Sanskrit Manuscripts : Aśvavaidyaka

Jayadatta, Jayadatta

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> A copy of the <i>Aśvavaidyaka</i> of Jayadatta, a treatise in verse on horse medicine, dated Nepāla Samvat 484 (1364 CE). The subject matter is arranged in sixty-eight chapters, the contents of which are listed in chapter one (see <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(4);return false;'>incipit</a>). The Cambridge manuscript is the oldest known dated copy of this work. Virtually nothing is known of its author, Jayadatta, who in the initial verses calls himself the son of Vijayadatta and in the colophon is said to be <i>mahāśānta</i>, which suggests an ascetic, while in other colophons he is said to be <i>mahāsāmanta</i>, a feudatory prince or minister. He is generally dated to the early second millennium CE, since he quotes Śālihotra, the author of the <i>Aśvāyurveda</i>, a renowned treatise on horses (see Add. 2841), generally dated around 1000 CE. The text of the <i>Aśvavaidyaka</i> ends on f. 95r. The last folio, which seems to have been part of the original bundle, contains Sanskrit verses of various nature and a short passage in Newari in a different hand but from approximately the same period, containing what looks like a loan agreement template. Another date (NS 510) is found on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(3);return false;'>f. 1r</a> and is copied again after the Newari passage. </p>