It is known from an incomplete c. 1650 CE manuscript kept at the Sarasvati Mahal Library in Thanjavur, and a c. 9th century fragment found at Tuyoq.
The text is primarily in form of a dialogue between the sage Atreya[a] and his pupil Bhela (also called Bheḍa).
Singh theorizes that Bhela was from western India, based on an analysis of vegetables used for preparing medicines mentioned in the text.
The Bhela Samhita refers to several practices that originated in the Gupta period, such as chanda-karman and the worship of Shiva on a cremation ground.
For example, on the topic of applying enema to children, the Kaashyapa-samhita (possibly c. 7th century[6]) attributes an opinion to Bhela which disagrees with the Thanjavur text.
[8] A fragment of Bhela Samhita survives as one page from a paper manuscript found at Tuyoq, dated to c. 9th century.
It was discovered by Indologist Heinrich Lüders among a collection of manuscripts brought to Europe by archaeologist Albert von Le Coq.
[1] This can be inferred from the fact that later authors often quote Bhela, but only a few of these quotations are present (some partially) in the Thanjavur manuscript text.
Bhela Samhita is one of the sources for the Persian-language text Ma'din al-Shifa (1512), and Ibn Sina may have also been aware of it.