Authorship
Several physicians named Viswanatha Sen are present in the history of ayurveda. The identity of the author becomes controversial since CCRAS (Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha) published a text ''Chikitsarnava'' in two parts by a different author also named Viswantha Sen, according to Mahesh Kumar C.S., the latest editor of ''Viswanatha Chikitsa''. The author of ''Chikitsarnava'' lived in West Bengal while the author of ''Viswanatha Chikitsa'' first lived in West Bengal and moved to Orissa to work as King Prataparudra Gajapathi's court physician. In 1990 CCRAS published an article that mentions ''Chikitsarnava'' and ''Viswanatha Chikitsa'' as distinct. Sen is believed to be the author of another book, ''Pathyapathyavinischaya''. Sen claimed that his father was Mahendranath and his teacher was Prabhakara. Mahendranath must be a follower of either Gananath Sen (1877–1945) or Gananath Sen's father, Viswanath Sen. Vaidya Prabhakara was mentioned by Acharya Priyavrata Sharma. Prabhakara is believed to be the father of Vaidya Ramachandra, who authored the work ''Indrakosha'' (a lexicon on medicinal plants). Probably, he is Sen's teacher. Viswanatha Vaidya (1623–76), son of Narayana is probably the author of ''Kosakalpataru''.Sharma P.V., Ayurved ja Vaijnanik Itihas (page 447). Published by Chakhambha Prathishthan, Varanasi. 1880.Structure
It is a small text consisting of seven chapters in total, each chapter containing ten formulations: * Swarasa Prakarana (freshly extracted juices) * Kashaya prakarana (decoctions) * Churna prakarana (powders) * Asava-Arishta prakarana (fermented products) * Avaleha prakarana (linctus) * Ghrita-taila prakarana (medicated ghee & oils) * Gutika prakarana (tablets & pills)References
{{Reflist Ayurvedic texts 1921 documents