Bull. Ind. Inst. Hist. Mad. Vol. XXII pp. 53 to 59

CAKRAPA01DATTA

P. K J. P. SUBHAKTHA*

ABSTRACT

Chakrapanidatta was a famous commentator, compiler, and physician. Hebelonqed to a noble vaidya family. Chakrapanidatta was one 01 the brightest amongthe luminaries of India during the eleventh century. Chakrapanidatta stands as a milestone in the field of writing commentaries on the texts of Ayurveda, which earned forhim the three most valuable titles ever achieved by an Ayurvedic physician, viz. CharakaChaturanana, Sushruta Sahasranayana and Mahamahopadhyaya.

His skill lies in his capacity for presenting the difficult texts in simplest possibleforms. Chakrapanidatta was the first to incorporate metallic recipes in Ayurvedictreatment which ;;150deserves appreciation . 'He earned the fame very early in life andammassed so much wealth that till recently his descendants lived as big Zamindars.

INTRODUCTION:

Cakrapanidatt a, a famous Ayur-vedic physician, commentator andcompiler, who flourished during11th century A.D. is called 'CarakaCaturanana' for his 'Ayurveda Dipika'commentory on Caraka Sarnhita whichis an invaluable work and a treasureof Ayurvedic heritage and wisdom.Apart from this, many other importantworks on Ayurveda viz. Bl.anurnaticommentary on Susruta Sarnhita.Cakradatt a or Cikitsasara Sanqr aha,Muktavali. Dravvaqur a Sanqraha, andVyagradaridra Subh ankar a etc. arealso to his credit. He stands as a

mile stone in the history of Ayurveda.Since the days of Aqnivesa, who wasthe first to write a comprehensivetreatise entitled "Aqnivesa Sarnhita"on Ayurveda from the view point ofthe school of physicians, the metallicpreparations were not in much usefor the treatment of various diseases.Cakrapanidatt a who came out formore and more usage of the alchemicalmedicines and inclusion of Rasapar-pari and Tamrayoga is very valuablecontribution made by him towardsenrichment of Ayurveda. Thus heproved himself to be a physician ofan exceptional genius in the historyof /l.yurveda.

;>Re£carchAssistant (Ay), Indian Institute of History of Medicine, Hyderabad.

54HIS PARENTAGE AND PLACE OFBIRTH:

Cakarapanidatta was an inhabitantof Moureshwar, a village in thedistrict of Bribhum in the sub-divisionof Rampurhat of Bengal. Moureshwaris just six miles away from Ekacha-kranagari where the five Pal)davasare believed to have spent a part oftheir exile period. This place wasmostly inhabited by the famousbrahrnanas and vaidyas. His familywas one of the very highly culturedfamilies of Bengal. Cakarapanidattawas tho younger brother of 'Bhanu-datta' who was the commander-in-chief of the Bengal. According to anaccount given by Cakrapanidattaabout himself in his book 'ChikitsasaraSanqraha.' he was the younger brotherof Bhanudatta and son of NArayal)a-datta coming from a kulin family ofl.odhr avali.! f\larayanadatta was thekitchen superintendent of the KingNavacala of Gouda. Naravandadattawas also a great physician ofexceptional merit and his serviceswere requisitioned by King Navapalavery often.

HIS PRECEPTOR:

Cakr apanidatta explains in hiscommentary on Car aka Samhita

Bull. Ind. Inst. Htst, iVIed. Vol. XXII

named Ayurveda Dipika that, he wasa pupil of Naradatta, a famousphysician of that time.

"Naradatta quruddhist a car akar-tharthanuqrarninl Kriyate Cakra-dattena t ikavurvedadipika".

Cakrapanidatta has acknowledgedthat, his guru had given him necessaryguidance in writing the AyurvedaDipika commentary, which hasimmortalised his name in the historyof Ayurveda.

HIS DATE:Since historians have fixed

Navapala's" time between 1040-1070A.D. the period of Cakrapanidatta maybe fixed conveniently in the middleof the 11 th century. ChronologicallyCakrapanidatta is posterior to VrndaMadhava, because Cakrapai.idatta inhis work Cikitsasara Sanqraha hasreferred to 'Siddhayoga' the work ofVrnda Madhava, Cakrapanidatta ismentioned by Dalhana in his NibandhaSangraha (p.1653).

"Pancarnull Mahatiti Candrikakar ahSwalpeti Cakrapaui".

So he is anterior to Dalhaua, wholived in the last quarter of 12thcentury A.D. Cakrapa nidatta must not

1. Colophon in Chakradatta or Childtsasara Sangraha and at tho end of his Avurve dadi pik a

commentary of Char ak a Sarnh.t a, Siddhisthana . 'Goudadhinath Rasvatyadhikariptra Narayanasya

tanayahasunayoantarangat Bhanoranu prathita Lodhravali Kulinaha Sri chakr apanrihark ar tr p adadhik ar l . '

2. The su:g;cal in s tt urr e r.t s cf the Hindus by GlIn dr e ne t h Mukhopadhya~a Vol. I. p. 29-31.

Cakrapa:lidatta-Subha ktha

be confounded with another authorof later date Cakrapanidasa. the authorof 'Abhinava Cintarnani':

HIS RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY:

Cakrapanidatta was a greatdevotee of Lord Siva. He built atemple of 'Cakrapaueswar? in Moure-shwar in the district of Bribhum.Still it is there in dilapidatedcondition. Cakrapanidatta has hand-led Ayurveda with a philosophicalattitude. He had a profoundknowledge of Hindu philosophy whichreflects in almost all his works. Justas many scholars of that time, he toowas influenced by Buddhism. Hiswritings prove that, Buddhism hadconsiderable impact on him andbeing a true philosopher and scholarhe had deep respect for philosophy ofBuddhism. Moreover his father wasan employee of the successor of thegreat Buddhist King Nayap5.la ofGouda. He mentions many Buddhistterms and places in describingmedicined formulae. He used thenames Mahabodhiprade-.a. Magadha,Bodhi Satyena Bha sitharn. Sukhavalivarti, Sougatam, Anjanam. Thus wesee that he named some of hisformulations in Buddhistic terms.

THE WORKS OF CAKRAPA01DATTA :

1. Cikitsa-Saru-Sanqr aha or Cakradatta:

Cikitsa: ara sanqraha or Cakr adatta,IS it is popular ly known as important

r

•-----._------------:----.

3. Chakr o penic.atte by G. N. Mukhop3dhay

56or Cikitasasara sanqr aha. Duringthe whole of the 19th century andright upto the first quarter of the20th century, Cakradatta exerted thegreatest possible influence on thephysicians of Bengal. In the begin-ning of the 19th century right uptothe 20th century as many as sevendifferent editions of Cakradatta haveappeared. They were edited bydifferent prominent physicians,Several publication houses have alsopublished Cakradatta Sarnhita withTattva Candrika commentary ofSivadas a SEn. But no new edition ofCakradatta has been published in thesecond half of the 20th century.

EDITIONS OF THE CAKRADATTA:

1. Cakradatta with Tattva-Candrika.Published by Kaviriija AbhavanandaGupta, Calcutta.

2. Cakradatta or Cikitsasara Sanqrahawith 1,'ika by ~ivadasa Sen.Printed and published by Beni-rnadhav Dey & Co.

3. Cakradatta or Cikitsasara Sangrahaedited by Kaviraja Pvar i MohanSen Gupta, Calcutta.

4. Cakradatta with Bengali transla-tion by Candra Kurnara Das aKavibhusan.

5. Cakradatta with Tattva-Candrikaand Bengali translation by .JasodhaNandan Sirkar, Calcutta.

Bull. Ind. Inst. Hist. Med, Vol. XXII

6. Cakradatta with Tattva-Candrika.Edited by~asibhusan Kaviranjan,Published by Jadvanatha Benerji,Calcutta.

7. Cakradatta with Tattva-Candrikaand Bengali translation. Publishedby Kaviraja Devendranatha Senand Upendranath Sen, Calcutta.

In Tattva-Candrika ~ivadasa Senadmits his work is based on anothercommentary Ratna Prabha, which heabridged. The Ratna Prabha com-mentary was written by Niscalakara,which is not available now-a-days.

In Cakradatta the author Cakra-panidatta has mentioned about 20authors and books. We know theirnames since they have been quotedby him. Some of those books werecertainly in existence during the timeof Cakradatta. The authors andbooks quoted by Cakrapanidatta areas follows:

1. Trinetra2. Vaqbha ta3. Caraka4. Susruta5. Bhaluki Tantra6. Sidhistana7. Vi~DU8. Krsnatreva9. Kiinkayana

10. Manibhadra11. Bodhisatra12. Bhaskara13. Asirus

Cekrepes.idette=Subhekthe

14. Nagarjuna15. Kasvapa16. Cvavana17. Siddhayoga18. Brahma19. Vaitarana20. Tara

2. Ayurveda Dipika :

This is his commentary on theCaraka Sarnhita. Though Cakrapani-datta admits, that his work is basedon mainly the work of his preceptorNaradatta, with his inner vision of apoetic genious and the analyticalspirit of a scholar of science he hasgiven it a stamp of originality. Itgives the reader a very wide andcomprehensive knowledge of Ayur-veda. Cakr apanidatta quoted aboutfifty auhers and books of Ayurvedaextensively in this commentary. Butit is very unfortunate that all theseauthors are lost into oblivion. Theauthors and books quoted as authori-ties by Cakr apanidatta in Ayurvedadipika are as follows:

Haritha, Nighantukara, l.alitasuara,Jatukarna, Visvarnitra. Atreya, Drclh a-ba!a, Agastya, Rasqvirnana. Nvava,Carvaka, Saukhya Bharata, Kharanada,Daruvaha, Bhalluki, Puskalavata,Salakya, Salya, Rasavana. Agara,Sauta Haksita, Sudhasastra, Dalhana-carva, Harisc andra, Kapivala, Vis akha.Vagbhata. Vaidvak a. Kasyapa, Videha,Karala, Kausitaki, Bhadra Saunaka,K~ara Pani or Kshira Pani. Kamalasila.Jyoti~a,KrSl)at'reya, Cvavana, Agni-vesa, Caksusyena, Bhimdanta orDatta, PiirJsara, Bhoja, Sena, Asada-varrna. Palakapya.

573. Bhanurnati :

This is a commentary written byCakrapanidatta on Susruta Samhita,which is also called Susrutatatparva-tika. This is regarded as a monumen-tal work done by Cakrapani. Thewhole manuscript was in existencein the famous library of BanarasSanskrit College.4 But a BritishIndologist has taken it to Englandand there after its whereabouts arenot known. Bha numati was con-taining a rich information about theanatomical knowledge of the ancientHindus.

4. Muktavali :This is yet another important

work by Cakrapa ni. It is a dictionaryof Ayurveda dealing with the natureand properties of medicinal drugs.

5. Dravvaquna Caudrika or Dravya-quna Sangraha :

It deals with the properties of allthe drugs mentioned in Car aka.Susrut a and Vagbhata. This work isalso called as Cakradatta. Anupana,Dinacarya and Rtucarva also findplace in it. Sivadas a Sen has writtena commentary on this book also.6. Sabdacandrika :

This is a vocabulary of vegetableand mineral substances and also alist of animals and a chapter oncompounds of both medicine anddiet.

7. Vyagra-Daridra-Subhankara :

It is an Ayurvedic compendiumfor the everyday use of the poor andyoung vaidyas having small income.

58

1. Aqnivesa

2. Carak a

3. Caraka

4. Hoeroele A.F.R.

5. Julius Jolly

6. Kutumbiah P.

7. Mukhopadhyaya G.N.

8. Mukhopadhyaya G.N.

9. Prabhakar Chaterji

10. Ray P & Gupta H.N.

11. Srikantamurthy K.R.

12. Sharma P.V.

13. Vaidyalankara, A.

BUll. tnd, Inst. Hist. Med. Vol. XXII

REF[RENCES1949 'Caraka Samhita Vol. I, SGAS Jamnagar

pages 73 & 92.

1892 'Car aka Sarnhita' complete text withCekrapanidatta's commentary, ed. byHarinatha Visarad a, Calcutta.

1941 Caraka Sarnhita complete text withAyurveda dipikji ed. by Yadavji Trikarnji,Niraya sagar Press, Bombay.

1907 'Studies in the Medicine of AncientIndia' Vol. I. Pub, by University ofOxford.

1951 'Indian Medicine' translated by C.G.Kashikar. Poona.

1962 'Ancient Indian Medicine', Pub. by OrientLongmans.

1913 'Surgical Instruments of ancient Hindus'Vol. I, Calcutta University, pages 29-31.

1927 'Cakrapanidatta' pub. by Jitendra N.M.

1962 'Cakrapani', The Greatest Physician ofthe Ayurvedic world in the 11 th cent.'Nagarjuna Vol. V. No.5, January,p. 389 to 407.

1965 Caraka Sarnhita (A Scientific synopsis)NISI New Delhi, P. 1 to 3.

1968 'Luminaries of Indian Medicine'l.ed.pub. by the author, Mysore-4, p. 62-64.

1985 Caraka Sarnhita Vol. III, Chaukhambha.

1960 Ayurveda ka Brihat lthihasa, Hindi SamitiG ranthrnala- 33, Prakashana Shakha,Suchana Vibhaga, Uttara Pradesh.

Cakrapal)idatta Subhaktha 59

:q';fi'Tlfur~~ ~~ ~Sff«~ GTifiTIfiT~.~~~!fiT-: ~'iT f:qf