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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
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XV
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
of the commentary on the second chapter there appears a verse in Prithvi metre in praise of Tripurasundari and the same verse with slight variation is repeated at the commencement of the commentary on the fifth chapter. From this it may be presumed that the commentator regarded the text as having ended with the 51st sutra in the fifth Prasna. The Sutra texts, on the other hand, do not end the work with the 51st sutra of the fifth Prasna, and close the work at the sixteenth Prasna, thus adding sutras divided into eleven additional chapters. Of these additional sutras, some are repetitions, and some making the 11th and 12th Prasnas are the second and third padas of Patanjali's Yoga sutra, while a good many are compiled from medical works treating of meteria medica and remedial rites to avert evil spirits causing diseases. Accordingly two alterations suggest themselves in explanation of this anomaly: Whether the original text ended with the 51st sutra and the remaining sutras are later additions or whether the commentator looked upon the annotated portion only as important and deserving of commentary, the rest being explained in the light of the other works. The first alternative seems to be more plausible inasmuch as the commentator would not have abruptly closed the work with benedictory verses and a clear statement submitting the work at the feet of the Lord of the world. In support of this view there is this reason that in a medical work emphasising the Yoga method to cure diseases defying drugs there is no necessity for a knowledge either of the properties of drugs or of spells and charms.
I am therefore inclined to think that both the compiler of the Ayurveda Sutra and the Commentator are not older than the 16th century A.D.
I cannot close this introduction without acknowledging my great indebtedness to Dr. B. N. Seal, the
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