figuring out Bhānudatta’s anteriority or posteriority to Cakrapāṇidatta is not possible. Nevertheless, Cakrapāṇidatta’s respectful attitude towards Bhānudatta is proven without any ambiguity from his afore said verse. So the title bhānumatī might be direct reference to his brother rather than to his wife. Thus, Dr.J.Yadav’s hypothesis about Cakrapāṇidatta of imitating Vacaspathi miśra, stands unsubstantiated and untenable⁶⁴. Some scholars believe that this Narayaṇa and the author of Ratnamāla as identical.⁶⁵ Śri.G.Haldar without any substantiating evidence says that Bhanudatta and Govarddhanadatta were colleagues of Cakrapāṇidatta under Naradatta. Bhanu is credited with the authorship of Kumārabhārgavīyaṃ and Govarddhanadatta with a tīka on Bṛhattantrapradīpatīka and Cikitsāleśa⁶⁶. Dr.G.J.Meulenbeld quoting S.N.Dasgupta, S.K.De, and Krishnamachariar identify the author of Kumārabhārgavīyaṃ to a different Bhanudatta, who was the son of Gaṇanātha or Gaṇapati (AD.1350 - 1450). He is also credited with authorship of Gītagaurīśa, Rasataraṅgiṇī.⁶⁷ Cakrapāṇidatta inherited his father’s post of rasavatyadhikāri and later promoted to pratānamatri or chief minister.⁶⁸Nayapāladeva, belonging to the Pāla dynasty, reigned during 1038-1055 CE. D. C. Bhattacharya in his article ‘New Light on Vaidyaka Literature,’ based on a manuscript reported by P. Peterson accepts a variant reading for the first verse of Cakradatta (76.48) by citing rhetorical fallacy (vidheyāvimarśa) to the accepted reading and considers Cakrapāṇidatta himself as the mahānasādhikāri or kitchen in charge.⁶⁹ Dr.G.J.Meulenbeld leaves this ambivalent issue unresolved.⁷⁰ Dr.P.V.Sharma is not impressed by the arguments of Bhattacharya and accepts the facts from the traditional rendering of the text i.e. gauḍādhinātharasavatyadhikāripātra nārayaṇasya.⁷¹ Considering the antecedence of Nārayaṇadatta, contemporary to Nayapāladeva, Dr.P.V.Sharma fixes the date of Cakrapāṇidatta as 1050 CE⁷². Dr.P.V.Sharma fixes Cakrapāṇidatta as a contemporary of Ramapāla (1077 – 1120CE.)⁷³ Dr.J.Yadav⁷⁴ reports the allusion that Niścalakara was the student of Cakrapāṇidatta, is not a valid one since Niścalakara himself states that the commentary was written to rectify the misinterpretations of Cakradatta by Cakrapāṇidatta’s students.⁷⁵