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Bhela was one of the six students of Atreya, alongwith Agnivesha. He is
said to have composed a treatise called Bhela Samhita. This was not
traceable for many centuries, but in the year 1880, a palm leaf
manuscript of it, composed in Sanskrit but written in the Telugu script,
was found in the Palace Library at Tanjore. This manuscript, written
about 1650, abounds in mistakes and some of it has been disfigured
beyond recognition. But whatever has survived gives evidence of the same
ancient tradition as Charaka Samhita does. It has also eight divisions
like the Charaka, and each section ends with : "Thus spake Atreya" as it
is in Charaka Samhita. Bhela Samhita essentially corroborates what
Charaka Samhita says. Occasionally, it differs from it in some details.
Nava Nitaka
The practice of Ayurvedic medicine entered a new phase when instead of
the samhitas on medicine and surgery, compendia of prescriptions for
various diseases began to appear. The first of such treatises which we
have with us now is Nava Nitaka. This manuscript was discovered by a man
of Kuchar, an oasis of Eastern Turkestan in Central Asia on the caravan
route to China. This route was used by the Buddhist monks of India
travelling to far off places. This man dug in the hope of getting some
treasure in an area supposed to contain an underground city. He did not
find any wealth but discovered a manuscript which was bought for a small
sum by L.H. Bower, who had gone there qn a private mission from the
Government of India. This manuscript was forwarded to J. Waterhouse, the
then President of the Asiatic Society. It was deciphered and published
by A.F. Hoernle, who spent 21 years on its study. Afterwards, the
manuscript was sold to the Bodlein Library in Oxford.
Nava Nitaka manuscript by its name or by its contents has been mentioned
by different authors between the tenth and the sixteenth century. After
that, this manuscript has not been mentioned by anyone until it was
re-discovered. The present manuscript is composed of very defective
Sanskrit mixed with Prakrit. It was written in the Gupta script of the
fourth or fifth century. The material on which it is written is birch
bark, cut into longish folios like the palm leaves of southern and
western India. The contents suggest Buddhistic influence in its
composition.
According to Hoernle, the whole manuscript consists of not less five
distinct parts. The author quotes from Charaka and Susruta and Bhela
Samhita. The title 'Nava-Nitaka', meaning butter, is indicative of the
manner of its composition; just as a small amount of butter is extracted
out milk, so does this work contain the essential formulae extracted
from other larger works. According to one scholar, the author of Nava-Nitaka
was Navanita.
Nava-Nitaka for the first time gives details about the use of garlic
various diseases such as consumption (rajya yakshma) and scrofulous
glands in the neck. Tied with a thread, it was also hung on the door;
this was supposed to check the spread of infectious diseases like
small-pox. Garlic was recommended to be used in winter and spring.
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