The Sanskrit, Syriac and Persian sources in the Comprehensive book of Rhazes

502 Pages·2015·2.706 MB·English

by  Kahl, Oliver, Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā

TheSanskrit,SyriacandPersianSourcesintheComprehensiveBookofRhazes
Islamic Philosophy, Theology
and Science
texts and studies
Editedby
HansDaiber
AnnaAkasoy
EmilieSavage-Smith
volume93
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/ipts
The Sanskrit, Syriac
and Persian Sources in the
Comprehensive Book
of Rhazes
By
OliverKahl
leiden | boston
Coverillustration:Collageofscriptsamples©OliverKahl,2015.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kahl,Oliver.
TheSanskrit,SyriacandPersiansourcesintheComprehensivebookofRhazes/byOliverKahl.
pagescm.–(Islamicphilosophy,theologyandsciencetextsandstudies,ISSN0169-8729;volume93)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-29025-9(hardback:acid-freepaper)–ISBN978-90-04-29024-2(e-book)
1.Razi,AbuBakrMuhammadibnZakariya,865?-925?Kitabal-Hawifial-tibb.2.Razi,AbuBakr
MuhammadibnZakariya,865?-925?–Sources.3.Sanskritlanguage–Texts.4.Syriaclanguage–Texts.5.
Persianlanguage–Texts.6.Medicine,Medieval.7.Medicine,Arab.8.Pharmacy–History–To1500.I.Title.
R128.3.R313K342015
610–dc23
2015003087
Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characterscovering
Latin,ipa,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities.Formore
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isbn978-90-04-29025-9(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-29024-2(e-book)
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 TheSanskritSources 7
a Ātreya 12
b Suśruta 14
c Caraka 18
d Vāgbhaṭa 21
e Ravigupta 22
f Mādhava 26
g Anonyma 27
2 TheSyriacSources 28
a SargīsofRēšʿainā 30
b Šlēmōn 31
c GūrgisbarGaḇriēlbarBōḵtyešūʿ 34
d Hūzāyē 36
e IyōḇUrhāyā 42
f Šemʿōn 44
g YōḥannānbarSerāṕyōn 47
3 ThePersianSources 48
a Qahramān 52
b IbnAbīḪālidal-Fārisī 57
4 SomeGeneralObservations 59
5 NoteonMetrologicalUnits 67
TextsandTranslations
1 TheSanskritSources 71
a Ātreya 71
b Suśruta 72
c Caraka 86
d Vāgbhaṭa 130
e Ravigupta 134
f Mādhava 152
g Anonyma 153
vi contents
2 TheSyriacSources 160
a SargīsofRēšʿainā 160
b Šlēmōn 160
c GūrgisbarGaḇriēlbarBōḵtyešūʿ 172
d Hūzāyē 211
e IyōḇUrhāyā 276
f Šemʿōn 317
g YōḥannānbarSerāṕyōn 364
3 ThePersianSources 365
a Qahramān 365
b IbnAbīḪālidal-Fārisī 375
4 VariaeLectionesfromrḥ³ 386
ListofAbbreviationsandBibliography 390
Glossaries 402
1 Arabic 403
a English–Arabic 403
b Arabic–English 438
2 Sanskrit 460
a English–Sanskrit 460
b Sanskrit–English 469
3 BotanicalNames 477
a English–Latin 477
b Latin–English 482
Acknowledgements
This book could not have been written without the material support of the
DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft(dfg),whichprovidedagenerousgrantal-
lowingmetoengageinfull-timeresearchoveraperiodofthreeyears;thesame
organizationalsoallocatedfundstowardsthebook’spublication.Theworkwas
carriedoutatthePhilippsUniversityofMarburg,andheremyforemostdebtis
toProf.StefanWeninger,headoftheDepartmentofSemitologyintheCenter
forNearandMiddleEasternStudies(cnms)—henotonlyplayedacrucialrole
inobtainingthisgrantinthefirstplace,buthesubsequentlymadesurethatI
wouldenjoythephysicalspace,thepeaceofmindandthefreedomwhichare
necessarytosucceedatallwithresearchofthiskind.Iamalsogreatlyindebted
toProf.JürgenHanneder,headoftheDepartmentofIndologyandTibetology
atMarburgUniversity,whoreadilysacrificedmanyhoursofhisvaluabletime
togowithmethrougheverydetailoftheSanskritmaterialandtherebyweeded
outnumerousinfelicitiesanderrors;Jürgenmoreoverwrotealetterinsupport
of my initial grant application, entirely on good faith at the time. Thanks to
subsidiaryfundsallocatedbythedfgithasbeenpossibletoemployforone
yearthepart-timeservicesofanexceptionalpostgraduatestudent,Maximilian
Mehner,whohelpedtrackingdownrelevantpassagesinAyurvedicliterature,
collatedtranslationswhereavailable,compiledadraftversionoftheSanskrit
glossary,andalsoassistedwithproofreading.MylearnedcolleagueDrGrigory
Kessel,churchhistorianatMarburgUniversity,hadthegreatcourtesytoread
throughtheentireSyriacmaterialinArabicgarbandthusnotablysavedme
fromperpetuatinganinveteratemisconceptionabouttheidentityanddateof
Šemʿōn,whilstPeterPormann,professorofClassicsandGraeco-ArabicStud-
iesatManchesterUniversity,freelymadeanelectroniccopyofhisArabicraw
editionofBarSerāṕyōn’smedicalcompendiaaccessibletome.Asregardsthe
Persianmaterial,theadviceoftwoIraniancolleagues,DrMohsenZakeriofGöt-
tingenUniversityandEmadal-DinSheikhal-HokamaeeofTehranUniversity,
wasextremelyhelpfulinmypursuitofidentifyingthemysteriousQahramān.I
considermyselfluckytohavehadtheopportunitytoestablishcloserelations
with Prof. Christoph Friedrich, head of the Institute for the History of Phar-
macyatMarburgUniversity,andhiscolleagueProf.SabineAnagnostou—Herr
Friedrichfromtheverybeginningstronglysupportedmygrantapplication,and
Sabinehasbynowbecomeagoodfriend.ThanksareduetoDrSusanneSaker,
head of the cnms-Library, and her colleague Dr Andreas Herdt (now Mün-
ster University) for their competence, liberality and cordial spirit. Returning
to the Department of Semitology, I am grateful to Dr Michael Waltisberg for
viii acknowledgements
his comradeship and countless entertaining Italian lunches; to our secretary
FrauRosemarieRichterforherwisdomandanever-endingsupplyofexcellent
coffee;andtoProf.emeritusWalterW.Müllerformanyaninterestingconversa-
tionofwhichIwas,withoutfail,thebeneficiary.Ishouldalsoliketothank,yet
again,Prof.emeritusHansDaiberand hisco-editorswhoacceptedmywork
for publication in this series, and the anonymous reader for his comments.
SpecialthankstoGeravanBedafatBrillwho,togetherwithanoutstandingly
skilledtypesetter,guidedthebooksafelythroughthecrucialstagesofproduc-
tion.Enfin,jeremerciemafemmeKarineNohrpoursonsoutieninébranlable
toutaulongdesannées,etpoursagrandeurd’âme.
O.Kahl
Preface*
TheideatolookintothesourcesofRhazes’Kitābal-Ḥāwī1isneithermyownnor
isitnew.Infact,itgoesfarbackintothe19thcenturywhenMoritzSteinschnei-
der,basedontheLatintranslationofRhazes’work,wasalreadyengagedina
projectofthatsort2which,however,remainedanunpublishedquarrywhose
fateiscompletelyunknown.Ittooknearly100yearsuntilAlbertDietrichindi-
rectlyvoicedanintentiontotackleonhispartthesourcesoftheKitābal-Ḥāwī,3
nowonthebasisoftheArabiceditionoftheworkwhichhadbecomefullyavail-
ableintheearly1970s;butthisplan,too,wasneverrealized.Inprinciplethere
has always been among Arabists and historians of medicine—from Lucien
LeclercthroughEdwardGranvilleBrownetoManfredUllmann—aunanimous
acknowledgement of the importance of a source-critical analysis of Rhazes’
Kitāb al-Ḥāwī,4 but these affirmations are strangely contrasted by a lack of
systematic studies into the problem. We have, to be sure, a small number of
haphazardsurveysonselectclustersofsourcesandnarrowlydemarcatedtop-
ics,departingstillfromtheLatintranslationoftheKitābal-Ḥāwīandtherefore
somewhatoutdatednow;5anditisalsotruethatinmorerecenttimes,based
ontheArabictext,afewscholarshaveinvestigatedsomeofitsbuildingblocks,
beitinpassingor,liketheirpredecessors,withonespecificsourceoronespe-
cificsectionoftheworkinmind,andgenerallyfocusingonGreekmaterial.6
* ThecorrectArabictitleoftheworkthatformsthebasisofthepresentstudyisal-Kitāb
al-Ḥāwī or“TheComprehensiveBook”.Forreasonsofstyle,however,andwhenpreceded
bytheEnglishdefinitearticleorbyagenitivecase,Iamusingthroughoutthisstudythe
transliterationKitābal-Ḥāwī,droppingthefirstArabical-:sowewrite‘theKitābal-Ḥāwī’
(insteadof‘theal-Kitābal-Ḥāwī’)and‘Rhazes’Kitābal-Ḥāwī’(insteadof‘Rhazes’al-Kitāb
al-Ḥāwī’).
1 OnRhazesandthecompositionalhistoryoftheKitābal-Ḥāwīseepp.1–7and60f.below.
2 SteiTo 468 “[…] indem ich eine Monographie über die Quellen des Hawi überhaupt seit
längererZeitvorbereite”.
3 SoUllMed130,21ff.
4 LecHMA1/341,18f.and36ff.;BrAM50,6–9;UllMed130,19ff.;andmanyothers,mostspecif-
icallyDiMA45,19f.YetperhapsitisthegreatItalianhistorianofscienceAldoMieliwho
capturesbestthegeneralconsensusbysayingthat“[…]l’étudeapprofondied’al-ḥâwîserait
delaplushauteimportancepourl’histoiredessciences”,seeMieSci91note7.
5 DRRuf453–548(published1879);PerHoandPerMe passim(bothpublished1899);TiRha
passim(published1925).
6 WeiRezpassim(published1991)withWeiZit286–316(published1997)onGalen’sΘεραπευτικὴ