appears to be no other than the celebrated Vagbhata of Sindh, who was in his time known as a second Charaka or Chara — the syllable "Ka" making no difference, as in words like "bala" and "balaka," both meaning a child. The great works of Charaka and Sushruta were translated into Arabic, under the patronage of Khalif Almansur, in the seventh century. The Arabic version of Sushruta is known by the name of "Kelale-Shaw-shoor-al-Hindi." These translations, in their turn, were rendered into Latin. The Latin versions formed the basis of European medicine, which remained indebted to the eastern medicine down to the seventeenth century.
In the reign of King Vikrama (b.c. 57) Indian medicine was in the heyday of its glory. The ruler was a great patron of learning, and his court was made brilliant by the nine learned men, known as the "Nine Gems," a physician named Dhanvantari being one of them. It may be well to mention here that there have been several persons bearing the name of Dhanvantari, which is generally applied to an accomplished physician. The "gem" referred to as adorning Vikrama's court was the author of an elaborate work on Materia Medica, called Nighantu.
