history of herbal medicine ayurvedic & … · southern section juts into the indian ocean, ......

HISTORY OF HERBAL MEDICINE AYURVEDIC & TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE LESSON 6

Wild Rose College of Natural Healing ©2017

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Lesson 6 Ayurvedic and

Traditional Chinese Medicine

INTRODUCTION Within this herbal medicine history course, we have presented you with the basic elements that have influenced health care and herbal medicine over the ages, leading up to the role of the modern clinical herbalist. We would be remiss however, if we didn't mention the enormous contributions of Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). These two systems of health care from India and China, respectively, collectively represent over 8,000 years of medical history: their practices literally founded upon millions of hours of clinical experience. Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese medicine have much to offer the modern herbal clinician, from their huge materia medica and efficacious formulations, to sophisticated methods of assessment, such as pulse and tongue diagnosis. Nonetheless, the true scope of these systems is beyond this introductory course, however we want you, the student, to be aware of this vast storehouse of knowledge. After you advance in your training and understand the basic tenets of Western herbal medicine, we will then turn to the practical workings of these profound systems of healing in another course.

Fig 6.0 Representation of ‘Balance’ in both TCM and Ayurveda



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India covers almost 3.3 million square kilometers in South Asia, and according to plate tectonic theory, can be visualized as more or less a large triangular landmass pushing upwards into the Asian continent. The base of the triangle is its northern edge, the focal area of impact between these two continents. This massive collision over millions of years has resulted in the towering Himalayas: huge sharp folds of land that once nursed an inland sea between India and Asia called the Tethys. The southern section juts into the Indian Ocean, with the island of Sri Lanka trailing along, the Arabian Sea lapping at its shores to the west, and the Bay of Bengal lying to the east. It is a land of enormous geographic and ecological diversity: from the glacial streams and apricot orchards in mountainous Kashmir to the north; the ivory-colored deserts and fields of mustard in Rajasthan in the west; the rice paddies and tumultuous rains of the Gangetic delta in Bengal to the east; and the cardamom and coffee plantations and the emerald greenery of tropical Kerala to the south.

The archeological record suggests that humans have lived in what is now India for well over 300,000 years. Paleolithic tools such as arrowheads and polished stone axes can be found all over the Indian subcontinent, from the barren mountains of Afghanistan down into the deep south of tropical India (Basham 1954, 10-11). Although the subcontinent of India has long been known throughout recorded history as an ancient center of learning and knowledge, the historical extent of its influence is a subject still unfolding. The earliest archeological evidence of human civilization found thus far on the subcontinent dates back between 7000 and 4000 BCE, mostly found in the Sindh and Baluchi areas of southern Pakistan, representing ancient village farming communities and pastoral camps (Chengappa 1998). ln 1920, European archeologists found engraved seals near present-day Sahiwal in the Punjab region of Pakistan, in a place now referred to as Harappa (Rahman, n.d.). Further excavations at Harappa, and at a similar site called Mohenjo-daro along the banks of the Indus river (near modern-day Sukkur, Pakistan), uncovered two ancient urban societies, built upon a geometric grid, complete with aqueducts for in-home running water, and a sophisticated system of sewers. Radiocarbon dating has shown that these settlements are very old indeed, reaching back as far as the 3rd millennium BCE. Collectively, the discoveries at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa yielded the first inklings of the enormity of what was initially

Fig 6.1 Harappa Artifacts



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called the Indus Valley civilization, home to the Harappan people of ancient India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Subsequent archeological findings, supported by satellite imaging have suggested that the heart of Harappan culture was further inland, along what today is the dry bed of the Ghaggar river and tributaries, where close to 200 Harappan sites have been laid out. Some archeologists believe this river was described in the Rig Veda, the oldest extant writings of ancient India, as the Sarasvati River, giving rise to the moniker “Sarasvati Civilization,” or if including the Indus river sites, the “Sarasvati-Sindhu Civilization” (Sindhu being the original name for the Indus). Altogether, the extent of the Harappan civilization appears to have encompassed 1.5 million square kilometers, an area larger than Western Europe, and comprised of over 300 cities, dwarfing the size of ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization (Chengappa 1998). There are however, some important questions about Harappan culture that remain unresolved. The most important of these is the Indus script, a unique form of hieroglyphic writing that is displayed on many of the archeological specimens found at Harappan sites, but remains undeciphered. Until this script is deciphered, archeologists can only speculate on the complexities of this highly evolved civilization.

As the Indus script remains undeciphered, archeologists and scholars can only speculate on what the health care practices of the ancient Harappans must have been. From what can be pieced together from the archeological evidence it is clear that Harappan society was centered around, religious ideas of fertility and abundance, manifested in their worship of the archetypal Mother goddess. It appears that the ancient Harappans worshipped fire as the archetypal seed in the eternal cycle of life and death, contained in a ritualistic sphere as the hearth of the home, or the womb (Atre 1987). Although some of these religious concepts remain preserved in modern Hinduism, it is likely that this emphasis manifested itself in a social sphere as well, with no clear separation of spirituality based on gender (Atre 1987). Based on this supposition, it could be that ancient Harappan health care practices were not too dissimilar from other, similarly goddess-orientated agrarian cultures like Mesopotamia. From the various artifacts that have been uncovered, it is likely that the healing techniques of the Harappans were shamanistic. There are several depictions of individuals wearing elaborate costumes such as a horned headdress, seated in what appear to be yogic asanas (postures). If persons such as these were relied upon for their healing skills, it is likely that it took some form of ritualistic magic, including elements of ecstatic dance, the recitation of certain mantras (incantations), exorcism, astral travel, and the use of certain herbs and amulets (Zysk 1998, 12-13). Unique to Harappan culture however was an

Fig 6.2 Harappan city ruins



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emphasis upon personal and public hygiene, as most Harappan cities included a bath and toilet in every dwelling, with a drainage system to remove wastes and covered sewers in the middle of the streets to carry the waste away from the city. Water was likely perceived as the source of all life, that which sustained the Harappan cultivation of barley and rice, the economic basis of this ancient agrarian civilization. In Mohenjo-daro, one of the earliest Harappan sites uncovered, archeologists have speculated that the so-called "Great Bath" in the citadel area served as a place to perform religious ablutions in the sacred waters (Zysk 1998, 12-13).

ANCIENT INDIAN CIVILIZATION: THE VEDIC ARYANS At one time archeologists believed that the demise of Harappan civilization occurred as the result of a series of invasions conducted by a group of Indo - European nomadic peoples who called themselves "Aryans" (noble-born). The actual evidence for such events however is fairly weak, and it is likely that Harappan civilization was already in a period of decline well before the Aryans arrived in the subcontinent. According to the predominant theory, the war-like Aryans conquered the indigenous Harappan peoples, and forced them southward. Over several centuries, the Aryans established and imposed the caste system. The Brahmans -the Aryan priests- were the highest caste, and the Shudras -the farmers- were the lowest. The term "shudra" can be translated variously as "black, coarse, and slave," and as such, one could speculate that these were the original Harappans: the dark - skinned, sudroid (austral-negroid) people of South India. According to the Aryan invasion theory, the Brahmans perfected Sanskrit, the native language of the Aryans, and by about 1750 - 1400 BCE organized their many elaborate rituals and religious ideas into a body of scriptures called the Rig Veda. Today the 1028 hymns, organized into ten chapters which comprise the Rig Veda, is central to the practice of Hinduism, and young Brahmin priests spend countless hours committing these scriptures to memory.

HEALING IN THE RIG VEDA While the Rig Veda is mostly a collection of hymns to various deities, the texts also make passing references to various diseases and healing plants, and which deities were important players in health and wellness. One important substance mentioned throughout the Vedas is soma, which, if taken literally, was an apparently psychotropic agent that gave the user a feeling of tremendous power and ability:

As the carpenter bends the seat of a chariot I bend this frenzy around my heart! Have I been drinking soma? -Rig Veda, X, 119:5

Fig 6.4 The Rig Veda

Fig 6.3 Aryan invasion



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It appears that soma was drunk only during certain religious rituals, prepared with great ceremony during the course of the ritual, when the plant or material was ground between stones, mixed with milk, strained, and then drunk (Basham 1954, 235). Its effects appear to have been fairly immediate, and there is no indication that it was a fermented beverage of any kind. Other writers have variously speculated that soma was the stimulant Ephedra sinica (Ephedra, Ma Huang), the inebriant Cannabis sativa (marijuana), the mildly psychotropic Rhazya stricta (Syrian Rue, Harmala), or the very potent psychotropic mushroom Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric), also used by the shamans of Siberia (Basham 1954, 235-36; Riedlinger 1993). Other researchers however feel that soma was a gold- silver ore, which was purified to yield potable gold and silver after reducing and oxidizing the baser metals with the help of various plants and bones as reducing agents (Kalyanaraman 1993). This is based upon an analysis that the entire Rig Veda is in fact a metallurgical allegory - a secret text on the practice of alchemy (Kalyanaraman 1993). Another Vedic text, compiled slightly later than the Rig Veda, is the Atharvaveda, the book utilized by the Aryan "fire" priests who were skilled in the ways of magic and fire worship (Agnihotra) (Zysk 1998, 14; Feuerstein 1997, 40). The Atharvaveda contains an assortment of magical spells and incantations to achieve a variety of purposes, such as protection from demons, to secure healthy children, and to succeed in battle. The Atharvaveda also contains many passages on health and healing however, and sets the stage for the development of yogic practices such as pranayama (Feuerstein 1997, 40). The practice of medicine among the Vedic Aryans was essentially magical: disease was thought to be the result of malevolent demons, typically occasioned by the breach of certain taboos, or sorcery. Injuries such as broken bones however were related to clearly established cause and effect relationships, such as an accident or wounds received in battle, and in some cases, "demonically motivated" insects, which could also be a cause of disease (Zysk 1998, 15). The bases of Vedic healing practices were essentially the same as ancient Mesopotamian or Egyptian practices: internal, invisible disease was a manifestation of supernatural causes, whereas external, visible disease was the result of mundane causes. (Zysk 1998, 15). Vedic healers classified disease according to two basic types: Yakshma (consumption) and Takman (fever). Yakshma was a deficiency disease, characterized by wasting and weakness, whereas takman represents a condition of excess, where it was the accumulation of morbid wastes that disrupted the normal function of the body. Symptoms that didn't fit into either of these categories might be variously classified as parasitic conditions, constipation, mental illness, etc. Ayurvedic medicine later expanded the number of diseases and their classification according to the

Fig 6.5 Amanita muscaria

Fig 6.6 Amanita and the Vedas and Bible



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tridosha theory. Diagnosis in ancient Vedic healing, unlike that of Mesopotamia and Egypt, did not include divination. Rather, the determination of the cause of disease was based upon the identification or the primary and recurring signs and symptoms, each of which represented a particular demonic influence (Zysk 1998, 15). Treatment was carried out by the use or combination of amulets, the recitation of sacred scripture (mantra), and herbal and animal-based remedies. The practitioners of Vedic medicine were the bhishaj (lit. "healers"), who practiced rather mundane functions such as bone-setting and remedy preparation in combination with complex and often elaborate healing rituals. Although the role of the bhishaj is mentioned in the Rig Veda, it is clear, at least in later centuries, that the physician was held in contempt by his priestly counterpart, for no other reason except the nature of his profession. The bhishaj would consort with all people from all castes, unlike the Brahmin-priests who could be “contaminated” by associating with the lesser castes. Thus, these early physicians of the Vedic period in India appear to have existed outside the mainstream, and many of them, like the wandering rhizotomoi in ancient Greek medicine, would travel from place to place, sometimes outside the Aryan cultural milieu, earning their livelihood by attending the sick and collecting their remedies from the wild. Their contact with non-Aryan culture, as well as the exchange of medical information between wandering practitioners that met each other on the road, probably initiated an empirical approach to healing, further alienating them from the orthodox magico-religious orientation of the Brahmins. In later centuries however, the body of medical practices established by the bhishaj would later become part of the brahmanic tradition, and the heterodox origin of ancient Indian medicine would be erased in favor of an orthodox perspective. Thus, according to the orthodoxy, the origins of Ayurvedic medicine are divine: fully formed and eternal, revealed to Gods and humanity by Brahma, Lord of Creation. Despite this expropriation by the orthodoxy, the penultimate text of Ayurvedic medicine, the Charaka samhita, reveals its true origin in its title: the word charaka is a masculine noun of the root word "char," which means, "to wander" (Zysk 1998, 33).



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THE RISE OF BUDDHISM Among the sages that wandered through the forests of India there is perhaps no other in all of human history that had the kind of impact of Gautama Siddhartha. Born as a prince of a tribal king in what is today modem Nepal, Gautama would reject his birthright and leave his family to

become a wandering ascetic, seeking to find a reason for all the pain and suffering of this world. Seated under a Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) hundreds of miles from his home, after years of self-deprivation and arduous fasting, Gautama realized that his answer lay not in discovering a reason for suffering, but rather, to understand that suffering is the fundamental truth of existence. Meditating on this eternal truth, the Buddha suddenly understood that the path that leads from suffering is the cessation of the self: not through self - denial and arduous penance, but rather, through the cultivation of compassion for all living beings; and the destruction of the three-fold defilements of hatred, ignorance, and craving that eventually bring sorrow and pain to all living beings. With this realization, it is said that the Buddha attained the complete, final and total

cessation of suffering, moving to a sphere beyond life and death into the final, blissful perfection of nirvana. After initial doubts, the Buddha decided to share this knowledge with the rest of the world, shortly afterwards attracting a group of forest-dwelling ascetics that sensed some amazing event had taken place. His retinue of followers quickly grew: first local cow-herders and travelers, followed by villagers and then townspeople. Buddhist tradition suggests that many of his followers immediately attained enlightenment in his presence, listening to but a single discourse of his teaching, and that these enlightened beings went forth to spread these profound teachings all across the India and the known world. For eight months of the year the Buddha would wander the Gangetic plains of India, silently begging for food, teaching and gathering disciples, and for the remaining four months of the rainy season, residing in one of the makeshift monasteries that were donated to him and his order of monks by wealthy land owners. The Buddha apparently continued this tradition for several decades, in a ministry that seemed unscathed by prejudice or persecution, until his death at the age of eighty (Basham 1954, 260). Upon his death the Buddha reminded his community of followers, the sangha, that there was to be no leader to follow him: the dharma (or doctrine) that he had preached was all there was to inspire them. He reminded them that they must be a light unto themselves, relying on no one else, looking for no refuge beyond the dharma. The Buddha's discourse with the villagers of Kesaputta, the Kalamas, sums up the Buddha's empirical spirituality:

Fig 6.7 The Buddha



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"It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, `The monk is our teacher.' Kalamas, when you yourselves know: `These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them." - Anguttara Nikaya, Kalama Sutra, 4 - 10 Shortly following the Buddha's death his order of monks gathered together and compiled his teachings. Within two hundred years a large gathering of monks took place, during which the Pali Canon was written (4th cent. C.E.), forming the heart of the most authentic Buddhist teachings today.

Successive councils reinforced these teachings, and within another 200 years the teachings of the Buddha had more or less become a kind of religion, with several orders of practicing monks, and a growing body of lay followers that supported them.

BUDDHIST MEDICINE As liberation from suffering is a central tenet of Buddhism, there was commensurate emphasis upon health and wellness early on in its development, with compassion directed towards the sick and injured. Built into the rules of conduct for Buddhist initiates (called the Vinaya Pitaka) was a provision for health care: that along with one meal a day (which was obtained through begging), clothing fashioned from discarded cloth, and sleeping at the foot of a tree (nuns excepted), monks could utilize cow's urine as a therapeutic agent, a medicament mentioned extensively in Ayurvedic medicine in the treatment of a wide range of disorders. This initial provision for the prevention and treatment of disease was soon expanded to a

vast array of medicinal herbs and foods, with the Buddha actively encouraging fellow monks and nuns to take care of each other. Thus, out of necessity, many Buddhists became skilled in the practice of medicine,

and continuing in the tradition of the Vedic bhishaj, wandered the countryside, meditating, teaching, and tending the sick. Similar to the bhishaj, it is clear that the wandering Buddhist physicians had an empirical approach to health care, but founded upon a uniquely Buddhist perspective called the Four Noble Truths: • That life is suffering: not simply pain and sorrow, but as an existential reality, the fundamental disquiet and deep emptiness that occurs with change, loss, death, and decay;

Fig 6.8 Buddhist Mandala



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• That suffering arises because we ignore this fundamental truth, react to it unconsciously and perpetuate further pain and sorrow by our thoughts, words, and actions; • That there is a path that leads to the end of suffering; • That the path that leads to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path (i.e. right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration).

The Buddha, fundamentally, was concerned with nothing other than the end of suffering: he refused to discuss an ultimate cause or divine purpose. Life, death and rebirth are points along a spinning, eternal wheel of existence called samsara: "Inconceivable is the beginning of this samsara; not to be discovered is a first beginning of beings, who, confounded by ignorance and ensnared by desire, are hurrying and hastening through this round of rebirths." -Samyutta-Nikaya 15, 3:13, 5 This existential perspective fostered a spirit of rational inquiry and empiricism into all aspects of life, including health care. Monks and nuns that practiced and taught principles of health were often, at odds with the brahminical healing systems of the Rig Veda, which placed a strong emphasis upon divination and complex rituals to heal the body. This rational approach became

institutionalized in Buddhist centers of teaching, with both members of the sangha and the laity studying and practicing medicine. Through time, and as Buddhism was shaped by the different cultures it spread through, the only portion of the Pali Canon that remained unaffected was the Vinaya Pitaka (Zysk 1998, 51-2). This massive text is usually referred to as a list of rules that both monks and nuns need to abide in order to participate in the sangha, but also contains much other information. In the chapter pertaining to rules of clothing, the texts describe the life and career of a lay-physician named Jivaka Komarabhacca, or simply, Jivaka. In the original Pali texts of Theravada Buddhism, the birth of Jivaka is occasioned by his promiscuous mother giving her infant son up to a slave, who then abandons him. Other accounts in Sanskrit and Tibetan are similar, but in the Chinese version Jivaka was born with acupuncture needles in his hand (Zysk 1998, 53). This account and other literary evidence suggests that acupuncture may be Indian in origin, although its practice has been lost to Ayurveda. Buddhist centers of learning such as Takshashila (Taxila - formerly located on the Indus River in modern-day Pakistan) containing the Buddhist monks, nuns, physicians, and teachers that would have preserved this knowledge were attacked successively; first by the Greek and Chinese invaders in the third and second centuries BCE, and then consumed by the Persian Sassanid Emperor Shapur I in the 3'd century C.E. (Ras 1994, 2-4; Basham 1954, 58--61). Whereas Takshashila

Fig 6.8 The Wheel of Samsara



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survived the Greek and Chinese invasions, leading to the spread of Buddhism west and northward into China, the Sassanid Empire cut Takshashila off from its cultural link with India, and one of the world's first universities was gone forever. The most famous account of Jivaka's life occurs early in his life, as he was studying medicine at the university of Takshashila. The following account is an elaboration from the Vinaya Pitaka, and has since become a story that has inspired countless Ayurvedic physicians: "As a part of their final examinations, the teacher had asked his students to find one thing that could not be used as a medicine. As the students made their way back from their search, each one of them had found something that had no use as a medicine. After waiting an exceptionally long time, Jivaka returned to his teacher, crestfallen and empty handed. He had found no substance, which in some way, could not be used as a medicine. To his surprise, the teacher congratulated Jivaka and gave him his blessing as a healer. The rest of the students, on the other hand, were berated: only Jivaka had truly understood the heart of Ayurveda" (Caldecott 2001, 3). The final portions of the Vinaya Pitaka contain a series of accounts that describe some of the treatment used by Jivaka, some obviously very advanced when we compare them to the state of medicine in other parts of the world. In the Pali version, Jivaka performs a kind of laparotomy on a young acrobat, suffering from strangulation of the bowel after performing an exercise, disentangling the affected organs (Zysk 1998, 56). In another account, Jivaka treats a young girl with a disease of the head using medicated butter-oil (i.e. Ghee, clarified butter) and applying it into the nose (Zysk 1998, 56). In one account from the Sanskrit version, Jivaka treats a man suffering from dropsy by having him drink a preparation of crushed radish seeds (Nigella sativa?), mixed together with water and buttermilk (Zysk 1998, 57).

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN AYURVEDA The impact that Buddhism had on India is undeniable. Although we know from the accounts of Hsuan Tsang (Xuanzang), a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim visiting India, that Buddhism was in decline by the 7th century, its long monastic history, and its emphasis upon non-violence and meditation shaped the popular resurgence of Vedic teachings. In turn, many of the healing and medical practices it influenced were preserved, but modified, at least on a theoretical basis, to support the evolving Hindu mythos. Some medical texts from this period, including the Ashtanga Sangraha and Ashtanga Hridaya authored by Vagbhata (c. 6th cent. C.E.), clearly reflect a Buddhist influence, such as the mention of the Buddha in the invocatory verse, the mention of Buddhist scholars, and the elaboration specific Buddhist practices (Srikanthamurthy 1994). The other two texts of prime importance to modern Ayurveda, the Charaka and Sushruta samhitas, are

Fig 6.9 The Charaka samhita



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devoid of any reference to Buddhism, causing some scholars to argue whether or not these texts were authored before or after the Buddhist period. As is often typical in Indian studies, the Hindu scholars place the authorship of these two texts well before the birth of the Buddha, and Western scholars placing the authorship of these texts after. Nonetheless, given the organic development of Indian culture, both medieval Ayurvedic and Buddhist medicine are born from a common mother: the bhishaj. The legacy of Buddhism in the development of medicine on the Indian subcontinent was its emphasis upon rational empiricism, and the construction of public hospitals to care for the sick, dying and injured. Just as the date of authorship is difficult to conclude, so to are the authors of the Charaka and Sushruta samhitas difficult to identify. According to orthodox tradition, Charaka was a disciple of Agnivesha, author of the yet -to-be-found Agnivesha samhita, who expounded a system of medicine learned from Indra, King of the Gods, who in turn learned it from Brahma, Lord of Creation. From a historical perspective however, some researchers have suggested that the Charaka samhita maybe a compilation of medical information from many different sources, such as the wandering bhishaj and Buddhist monks (Zysk 1998, 33). This would explain why the text lists a broad diversity of medical treatments for the same condition, and the mention of different schools of healing (see Charaka samhita, Sutrasthana, Ch. 25). Others have speculated that because the Charaka samhita appears to be written in a more-or-less strict Brahmanic style, with no mention of Buddhist practices, and because Vagbhata quotes extensively from it (or rather, from a later redaction by Drdhbala), that the Charaka samhita is therefore pre-Buddhist, and hence Vedic in origin. External evidence from Chinese sources suggests that Charaka was a physician of King Kanishka, placing its authorship in the first or second centuries C.E. While the Charaka samhita is a text of internal medicine (kczva chikitsa), using vegetable, animal and purified mineral remedies in the treatment of physical and mental disorders, the Sushruta samhita is a text on surgery. According to Ayurvedic tradition, in the course of history the teachings of surgery were lost to humanity. Filled with compassion, Lord Vishnu incarnated as Dhanvantari, God of Medicine, and taught the art and science of surgery (shalya chikitsa) to a physician named Sushruta, whose name means, "to listen sweetly." Like the Charaka samhita, finding an accurate date for when the text was originally compiled is problematic. Unlike the Charaka however, the Sushruta samhita displays a remarkable consistency in style and content, indicating that there was only one author. And, unlike the Charaka, the Sushruta samhita appears to be much more of a technical manual, spending less time than the Charaka discussing introductory concepts (Krishnamurthy 1991, 2). Thus, the Sushruta samhita likely represents the fruition of a highly developed system of surgery. Indeed, some of our modem surgical techniques, such as rhinoplasty, were taken directly from Ayurvedic physicians that practiced according to the tenets of the Sushruta samhita. Although some scholars place the authorship for the

Fig 6.10 Sushruta



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Sushruta samhita in the late Vedic period (e.g. 1000 B.C.E.), archeologists have found potsherds with the name "Dhanvantari" inscribed, at the site of what was at one time a Buddhist hospital (arogyashala). This site dates back to about the fourth century C.E., and suggests that Sushruta could have been a Buddhist surgeon (Zysk 1998, 45). Along with the Ashtanga Hrudaya, the Charaka and Sushruta samhitas form the Brihat trayi (Greater triad) of Ayurveda: the oldest and greatest of the Ayurvedic texts. As Hinduism began to reassert itself on the subcontinent, the ancient body of healing knowledge gradually became systematized into what is modem day Ayurveda. By the 14th century C.E., several important texts and commentaries had been added, including the Sharangadhara samhita. This text is primarily a text on pharmacy, discussing various procedures for preparing, storing, and dosing herbal remedies, including the preparation of base metals and mercury into relatively benign but efficacious therapeutic agents. It is one of the most important formularies in Ayurvedic medicine, relied upon to this day. Another important text, composed much earlier, is the Madhava nidanam. It was authored by about 700 C.E., and is completely devoted to the classification and description of various diseases. Along with another formulary, the Bhavaprakasha (c. 16th cent. C.E.), which still awaits translation into English, the Sharangadhara samhita and Madhava nidanam form the Laghu trayi (Lesser triad), of the extant works of Ayurveda. When the British assumed control over India in the mid 19th century, they spent a great deal of time and effort trying to "reform" its populace, another word for eradicating the subcontinent of its "primitive" and "un-Christian" practices. Thus, the practice of Ayurveda was systematically undermined by the British, and at one time to practice of Ayurveda was punishable by death. Nonetheless, Ayurveda continued to exist, but deprived of state funding its importance was relegated to the status of folklore, and many of its advanced techniques, such as the surgical techniques described in the Sushruta samhita, were lost. Instead, Western medicine became dominant in India, with the educated elite of the pre- and post-British India actively encouraging its populace to discard its time-honored traditions. Fortunately, this trend was countered in the late 1960's and early 70's under the government of Indira Gandhi. Ayurveda, as well as Unani medicine, began to receive the support of the central government, and since that time Ayurveda has been state-funded and regulated by the Indian Medicine Central Council Act of 1970. Today there are Ayurvedic colleges all over India, although the quality and content of the various programs can vary enormously. In some areas of India however, such as in the remote southern province of Kerala, Ayurvedic medicine was preserved despite the centuries of Arab, Persian and European invasions from northern India. Kerala and its various Ayurvedic hospitals, clinics, and colleges are the leading centers for the study and practice of Ayurveda.



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More recently, Ayurveda has undergone a resurgence in popularity, initially in North America, and now, as Indians are recognizing some of the pitfalls of Western Medicine, in India also. Unfortunately, many of the concepts promulgated as belonging to Ayurveda bear no relation to its historical practice. For example, Ayurveda is often equated with vegetarianism. This probably arose because it was the primarily vegetarian priestly caste of the Brahmins that preserved the practice of Ayurveda in medieval and modern times. Nonetheless, the extant texts of Ayurveda make no mention of vegetarianism, listing instead many products of animal origin, such as meat, bone, rendered fat, and certain organs, in the prevention and treatment of disease. It is in North America however, that such preconceptions and misinformation are especially rampant. One notable example is Swami Sadashiva Tirtha's text The Ayurvedic Encyclopedia, a voluminous text of Ayurvedic rationales and treatment programs that in many cases do not represent actual, time-honored Ayurvedic practices, and in some cases, are downright "dangerous" (Bergner, 17). Fortunately, there are several texts written by Westerners on the subject of Ayurveda that are a little more balanced in their perspective, such as those by David Frawley, Vasant Lad, Scott Gerson, and Edward Tarabilda.

THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF AYURVEDIC MEDICINE The entire practice of Ayurvedic medicine rests on the tridosha theory, a concept similar to the humoral system in Unani medicine. Some scholars have suggested that the true origin of Greek humoral concepts may in fact

have been Indian, and other have suggested vice versa, but this is difficult to prove either way. It is possible that both systems represent elements of a common medicine that was practiced by ancient agrarian peoples throughout West Asia. Others claim that it originally came from the Mongolian shamans and Aryans. According to the historical record, the earliest mention of the tridosha theory occurs in the Charaka samhita, which as was mentioned, is the oldest extant work on Ayurvedic medicine. Since the dating of the Charaka has proved a difficult and contentious issue, and no specific mention is made of the

tridosha theory in the Rig Veda, it is almost impossible to trace its origins. One can speculate however that the tridosha theory had been in existence for some time well before the Charaka was compiled, as it is well described and figures as the most prominent idea in the entire text. It seems logical that the transition from the homeopathic magical medicine typical of the Rig Veda to the humoral concept of tridosha was largely the innovation of the bhishaj. Unlike homeopathic medicine, the tridosha theory is "allopathic" in orientation, reflecting the idea that a condition or disease can be treated by using remedies which are opposite in nature. In choosing

Fig 6.11 Simple herbal formulations based on tridosha



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his remedy, the bhishaj was solely concerned with efficacious results, and functioning outside the orthodox elements of society, probably felt little compunction to adapt his methodologies to the perspective of the Aryan priest. Any number and variety of remedies that could be observed to repeatedly inhibit or reverse a condition were thus chosen over remedies that bore some magical similarity to a disease or symptom picture. It would be a mistake however to suggest that the tridosha theory superseded homeopathic notions in healing entirely; rather, elements of both systems can be found today in modem Ayurveda. Further, one of the foremost schools of modern homeopathy is Indian. The theoretical basis of Ayurvedic medicine is derived from Sankhya philosophy, one of the six Vedic darshanas or teachings that concerns the evolution of the universe and its constituents. According to this school of thought, the impetus for all phenomena exists in a latent or potential state called Purusha, which is synonymous with the spiritual idea of Brahman, the absolute and final state of being, similar to Meister Eckliart's conception of the godhead or the Chinese Tao. Emanating from Purusha is Prakriti, the active or kinetic state of being that brings all phenomena into existence. These phenomena, in turn, manifest themselves according to three basic qualities called the trimahagunas, or great (maha) three (tri) qualities (gunas). These are sattva, which represents the qualities of harmony, balance and mental clarity; rajas, representing the dynamic qualities of conflict, disturbance, and emotion; and lastly, tamas, which is synonymous with the qualities of inertia, darkness, and physicality. From tamas arises the five tanmatras, the subtle, sensory- manifestation of grosser elements of being. The tanmatras are smell (gandha), taste (rasa), sight (rupa), touch (sparsha), and sound (shabda). In turn, these subtle aspects of sensory experience form the panchabhutas, or five (pancha) elements (bhutas), that form the physical universe. These are ether (akasha), wind (vayu), fire (tejas), water (ap), and earth (prithvi). It is an interesting feature of Indian philosophy that perception logically precedes the physical universe, a concept that resonates with the Indian idea that our physical existence is by and large a manifestation of our own self-developed illusions. While in this lesson we use the term "element" to denote "bhuta ", it would be unwise to conclude that these were considered actual, physical components of corporeality; rather, the panchabhutas are considered to be present in the most minute sub-atomic phenomena as principles of function. In the physical body, these five elements combine to for in the three doshas: from earth and water comes Kapha; from fire, and to a lesser extent both water and air, comes Pitta; and from wind and ether comes Vata.



15

The term tridosha means the "three" (tri) "humors" (dosha), or more specifically, the three "defects" or "blemishes." These three components, namely, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, represent the functions of the body in normalcy, and when any one, two or all three of them exist in an increased or vitiated state, lead to the development of disease (hence the telin "blemish" or "defect"). Each dosha is represented by specific qualities (guna) and activities (karma) in the body. In an undisturbed state their function is said to be normal (samya), the result of which is the absence of disease (arogya). Foods, habits and environmental factors that are contrary to the qualities of a particular dosha bring about its decrease, while foods, habits and environmental factors that are similar to a particular dosha bring about its increase. Both these states of increase and decrease are considered abnormal, but it is increase that causes major disturbances, while decrease typically causes minor disturbances. Vata is the catalyst for all functions in the body, to such an extent that Ayurveda considers Pitta and Kapha lame without Vata's involvement. Vata comes from the Sanskrit root word "va," referring to "movement" and "enthusiasm." Thus Vata is ultimately responsible for all activities in the body, from the activities of the mind to acts of elimination. Although wind and ether are the elements that form Vata, they are neutral in temperament. Vata's influence in the body however is generally considered to be of a cold nature because the basic constitution of the human body (vis. water and earth) is cold. In the presence of heat Vata will assume and promote this duality. Vata's primary qualities however are cold, light and dry. In the body, Vata's primary seat of influence is the area below the umbilicus, including the colon, urinary bladder, genitalia, and feet and legs. In regard to time, Vata relates to the hours of dawn (3 - 7 am) and dusk (3 - 7 pm), and represents old age. Pitta's function in the body is to provide heat due to the predominance of Tejas in its composition, perhaps best represented by the catabolic or "cooking" action of digestion. The term Pitta is derived from the root word "tapas," which means "to heat" or "glow." Pitta also contains an aspect of water in its constitution, and thus to some extent has an oily property. Pitta, however, is also light, distinguished by the catabolic, consuming action of fire. Thus, Pitta's primary qualities are hot, light, and oily. In the body, Pitta's primary seat of influence is the area between the umbilicus and diaphragm, containing the primary organs of digestion. In regard to time, Pitta relates to the hours of midnight (11-3 am) and mid-day (11 -3 pm), and middle age. In many ways Kapha is opposite in nature to Pitta, attending to the structural functions of the body, lubricating, moisturizing, nourishing and providing support. Whereas Pitta represents the solar energy of the body, Kapha represents the lunar. The term Kapha is derived from the sanskrit word "shlish," which means "to embrace," referring to its overall function of cohesion, union and integration. Kapha's primary qualities are heavy, cold,

Fig 6.12 The Tridosha’s (Vata Kapha Pitta)



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and oily. In the body, Kapha's primary seat of influence is the area located above the diaphragm, including the heart and lungs. With regard to time, Kapha relates to the hours just after dawn (7 -11 am) and dusk (7 - 11 pm), and childhood. Beginning with the Charaka samhita, all subsequent texts on Ayurveda have classified the various activities of the body according to the tridosha theory. Similarly, all diseases represent an imbalance in any one, two or three aspects of the doshas. Ayurveda teaches that there is essentially just one disease, called jvara, or fever. Jvara represents a state in which the heavy and congesting nature of Kapha accumulates in the digestive tract and disrupts the function of Vata and Pitta. In an acute form, jvara thus manifests as weakness of digestion and mucus accumulation (Kapha), high body temperature and burning sensations (Pitta), and loss of function and pain (Vata). There are many foiuis of jvara however, each classified according to the specific dosha or combination of doshas responsible for the pathogenic changes to the body. Overtime the number of diseases was greatly expanded from this primeval conception of disease, with the differing etiologies and symptoms pictures of each disease in turn governed by the influence of one, two, or three of the doshas. Nonetheless, Ayurveda has consistently counseled its practitioners that the different names of the various diseases can be deceiving, and that when in doubt, one should pay strict attention to the various symptoms of the doshas, and use these findings as the basis of treatment. Concomitant with the idea that the doshas are responsible for all pathogenic changes in the body,' Ayurveda has developed a materia medica that is based upon a remedy's influence on the doshas. Thus, for example, there are herbs that reduce Vata, while simultaneously increasing Pitta and Kapha. Similarly, specific treatments such as emesis, purgation, and enemata form the basis of the famous panchakarma purification techniques that are used to correct the function of Kapha, Pitta, and Vata, respectively.



17

ANCIENT CHINA

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE China is a vast country in eastern Asia, totaling some 5.9 million square kilometers, second only to Canada and Russia in terms of landmass. The Chinese call their country Zhongguo, which means Middle Kingdom, perhaps because the ancient Chinese thought of their country as both the geographical center of the world and the only cultured civilization. Like India, China is a diverse land, including some of the world's driest deserts, the highest mountains, fertile farmlands, and humid tropical coasts. Among the most important regions of China is that traversed by one of world's longest rivers, the Yellow River, or Huang He. As the Huang He makes its way north from Tibet, it passes though an area of inner Mongolia that is rich with loess, a fertile, yellowish topsoil deposited by the wind, which imparts a yellowish color to the river. The good fortune with which the Chinese perceive the color yellow is perhaps reflected in the origins of their culture, which as we will see, evolved along the banks of the Yellow River.

ANCIENT CHINESE CIVILIZATION Humans have lived in what is now China since long before the beginning of written history. Prehistoric humans referred to as the Peking people lived between about 500,000 and 250,000 years ago in what is now northern China. The Neolithic period began in China about 12,000 B.C.E., although definitive archeological information exists from only about 4,000 B.C.E. The Neolithic is defined by the spread of settled agricultural communities, although hunting and gathering was still practiced. The largest concentration of agriculture was below the southern bend of the Yellow River, with millet being the main crop. Unlike its rather cold climate today, northern China during the Neolithic was considerably warmer and moister, with dense forests, and many lakes and marshes. It is in this area that the Yangshao and Lungshan civilizations evolved, and from these peoples, we can trace the beginnings of Chinese civilization. The Yangshao culture reached the peak of its development about 3000 B.C.E. The Yangshao created painted pottery that had geometric designs on it, and fashioned axes and arrowheads from polished stone. The cultivation of millet was supplemented by the domestication of the pig and dog. The Yangshao also developed the production of silk, probably already in development by the early Neolithic, obtained by feeding the silkworms mulberry leaves, and after molting, boiling the cocoons to produce the raw silk, which was then spun into cloth. The Lungshan culture developed slightly later than the Yangshao, also located near the Huang River, but further east. The Lungshan are noted for their exquisite unpainted black pottery, which may have been a direct predecessor to later Chinese pottery. Over time, the Lungshan eventually

Fig 6.15 Yangshao Pottery

Fig 6.13 Map of modern day China

Fig 6.14 Yellow River (Huang He)



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displaced the Yangshao, and gave rise to the Xia civilization. Like the Lungshan before them, the Xia were agriculturalists, but had begun to produce bronze weapons, and had begun to cultivate rice, and raise sheep and oxen as well as pigs and dogs. Radiocarbon dating of Xia archeological sites indicates that they existed from 2100 to 1804 B.C.E. According to Chinese tradition, the legendary Shen Nung lived during this period, inventing agriculture and the domestication of animals, as well as identifying several medicinal plants. No record from this period suggests his existence however, and the earliest mention of his great accomplishments occur in a text written by Tao Hung-chino in the 5th century C.E. Similarly, Chinese historians suggest that the legendary emperor Huang-ti, the Yellow Emperor, is also from this period. Thus, the famous work of Chinese medicine, the Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wen (Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal medicine), or at least the philosophies and methodologies described therein, is said to be some 4000 years old. Corroborating archeological evidence however is non-existent, with the earliest mention of the Nei Ching occurring more recently in the Han Dynasty.

THE SHANG DYNASTY By about the 17' century B.C.E., the Shang Dynasty evolved, growing out of the earlier civilizations of the Huang River Valley. The Shang Dynasty is thought of as the first true dynasty because it was the first indication of successive, hereditary rule in China. Of their many innovations the Shang are noted for the invention of writing, most commonly seen on the oracle bones used for divination. To ascertain the answer to some pressing issue, the diviner would write a question on a bone and then fire it in a kiln. Under the extreme heat the bone would crack, and after it was removed and cooled, the diviner would interpret the cracks, and the answer would be inscribed on the bone. The Shang people also advanced the technique of casting bronze, using it to forge bronze weapons, bronze fittings for chariots and harnesses, and bronze vessels used in religious ceremonies. From what can be pieced together from the archeological evidence, the Shang Emperor had considerable power over his subjects, using them as a labor pool to build various monuments, buildings, roads, and fortifications. The Shang capital at Zhengzhou is a good example of this, displaying a wall of stamped earth that encircled the city that was more than six kilometers long and as high as eight meters. The Shang built these walls by repeatedly pounding thin layers of earth into removable wooden frames. The result was a building material that was as strong as concrete. Shang culture revolved around the worship of "Ti," a supreme god who ruled over lesser gods, the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, and other natural forces and places. The Shang also ritualized ancestor worship,

Fig 6.16 Shen Nung

Fig 6.17 Shang Dynasty



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which would later become a major part of the Shang religion. Sacrifice to the gods and the ancestors were apparently quite common, and when a king died hundreds of slaves and prisoners might be sacrificed and buried with him. Such people might also be sacrificed when important events occurred, such as the founding of a palace or temple. The king's role in Shang society was obviously more important than its common denizens, something that can be easily seen when we contrast the comparatively luxurious accommodations of the king with the otherwise stone age conditions under which the vast majority of people lived. This was because the king served not only a ruler, but performed the primary function of appeasing the various deities and ancestors with offerings to ensure a bountiful harvest. The king performed this function partly through divination, with the answers received providing much of the basis of his rule.

SHANG MEDICAL PRACTICES To fully understand Shang medical practices we have to understand the function of Shang society. While the various symptoms of disease, such as a toothache or a miscarriage, were identified and treated with various remedies including medicinal herbs, these symptoms were not viewed in isolation. All illness, besides that which could be definitively ascribed to some human activity, such as a wound or injury, was perceived as a crisis between the living and a departed ancestor. The oracle would be consulted to determine which ancestor was offended and how he or she might be placated: Question: Severe tooth illness. Should a dog be offered to the departed father Keng, and a sheep is ritually slaughtered? (Unschuld 1985, 21) Preventative measures however, were also an important part of Shang society, and great expense and care was taken to appease the departed ancestors, from smaller offerings conducted on a regular basis, to the occasionally extensive offering of hundreds of livestock. Shang religion dictated that society's resources were to be distributed equally between the living and the dead. As unhappy ancestors caused the majority of illness in Shang culture, diseased individuals indicated a state of disharmony between the living and the dead. Ultimately, Shang medicine was a kind of social therapy, and whether crop failures or epidemics, the emperor functioned not only as ruler, but as a kind of social healer (Unschuld 1985, 26). Concurrent with their belief in the role of ancestor in health and disease, the Shang also believed that certain natural forces, wind in particular, could bring disease, as well as poor weather, the latter of which could greatly impact the health of an agrarian society. Such natural phenomena was controlled by Ti, the Divine Ancestor, and Shang culture evolved a class of

Fig 6.18 Shang prescription



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healer-shamans called "wu" that specialized in conducting certain rites to prevent or pacify an "evil" wind, as well as bring rain (Unschuld 1985, 25). The Shang pictograph for the wu-shaman suggests a dancer, and harnessing the homeopathic doctrine of similars so prevalent in early agrarian cultures across the world, the shaman would perform his ritual dance until the sweat poured off his body, symbolic of the rain falling from heaven (Unschuld 1985, 35, 54).

THE ZHOU DYNASTY In about the 12th century B.C.E., a group of semi-nomadic Chinese peoples from west of the Shang Empire called the Zhou (Chou), settled in the Wei River valley, where they became vassals of the Shang Empire. Over time their strength grew, and in about 1040 B.C.E. the Zhou fashioned a coalition of disaffected city-states and overthrew the Shang. The Zhou then established their own dynasty, building their capital near the modern city of Xi'an, heralding the beginning of what is called the Western Zhou Dynasty. Traditional Chinese history states that the Zhou were able to overthrow the Shang because the latter had become morally corrupt, a perspective that was in all likelihood promulgated by the Zhou conquerors. Nonetheless, the Zhou introduced several reforms, including the prohibition of human sacrifice, as well as their religion, which emphasized the worship of the sun and stars, and the division of Heaven and Earth. The Zhou also fashioned a kind of feudal system in which land was given to loyal families in elaborate ceremonies. In large part however, the Zhou fashioned their rule after the Shang Dynasty, using the same system of writing system and many of the same administration techniques. Like the Shang, the Zhou utilized divinatory methods to direct governmental policy and to ascertain the cause of illness. Although the earliest archeological evidence suggests that the Shang used bones as instruments of divination, it is known that they also interpreted the cracks on fired turtle shells. The excavated Shang capital at Anyang was formerly a marshy area, with many tortoises. A gradual shift towards aridity however dried out these marshy areas, and the practice of using tortoise shells declined. It was during this period that the Zhou gradually replaced the use of fired bones or tortoise shells with the 64 hexagrams of I Ching, one of the oldest and most important texts in Chinese culture. To enquire of the oracle, the Zhou evolved the practice of dividing and counting Yarrow stalks (Achillea millefolium) to form the different hexagrams during a consultation. The entire concept of the I Ching rests on the dual principles of yin and yang: yang represented by a solid line, and yin by a broken line. The varying arrangement of these yin and yang lines into six parts forms the 64 hexagrams. The concept of yin and yang, the basic division of all

Fig 6.19 Some sources date the accession of the Zhou Dynasty's founder with Zhou Wu Wang



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phenomena into two opposite (but interdependent) qualities is also an important concept in Chinese medicine, and even though the actual mention of these terms only appears during the One Hundred Schools period of the later Zhou Dynasty, the theoretical underpinnings of Chinese medicine appear to be secure in the antiquity of the I Ching. Soon after they established their rule in Xi'an, the Zhou Dynasty came under increasing pressure from invading non-Chinese nomadic tribes to the north. In about 770 B.C.E. the Zhou rulers were finally forced eastward, founding a new capital at Luoyang, initiating the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Despite these new beginnings, the Zhou Dynasty steadily lost ground after this period. This was due, in part, to the realization by the various feudal lords that the Zhou had become weak, as evidenced by their defeat in the west, as well as internal struggles within the Zhou ruler-ship. The latter period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is referred to as the Warring States Period, marked by constant feuding and struggles for power, not only between families, but within them as well. The empire was eventually broken into hundreds of smaller kingdoms and fiefdoms, which in latter years was reversed by a series of annexations and alliances, but leaving no power strong enough to unite the people. This period is among the bloodiest in Chinese history. Despite the instability of the period however, it was during this time that some of the most important developments in Chinese culture occurred, often referred to as the One Hundred Schools period. Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism all developed during this time. Other advances included the formation of textual legal code and a currency-based economy. The development of iron, and tools made of iron, greatly enhanced agricultural production, and thus the population exploded.

ZHOU MEDICAL PRACTICES While the Zhou more or less continued the Shang practice of ancestor worship and appeasement, the role that the ancestors could play in disaster and disease was greatly diminished (Unschuld 1985, 35). Rather, the Zhou emphasized the idea that such events were the direct result of malicious lesser deities, or demons. Dispensing with the wu-shaman of Shang society, the Zhou relied upon their priests, under the authority and with the help of their primary-deity, T'ien, to control the demons as well as perform exorcisms. While both Shang and Zhou cultures believed in the influence of the supernatural, the Zhou perspective was that illness and misfortune were no longer an expression of a personal relationship of the living with a departed ancestor. Instead, demons were conceptualized simply as unattached souls, randomly afflicting a person or community. The observance of certain social customs, such as burying the departed with treasure or ritual sacrifice to the ancestors, so important to the Shang, were no longer helpful to protect against malicious demons (Unschuld 1985, 36).

Fig 6.20 Graphical representation of Yin and Yang



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The Zhou evolved a diverse range of customs to protect themselves against the demons. Several times a year, or on the occasion of some event such as the death of the King, groups of exorcists would race through the streets, screaming and shouting, thrusting their spears in the air, all in an attempt to scare off the demons. The importance of exorcising demons appears to have had a significant impact upon the development of medicine during the Zhou dynasty. A medical and alchemical text written by Sun Ssu-miao in the 6th century B.C.E. suggests the location of thirteen points on the body, variously entitled with such names as "demon hearts," "demon path," and "demon bed" (Unschuld 1985, .45). In this text, Sun Ssu-miao details that it was the practice of a physician named Pien Ch'io to puncture these points with needles to treat demonic illness.' Besides this account of the possible origins of Chinese acupuncture however, Sun Ssu-miao mentions numerous spells and incantations to prevent and treat various diseases. These could be chanted by the afflicted to ward off the demons that caused the disease. In the case of fever Sun Ssu-miao mentions the "Interdiction of Intermittent Fever," the "yao" illness:

"I ascend a high mountain. I look down into the water of the sea. A dragon with three heads and nine tails lives in the water. He subsists on nothing but yao demons. In the morning he devours 3000 of them; at night 800. If his hunger is not yet stilled, he dispatches emissaries to drag in more demons. Amulets and drugs penetrate the five binaries of the body; the yao demons should retreat. Those that do not submit will be put in chains and delivered to the Lord of the river. Quickly, quickly, this is an order! (Unschuld 1985, 45).

Treatment however was not limited to incantations, and several physical agents were also used, as talismans, incense, or taken internally. Many of these remedies, when burned as incense, had strong odors, such as orchid and musk, or were even toxic, such as the sulfurous fumes of arsenic trisulfide. Tree resins, which were thought of as the coagulated blood of the plant, were also considered helpful. When taken internally, the blood of the tree, which contained its vital spirit, could effectively battle the demons and treat the disease (Unschuld 1985, 42).



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THE QIN DYNASTY AND BEYOND In 221 B.C.E., after the tumult and terror of the Warring States period, the Qin (Ch'in) utilized their military superiority to conquer the other states and unify all of the China for the first time. Their leader was Shi Huang-ti, who perhaps named himself after the ancient Yellow Emperor of traditional Chinese history to solidify his reputation among the people. Shi-Huang-ti initiated his rule based on Legalism, which saw old social customs replaced by a codified system of law under which everyone, including the various heads of the warring states, was accountable. This absolute control of the state was enforced by a system of rewards, and more importantly punishments, so severe they were previously unknown in Chinese society (Unschuld 1985, 32). In order to control any challenge to his authority, Huang-ti transplanted the nobility to his state capital, where they were grouped in units of five to ten families, which had a shared responsibility for the wrongdoings of any individual within the group. Huang-ti also divided his empire into 36 commanderies, which in turn, were divided into individual counties. The appointed administrator for each commandery was then responsible for reporting back directly to the emperor. While Huang-ti was probably no better than any despot, his government made several reforms, including the standardization of the language and writing of China, which had varied widely from region to region during the previous centuries. This was done, in part, out of a need to have a consistent way to communicate across the country. At the same time, the currency was standardized as a circular copper coin with a square hole in the middle. To accommodate the ruts that cartwheels made in the road, axle lengths were standardized, enabling the efficient transport of goods across the hemisphere. Huang-ti also initiated several public works, such as irrigation canals and road building, as well as the Great Wall, which would be added to in later years by the Han and Ming Dynasties. Despite all of these accomplishments, Shi Huang-ti was an unpopular leader, and his aggressive pursuit of various public works and the taxes needed to support them were too great a burden. The nobility, who after being transplanted from their homelands, saw all their power and most of their privileges taken away, especially despised Huang-ti. In what is largely perceived as the last straw, Huang-ti ordered the burning of all books throughout the empire, a strategy suggested by some historians to keep the common people ignorant, but in all probability, to standardize education, encouraging the people to rely upon an official class of scholars (Yu-Lan 1952, 15). While many of the works of the One Hundred Schools were lost forever, which included works of poetry, politics, and philosophy, Huang-ti's proclamation was not complete: those texts that related to agriculture, divination, and medicine, were spared.

Fig 6.21 Qin Shi Huang-ti First Emperor of Qin Dynasty

Fig 6.22 The Great Wall of China



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With the death of Shi Huang-ti in 210 B.C.E., a scant eleven years as supreme ruler of China, the empire was thrown into turmoil. His son, as Second Emperor, had neither Shi Huang-ti's skill nor experience to rule, and faced the opposition of several disaffected groups: on one hand, the nobles whom Huang-ti had chastened, and on the other hand, a popular uprising led by a Liu Pang, a former soldier. In 206 B.C.E. Liu Pang emerged victorious and was crowned Emperor Kao-tsu, founder of the Han Dynasty. While the Han Dynasty would experience a few starts and stumbles on its path to glory, it established a system of government, based initially upon the Legalist style of the Qin Dynasty that would dominate Chinese society for the next 2000 years. The Han Dynasty was far more accommodating than was Shi Huang-ti to new developments in political thought however, and in particular, embraced the socio-political perspective of Confucius. As we will see, the innovations in metaphysical and socio-political thinking that occurred during the Warring States period, including Confucianism and Taoism, would have a profound effect upon the development of medicine.

THE PRINCIPLE OF SYSTEMATIC CORRESPONDENCE During the Zhou dynasty, medical theories on the origin of disease were in large part based in the religious conception of demon spirits, unattached souls of the departed that would randomly attack the living. Thus, medical treatment often consisted of various rituals; incantations and the use of talismans to ward off these influences. It is clear however, that while demonology was important to Zhou medicine a conception of homeopathic medicine was also important, especially in treatment. Homeopathic medicine is based on the principle that two apparently unrelated phenomena are conjoined because they share some feature in common. For example, one Chinese text suggests that a plant which bears no fruit will promote infertility, whereas another recommends giving a potion prepared from the ash of crossbow strings to hasten labor (Unschuld 1985, 53). Such practices however are not unique to Chinese medicine: all cultures all over the world at some point in their history have practiced homeopathic medicine. In western herbal medicine this homeopathic idea is represented by the Doctrine of Signatures, which states for example, that Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) is useful to treat afflictions of the head and nervous system because its flowers resemble a skull when you look down upon them. More recently, the German-born Samuel Hahnemann developed a homeopathic system in which a specific, highly diluted substance is used to treat unrelated symptoms that resemble an overdose of that substance. In the latter Zhou, and in particular the One Hundred Schools period, a number of developments occurred in Chinese thought that led to marked changes in the practice of medicine, as well as the function of Chinese society generally. Among the most important of these was the development

Fig 6.23 Liu Pang 206 BCE



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of homeopathic notions into a broader theory in which all phenomena was incorporated into a single system of correspondence. The most prominent of these systems are the yin yang doctrine and the Five Element theory.

THE YIN YANG DOCTRINE In about the 4th century C.E., one school of Chinese philosophy began to promulgate the idea that all phenomena are dualistic in nature. This applied not only to natural cycles and the functioning of the human body, but to matters of the state and society-at large. This dualist principle is called the yin / yang doctrine. The origin of this dualistic concept is obscure: we have evidence from the venerable I Ching that the various solid and broken lines in the 64 hexagrams are founded upon the concept of yin and yang. There are also references to yin and yang that date back to the first millennium B.C.E. in a collection of ancient folk songs (Unschuld 1985, 55-56). But the dualism that yin and yang represent was well understood centuries before, for example, in the division between the living and the dead in Shang culture. In many ways the 4th century yin yang school was building upon concepts that were already extant, and fairly, well understood. Although not their earliest expression, the theory of yin and yang is perhaps best represented by the teachings of Lao Tzu, a mystical personality dating back, according to traditional Chinese history, to the 6th century B.C.E. In his History of Chinese Philosophy however, Fung Yu-Ian states that Lao Tzu was a mythical personage, most probably based on the life of Li Erh who is said to have lived sometime during the Warring Period (1952, 171). In his biography of Li Erh, the old historian Ssu-ma Chien states that Li Erh was a recluse, practicing the doctrine of "self-effacement and namelessness" (Yu-lan 1952, 171). Historian Yu-tan suggests that Li Erh allowed his teachings to become confused with an older literary figure named Lao Tan, releasing him from any obligation to identify himself with his teachings. Instead these were fused with a personage from antiquity, which intentionally or not, enhanced the reputation of the teaching. We do not know however, whether the book of poems called Lao Tzu, or the Tao Te Ching, was written by Li Erh or compiled later by his disciples. In the Tao Te Ching, the terms yin and yang are used to describe the primary dynamics of a ceaseless cycle of change that forms the Tao, the sum total of all the functions of life, both seen and unseen. While not applied specifically to medicine, the role of the Tao was believed to be the most formative factor in the health of a patient, especially among those that practiced the teachings of Lao Tzu. These Taoists believed that one's attitude towards the Tao reflected upon one's state of health to such a degree that the realization of Tao was considered the prerequisite of good health, longevity, and ultimately, immortality.

Fig 6.24 Example of a hexagram

Fig 6.25 Lao Tzu



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The two principle units of the Tao, yin and yang, are the dual powers that are the instigators of all change. The third stanza of the first poem of the Tao Te Ching describes the significance of these dual principles:

These two come paired but distinct by their names. Of all things profound, Say that their pairing is deepest, the gate to the root of the world (Blakney 1983, 53).

A literal translation of yin is the "shady side of the hill," whilst yang can be translated as the "sunny side of the hill." As penultimate characteristics of the dualistic nature of the Tao however, these terms represented a relative basis for the classification of all phenomena. In a social sphere, the qualities of yin and yang were considered analogous to the traditional familial roles of female and male respectively; yin being compliant, weaker and downward moving, and yang being adamant, stronger and upward moving. Yet while representing spheres of function, no one object or thing could be considered purely yang or yin. This is for two reasons: One because all states of being are subject to change, and even if something could be classified as purely yin or yang it cannot remain so indefinitely;' and Two because yin and yang are purely relative terms. One cannot designate a particular food for example, such as a carrot, as yang or yin, unless this classification is referenced in concert with how it is prepared, what other dietary articles are consumed along side it, the yin yang status of the person consuming it, and the yin or yang affect of the weather. Even yin and yang were considered subject to yin and yang. Thus within the yin phase there is a greater yin (yin-yin) and a lesser yang (yin-yang) subphase. Similarly, within the yang phase, there is a greater yang (yang-yang) and a lesser yin (yang-yin) subphase. Mapping this subdivision with a view to the different seasons, winter is a manifestation of the greater yin (yin-yin) force, spring is lesser yang (yin-yang), summer is greater yang (yang-yang), and autumn is lesser yin (yang-yin). In the realm of medicine, the cosmic relationship of yin and yang as darkness and light was carried over into the function and structure of the human body. The earliest reference to the inclusion of Taoist ideas occurs in the Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wen, which states:

Yin is active within and acts as the guardian of Yang; Yang is active on the outside and acts as the regulator of Yin (Veith 1966, 17).

Thus, yin corresponds to the interior of the body (dark, unseen) and yang corresponds to the exterior of the body (light, the observable); moreover, this concept was applied to individual subsystems, such as hollow and solid organs.

Fig 6.26 Tao Te Ching



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FIVE PHASE THEORY Besides the yin yang theory, the other system of correspondence that would influence the practice of Chinese medicine for centuries to come was the Five Phase Theory. According to traditional Chinese history, a philosopher named Tsou Yen in the 4th century B.C.E., during the One Hundred Schools period, founded this system. Unlike the dualism postulated by the yin yang theory however, Tsou Yen used the number five as the basis of his theory

of association, arranging phenomena along five lines of correspondence (Unschuld 1985, 58). The reason for five lines of correspondence, as opposed to the more intuitive duality of the yin yang school, is somewhat of a mystery. The ancient Chinese, however, considered five to be a sacred and special number, used in religious ceremonies and alchemical practices; a number of archaic importance, resonating in the five fingers, the five senses, and the five tastes. Some historians have speculated that the five phase theory was in fact an import from India, as it bears resemblance to the earlier Vedic panchabhutas, but this is unlikely. In a further break from the abstract concepts like yin and yang, Tsou Yen chose to use tangible phenomena like wood, water, fire, earth and metal as the foundation of these five components. In traditional Chinese medicine,

these phases came to be associated with specific physiological functions, for example, wood governs Liver, water governs the Kidneys, fire governs the Heart, earth governs the Spleen, and metal governs the Lungs. While representing five lines of correspondence however, the Five Phase theory is also a model for the various interactions between each of the phases, relationships that can be characterized as

either destructive or nutritive in nature. Thus, while water destroys fire, it simultaneously nurtures wood. Despite the incongruity between them, and the early disagreements between the yin yang and Five Phase schools during the 4th century B.C.E., both concepts would gradually be integrated into the fabric of Chinese medicine. Their mutual existence and conflicting basis would only be occasionally resolved, for example, by designating one of the five phases as neutral, and the others as either yin or yang (Unschuld 1985, 58). But such rationalizations would only be used to resolve a specific argument, and weren't learned as doctrine. Throughout its history, China has maintained the heterogeneous origin of its various philosophies, ideas and practices to a remarkable degree. This is largely the result of a deeply ingrained ability to build bridges between ideas and concepts, unlike the paradigms more familiar in the West, in which old ideas are formed into new ideas by a process of dialectics, or some new idea comes in and completely uproots an older idea (Unschuld 1985, 57). In China, all ideas have some intrinsic

Fig 6.27 The Five Phases/Element Theory



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importance, and any new idea is solidly built upon the past. This reverent regard for tradition, which marked Chinese culture all the way up to the Communist revolution, was in large part fostered, as we will see, by the most influential of Chinese philosophers.

CONFUCIUS, CONFUCIANISM & CHINESE MEDICINE Confucius was born in Lu province, in what is now Shandong Province, in 551 B.C.E. His real name is Kong Qiu: the name Confucius is a Latin form of the title Kong fuzi, which means "Great Master Kong. " Although Confucius lived just prior to the bloodiness of the Warring States period, the political infighting and social chaos of the latter Eastern Zhou provoked him to formulate his ideas on political and social harmony. Confucius believed that the reason for social "unrest was based in the discrepancy between the apparent role that a person played in society, and how this person actually behaved. For Confucius, the greater a person's responsibility the greater the need for him to act according to the rules of propriety and conduct that befits such a role: the Emperor, as the appointed ruler of Heaven, should thus think and act in a way that sets the standard for the rest of society. The Emperor displayed his Heaven-conferred nature by observing customary rituals, symbolizing the orderly intercourse between Man and God. This is not to say however, that this heaven-conferred nature was a privilege of birth; rather, it was only through the cultivation of time honored moral standards as an individual rather than communal ethics that opened up that path to Heaven. Thus, Confucius believed that any man could attain any position in society, provided he follows the path of the "superior man." Confucius was wholly concerned with the socio-political sphere of life, believing that Heaven was only made manifest in the cultivation of one's character. He refused, similar to the Buddha, to speculate on metaphysical questions, encouraging his disciples to look to the sphere of human activity for answers to existential questions. With this empirical outlook, Confucian thinking would set the stage for the innovative spirit of the One Hundred Schools period. And yet while Confucius rejected certain aspects of the their religion, such as demonology, he nonetheless modeled his social theory upon the basis of Zhou feudal practices. Confucius was for the most part ignored during his lifetime however, despite his innovative thinking. His initial attempts to gain positions of authority, to influence the practice of government, were unsuccessful. Later on in his life Confucius left these aspirations behind, and contented himself with being a teacher, like the Greek Sophist Socrates, perhaps the first of his kind in China. It is not known whether Confucius ever committed his ideas to text, but his disciples in a book called the Analects preserved them. Among the more important promulgators of Confucian socio-political theory was Hsun-tzu (c. 3rd cent. B.C.E.) whose affectionate biography and exposition of the principles of Confucius would have an enormous impact

Fig 6.28 Confucius



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upon the advisors of Han Emperor Wu Ti (147 - 87 B.C.E.). Wu Ti's style of government was so successful that his rule would influence every successive Chinese dynasty up until Communist Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976 C.E.). With the enormous impact of Confucian social theory on Chinese philosophy, it is perhaps no surprise that medicine would be similarly influenced. Over the centuries Zhou concepts of demonology were gradually replaced with the Confucian ideal that harmony was largely a function of personal responsibility. To Confucius, success in life was largely dependent upon fulfilling private, societal and religious obligations with absolute impeccability. Disharmony occurs when these obligations are not fulfilled, and men turn their attention from the observance of morality. Thus, in the sphere of medicine, sickness and disease occurs only when health is not actively maintained:

Nowadays people are not like this, they use wine as beverage and they adopt recklessness as usual behavior. They enter the chamber (of love) in an intoxicated condition; their passions exhaust their vital forces; their cravings dissipate their true (essence); they do not know how to find contentment within themselves; they are not skilled in the control of their spirits. They devote all their attention to the amusement of their minds, thus cutting themselves off from the joys of long (life). Their rising and retiring is without regularity. For this reason they reach only one half the hundred years and then they degenerate.

-from the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wen (Veith, 1972 98)

Despite the Confucian emphasis upon preventative medicine and morality, the demonological concepts ingrained in the practice of Zhou medicine continued to evolve, particularly in the understanding of wind as pathology. As early as the Shang Dynasty, and perhaps even earlier, the people of China considered wind to be an influential force in nature, if for no other reason than it is wind that brings the weather that affects the crops, and thus the health of an agrarian society. Gradually stripped of its demonological orientation, wind was increasingly viewed as a natural phenomenon that could have inherently bad effects, effects that could be predicted according to lunar and seasonal cycles. Thus, the superior man lived according to the season and the signs, cultivating a lifestyle and diet that mediated the negative effects of otherwise natural occurrences. Wind as pathology eventually gave rise a theory of environmental medicine, called the Six Evils, of which wind was a component, along with cold, summer heat, dampness, dryness and fire.



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THE NEI CHING According to tradition, the practice of Chinese medicine originates with the dissemination of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wen), known simply as the Nei Ching. Many Chinese believe that this text originates some 4000 years ago, during the legendary reign of the ancient Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti), the first ruler of China, and founder of Chinese civilization. Archeological evidence for this claim however is weak, as no medical inscriptions have ever been found on anything dating back to this period. The Nei Ching is thought to have been compiled sometime between 200 BCE and 00 C.E., and beyond a series of texts recently excavated that contain reference to the practice of Zhou in the 3rd century BCE, it is the oldest extant text on the practice of Chinese medicine. The Nei Ching takes the form of a dialogue between the Yellow Emperor and his minister, Ch'i Po, in which the Emperor asks questions regarding the practice of medicine, and Ch'i Po responds with long discourses. Despite historical claims, the Nei Ching clearly reflects the heterogeneous origin of Chinese medicine, and rather than being thought of as written by one person, it is the compilation of several texts written by different authors with different perspectives. The Nei Ching nonetheless effectively outlines the basic ideas in Chinese medicine, principles that have remained unchanged in almost 2000 years. In the Nei Ching, health and wellness are a manifestation of the Tao, or more specifically, the interaction of yin and yang within the body. Confucian influenced ideas on morality are also discussed in the Nei Ching, and later, the text details the five-phase theory, the associated functional systems (sometimes translated as "organs"), and their corresponding meridians. It should be little wonder that the Nei Ching was, and remains to this day, so highly respected by Chinese physicians and philosophers alike, considering the completeness by which it integrates the philosophies of Confucius, and the yin yang and five phase schools, into a functional conception of health and healing. EPILOGUE

Although fully formed in the Nei Ching, traditional Chinese medicine would continue to undergo development over the following millenniums. Nothing would significantly alter its basic practices or theoretical structure for several centuries. Once again, the Chinese tendency for syncretism dominates, with various physicians over the ages refining techniques such as acupuncture or pulse diagnosis, contributing new plants and remedies to the Chinese materia medica, or adding commentaries to older works. And despite the growing influence of Buddhism in China during the later Han dynasty (c. 25 - 220 C.E.), the Six Dynasties period (c. 222 - 589 C.E.) and Tang Dynasty (c. 618 - 907), which in India had supported a growing network of hospitals and clinics to serve the poor and impoverished, China continued to adhere to the cultural values of Confucius, who warned

Fig 6.30 The Yellow Emperor

Fig 6.29 Nei Ching



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against state-funded welfare programs. Thus, unsupported by the authorities, Indian medicine, in guise of Buddhism, never made much of an impact upon China. With the evolution of the Ming Dynasty in the l4th century C.E., after centuries of invasion and rule by foreign Mongols, China closed its borders to foreign influence, and renewed itself in the distinctly Chinese Confucian social theory. The Ming rulers however weren't so opposed to foreigners that they didn't mind getting rich from them. By the 16th and 17th centuries, the Chinese had developed a one sided-traded advantage with the West, who in recent centuries had become greatly desirous of Chinese-produced tea and silk. To undermine the Chinese economic advantage, European traders began to smuggle goods into China, the most important of which became opium grown in India. The effect of this drug in Chinese society however, was disastrous, and hailed by Chinese authorities as the cause of increasingly financial hardship and social decay. In 1839, in a demonstration of their renewed sense of autonomy, Chinese officials confiscated 20,000 chests of opium from British merchants in Guangzhou (Canton). The Chinese however, had little notion of the trap that had been laid by the British, and with the seizure of the opium, Britain declared war with China, and within a relatively short period of time, had defeated the Chinese and firmly established European interests in China. European missionaries soon took up the task, impossible in previous centuries, to spread the Christian gospel across China. In a similar fashion, Western ideas and culture began to make inroads into China, and the Chinese were actively encouraged to dispose of their traditions and customs, which the Europeans saw as barbaric and unintelligible nonsense. Despite hardcore resistance by some segments of Chinese society to oust the Europeans, the spirit of Chinese society was irreparably changed by Western culture. In medicine, the old theories of yin and yang were displaced by the emerging dominance of Western medicine. Soon, Western medicine became the dominant form of health care, at least for those who could afford it, or were willing to obtain service through the medically trained Christian missionaries. With the Communist revolution in 1953 however, Western medicine was increasingly viewed as inherently "bourgeois," and the rediscovery of Chinese medicine followed on Mao Tse-tung's call to "uncover the treasure house and raise its standards" (Unschuld 1985, 252). It is in the second part of the paraphrased statement by Mao however, that the Communist agenda is fully elaborated, and by "raising its standards," Chinese medicine was subjected to the socio- political theory of Marxism, stripped of much of its religious and spiritual content, and interpolated with Western medical practices. Although this "new medicine" was widely disseminated by the Communists, for example, in the legion of "barefoot" doctors who practiced a hodge-podge of Chinese and Western medical practices; it was recognized by the early 1980's that this approach was in danger of causing irreparable harm to Chinese medicine. Since then, the Chinese government has legitimized the practice

Fig 6.31 Opium Pipe

Fig 6.32 Mao Tse-tung



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of Chinese medicine, which although sanitized of any kind of truly spiritual or religious perspective, is granted legitimacy as one of the "Three Roads" of medicine, along with Western medicine, and a rapidly developing Chinese-Western medicine hybrid (Unschuld 1985, 261). Today, a patient in China may choose to receive either Chinese or Western medical therapies, and in many cases, a combination of both. And now, in the West, certain aspects of Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, are undergoing intensive study in becoming integrated into standard patient care. Acupuncture has also fostered the development of an entirely new system of healing in the West called energetic psychology, represented by the work of practitioners such as Roger Callahan and Fred Gallo.



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End Notes

1. One riddle that has long puzzled archeologists is; why were these cities abandoned sometime in the 18th century BCE. Early European archeologists speculated that Harappan culture suffered a series of invasions by a group of nomadic peoples from central Asia called "Aryans," but actual archeological evidence for this theory is very weak. Newer evidence suggests an extended period of drought, complexed by a series of cataclysmic earthquakes in the Himalayan range that altered the course of the rivers that fed these communities, forcing the Harappans eastward into the Gangetic plains of northern India. As they attempted to rebuild their civilization under the duress of continuing climactic and geological changes, Harappan society devolved back in the pastoral and agrarian society that gave birth to its original splendor. Archeologists have shown that traditional Indian farming techniques used today are very similar with those of ancient Harappa: even the tandoor, or earthen oven, used by villagers in the Punjab and Rajasthani regions of Indian and Pakistan, are almost identical to what the Harappans utilized over 5000 years ago (Chengappa 1998). This suggests a remarkable continuity of culture, and the likelihood that many practices, including the techniques used in Ayurvedic medicine, reflect the ancient history of the subcontinent. 2. Some Hindu scholars object to the assertion that the Rig Veda was a foreign import into India. The Rig Veda for example, tells us that it was composed on the banks of the Sarasvati river, and many Hindu scholars believe this river to be the Ghaggar river system, the home of Harappan civilization. Other scholars have pointed out that the Sarasvati could be any river, and more pointedly, that the roaring glacial river that appears to be described in the Rig Veda could not have been the Ghaggar, which, according to geomorphological and hydrological analysis, was a mild and gentle river system, better suited for the developing agrarian civilization of Harappa (Kochhar 1998). Rather, the Vedic river more resembles the Helmand River in modern Afghanistan (Kochhar 1998). Nonetheless, many scholars of both European and Indian origin have questioned the entire basis of Aryan migrations into post-Harappan civilization. Perhaps there was a conflation of races and cultures that gave rise to the Harappan civilization, including the Aryans. If true, then the actual date of the Rig Veda is much older, closer to 3000 BCE. Unfortunately, the arguments either way are not likely to be resolved until the Indus script is deciphered, and the full extent of Harappan civilization is uncovered. If the Rig Veda evolved from Harappan culture however, it poses a problem of what to make the dark-skinned, sudroid Dravidian peoples of South India. In modern Indian society, especially in the north of India, these people typically comprise the Shudra, or famer caste, or they are the Dal its ("untouchables"), who perform much of the work, such as cleaning toilets and street sweeping, that no one else will do. Early Dravidian-Tamil literature suggests the previous existence of island or a land extension off



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the Indian peninsula called Kumari Kandam. Tamil literature suggests that a great deluge of water submerged these lands, perhaps during the melt of last ice age some 12,000 years ago (Balasubramanian 2001). Preliminary excavations in areas such as Poompuhur and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, India, have shown the existence of ancient, undated temples (Danino 1999). The whole question of the Aryan invasion and the role of the Dravidian people in the evolution of Indian culture is a highly complex issue, colored by issues of nationality, culture and race. In the last decade, human DNA discoveries indicate that South Asia was subjected to a major genetic change in the Early Bronze Age by peoples migrating from eastern Europe (Black Sea-Caspian Sea) carrying the R1a branch of the Y chromosome. (http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/how-genetics-is-settling-the-aryan-migration-debate/article19090301.ece) This reopens the “Aryan invasion” discussion and the Aryan/Dravidian divide in India society. The debate will be ferocious. 3. For the purpose of this introductory text the issue of the causes of disease has been oversimplified. Beyond the depletion, increase and vitiation of the doshas, Ayurveda also observes issues of morality and ethics (prajnaparadha), the influence of the seasons and climate, the accumulation of exogenous and endogenous toxins (ama), and the influence of karma. 4. Besides this mention in the otherwise demonological literature of Sun Ssu-miao, the earliest mention of acupuncture as a therapeutic modality comes to us from 90 B.C.E., in a biography of a physician named Pien Ch'io that used acupuncture and was accused of malpractice (Unschuld 1985, 92). Later Han depictions of Pien Ch'io show him as human headed bird, which bears striking resemblance to the Vedic myth of the Gandharvas, human-headed bird-like deities that were traditionally regarded as skilled healers (Unschuld 1985, 97). This suggests that acupuncture may have been an import from India or vice versa. 5. This is the reason why minerals such as gold are so highly valued: its ability to resist oxidation and stable chemical properties has appealed to the philosophical spirit for millennia. Works Cited (Ancient Unani and Ayurveda): Atre, S. 1998. A Note on the Archetypal Mother in Harappan Religion. Online.

Available: http://ww w.picatype.com/dig/dc/dcoaa02.htm.17 Sep 01. Basham, A.L. 1954. The Wonder That Was India. New York: Grove Press.

Bergner. 1998-99. Review of The Ayurvedic Encyclopedia: Natural Secrets to Healing, Prevention, and Longevity, by Swami Sada Shiva Tirtha. Medical Herbalism. Winter 10:4.

Caldecott, Todd. 2001 Chengappa, Raj. 1998. The Indus Riddle. India Today. 26 January. Danino, Michel. 1999. The Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization and its Bearing on the an Question. Paper read on Sept. 29 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India. Online. Available:

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/how-genetics-is-settling-the-aryan-migration-debate/article19090301.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/how-genetics-is-settling-the-aryan-migration-debate/article19090301.ece

http://www.picatype.com/dig/dc/dcoaa02.htm.17



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http://sarasvati.simplenet.com/indexI.html. Feuerstein, George. 1997. The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga. Boston:

Shambhala. Frawley, David. Date n/a. The Myth of the Aryan Invasion. Online. Available:

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/aryanlaryan_frawley.html. 17 Sep 01.

Joseph, Tony. How genetics is settling the Aryan migration debate. The Hindu, June 19, 2017.

Kalyanaraman, S. 1998. Electrum, gold, silver: Soma in the Rigveda. Online PDF. Available: http://Sarasvati.simplenet.comlindex1.htm.

Kochhar, Rajesh. 1998. On the Identity and Chronology of the Rigvedic River Sarasvati. Online. Available: http://www.picatype.com/dig/dc/dc0aa03.htm. 17 Sep 01. Krishnamurthy, K.H. 1991. Wealth of Sushruta. Coimbatore: International

Institute of Ayurveda. Pathak, RV. 1998. Sarasvati in the Atharva Veda. Online. Available:

http://www.picatype.cam/dig/dc/dcOaa08.htm. 17 Sep 01. Rahman, Tariq. Date nla. Peoples and Languages in Pre-Islamic Indus Valley.

Online. Available: http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html 24 Sep 2001.

Ras, Frank. 1994. The Lost Secrets of Ayurvedic Acupuncture. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press.

Riedlinger, T.J. 1998. Wasson's alternative candidates for soma. J Psychoactive Drugs. Apr-Jun; 25(2):149-56.

Srikanthamurthy, K.R. trans. 1994. Vagbhata 's Ashtanga Hrdayam. Vol. 1. Varanasi: Krishnadas Academy.

Zysk, Kenneth G. 1998. Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India. Vol. 2. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Works Cited (Ancient China and TCM): Blakney, Raymond B. 1983. The Way of Life: Lao Tzu. New York: Mentor.

Chan-yuan, Chen. 1969. Chen's History of Chinese Medical Science. Hong-yen Hsu and William Peacher, trans. 1977. Taipei. Modern Drug

Unschuld, Paul. 1985. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley: University of California

Veith, Ilza. 1972. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine. Berkeley: University of California

Yu-Lan, Fung. 1952. A History of Chinese Philosophy. The Period of the Philosophers. Vol 1. Derk Bodde, trans. Princeton: Pinceton University.

http://sarasvati.simplenet.com/indexI.html

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/aryanlaryan_frawley.html

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/aryanlaryan_frawley.html

http://sarasvati.simplenet.comlindex1.htm/

http://www.picatype.com/dig/dc/dc0aa03.htm

http://www.picatype.cam/dig/dc/dcOaa08.htm

http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html



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Notes

history of herbal medicine ayurvedic & … · southern section juts into the indian ocean, ......

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