Dhanvantari. According to Hindu tradition, the first exponent of the medical arts. According to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, IV, 8, he was told in a previous incarnation that he would be born into a noble family and develop the eightfold medical system. Some accounts connect him with the king of Kāśī, which may have some historical foundation since Kāśī (the modern Banāras) has been a center of learning, especially medical learning, from early times down to the present day. The name is said to have been given in later times to physicians as a title as is nowadays the title "doctor".

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

dhanvan-tari m. (for ○vani-t○), 'moving in a curve', N. of a deity to whom oblations were offered in the north-east quarter Kauś. 74 Mn. iii, 85 MBh. xiii, 4662 (where ○tare wṛ. for ○tareḥ)
• of the sun MBh. iii, 155
• the physician of the gods (produced at the churning of the ocean with a cup of Amṛita in his hands, the supposed author of the Āyur-veda, who in a later existence is also called Divo-dāsa, king of Kāśi, and considered to be the founder of the Hindū school of medicine) MBh. Hariv. R. Suśr.
• Pur Rājat. vii, 1392 (dhānv○)
• N. of the author of a medical dictionary (perhaps the same mentioned among the 9 gems of the court of Vikramâditya) Cat.

dhanvantariguṇāguṇayogasata3dhanvan-tari--guṇâguṇa-yoga-sata n

Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by M. Monier William