Transmission history and textual criticism of the Sanskrit <i>Jīvakapustaka</i> in light of the <i>Mahātikta</i> formula and its <i>Siddhasāra</i> parallel

Abstract The Āyurvedic medical treatise known as Jīvakapustaka is preserved in an incomplete tenth-century manuscript from Dunhuang, which alternates Sanskrit verse and Late Khotanese prose. This article pursues two primary objectives. Firstly, it offers a new edition, translation, and linguistic commentary on both the Sanskrit original and the Khotanese rendition of the Mahātikta formula ( Jīvakapustaka 38), with comparative remarks on its parallel in the Sanskrit Siddhasāra 12.11. Secondly, it traces the transmission history of the sole surviving manuscript of the Jīvakapustaka , focusing on omissions in the Mahātikta formula as a key piece of evidence.