Post-Classical Indian Traditions of Medical Debate and Argumentation

Abstract

The RogÄrogavÄda, “A Debate on Illness and Health,” by VÄ«Ì„reÅ›vara, is a polemical work on traditional Indian medicine, written in 1669.  This  paper discusses and evaluates the RogÄrogavÄda as a contribution to medical dialectic in the pre-colonial period.  It also examines the modes of argumentation employed by VÄ«reÅ›vara, and compares them with earlier models of medical dialectic from the classical saṃhitÄs and from Jayantabhaá¹­á¹­a's NyÄyamañjarÄ«.