Transmission history and textual criticism of the Sanskrit Jivakapustaka in light of the Mahatikta formula and its Siddhasara parallel

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.