principleoftridoshainayurveda parti

8/9/2019 PrincipleOfTridoshainAyurveda PartI

1/5

cipleOfTridoshainAyurveda_PartI

//www.yogakshemam.net/English/PrincipleTridosahainBook/PartI_HistoricalIntroduction.html[23/01/2015 3:50:21 PM]

Sri T. K. Sribhashyam writes:

n the late nineteen sixties, I bought in an antique shop in Chennai, a book on Ayurveda: The Principles The covering and the titles pages of both the Sanskrit and the English editions were already missing. Th

lossy and very fragile. A simple folding would break the page. The contents are rich in information owritten with clarity and precision which testifies the authors mastery of the subject and the English langumy fathers anniversary in 2004, I am offering the contents of this book to Yogakshemam.net with the hwould enrich yourself with the knowledge of yurveda. I thank my wife Claire for the faithful typing

ook to enable an easy access from the web pages. Please bear with us for any typing errors. It is also wish that the unknown author is recognised. We promise that we would publish any authentic informatioeceive on this publication.

T H E P R I N C I P L E O F T R I D O S H A I N A Y U R V E D A

Table of contents

ART ONE HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

HAPTER l1. Evolution of Hindu Medicine

The Science of Hindu Medicine, or Ayurvedato call it by its proper name, is claimed to be as old as thAccording to Hindu Tradition, Brahmais said to be the creator of the Universe; and in medical literature al

im described as the originator of Ayurveda.Our present knowledge of Hindu medicine is derived mainly froworks of Charaka and Sushruta, supplemented by that ofVgbhatta. In Charaka Samhita, Ayurvedahas

escribed asShshvataor eternal. In the beginning, it was known to Brahmaonly. Then the knowledge was hown toPrajpati Dakshaand through him to the two Ashvini Kumras.From the latter, Indra, the king of earnt the whole of Ayurveda.According toSushruta, Brahmaoriginally composed the Ayurveda in one hunhousand verses, divided into one thousand chapters, even before he had created living beings. Afterwivided into eight parts. From Brahma,as before, the knowledge came down to Indra.

From Indra, the knowledge of medicine descended to earth in two different ways. It is said inCaraka-SamSutra, Ch I ) that once upon a time, when the earth was infested with various kinds of diseases, the sage , Bharad

was deputed by an assembly of learned teachers to go to Indra to learn Ayurveda. On his return, Bharadvajaimpis knowledge to Atreya. Atreyahad six pupils, viz. Agnivesha, Bhela, .Jatukarna, Parshara, Hart

Ksharapni. Each of them wrote a separate treatise on Ayurveda. Of these, only two are now in existenAgnivesha Samhita;as revised and redacted byCharakaand the Bhela-Samhita.

On the other hand, it is said that Dhanvantari,the physician of the gods, was sent by Indra (after being nstructed by the latter) to the earth to impart knowledge of medicine to human beings with special urgery. Here Dhanvantariwas known by the name of Divodsaor Ksirrja. Of all his pupi1s,Sushruthawa

most intelligent and wrote a treatise on, Ayurveda - the Sushurtha Samhita.

It was in this way that there developed in India, two schools of Ayurveda, the Bhradvjaor the Atreyascf physicians and the Dhanvatarischool of surgeons. The above tradition, as Dr. Hoernle says in his "Oraces medicine from a mythical, through a semi-mythical, to an historical beginning. We may put, the ghe teachers of Ayurvedathus :
http://www.yogakshemam.net/English/PrincipleTridosahainBook/indexAyurvedaBook.htmlhttp://www.yogakshemam.net/English/PrincipleTridosahainBook/indexAyurvedaBook.html


2/5



2. Hindu Medicine and the VedasThere is no doubt that the germ of Hindu medicine was laid in the Vedas. Because in all the four VYajur, Sma and Athravana, - we find ample reference to medicine, drugs, methods of treatment and dehe different parts and organs of the human body. For example, reference is made to Dhanvantariin R.V IX. 11

R.V. 1.117. 13 and V.74.5, we find thatChyavanawas rejuvenated by the Ashvini Kumras.ln 1. 23. 19, the medroperties of water are described. Reference is made to phthisis in R. V. X. 163 and to the organs of the bII. 36.8, III. 50. 6, VI. 53. 8, VIII. 1. 26, X. 1. 84, X. 163 and X. 186. Similarly in theSma VedaII. 10. 70nd in the WhiteYajur VedaXII.74. 75 and the 16 hymns that follow, we have reference to the medicinal prrugs.

But it is the Atharvana Vedawhich deals more fully with medicine. Here we have reference no


3/5



mineral and vegetable drugs but also the causes of diseases (A. V. I. 23, 24, 36 ). "This work in itsontains", as Dr. Hroernle notes, "a hymn (the second) on the creation of man, in which the several keleton are carefully and orderly enumerated in, striking agreement more specially with the system Atreyontained inCharaka's Compendium". It is for this reason that the Ayurvedais generally included in the Athar

Veda. This is also distinctly indicated by bothCharaka and Sushruta. Sushruta(1. 1) calls it theUpngaof AtharVeda; and inCharaka Samhiaf(1. 30), we find that Atreya'sadvice to his pupils was to have faith in the AtharVeda, because the latter deals with the treatment of diseases in the form of religious rites, sacrificexpiation, fasts, the chanting of hymns, etc.

If we take the time of the Vedas to be 2000 B. C., we see that as early as this, the practice of medicery crude form. Nowhere in the four Vedas, can we find any mention of the term'Ayurveda'.So we may take when later on the medical side of the Vedas was more fully and systematically developed, it formed a sep

y itself and came to be known as Ayurveda.For all practical purposes, therefore, we may begin with Atreyaand Sushruta.

HAPTER II

3. Chronology The time of Atreya and Sushruta cannot be definitely fixed. In fact, there is much difference o

egarding their dates. But there is a general agreement about these two teachers being regarded as contemave some idea about the relative dates of Ayurvedic authors, we may take the time of Buddha as the stanecause the historical facts of the Buddhistic period are now well-established. I shall give here a short nhe chronology of the authors and the chief works on Ayurvedanow available.

Atreya and Sushruta: Buddhawas born in 557 B. C. A study of the Buddhist Jtakas or Folklore shows the time of Buddha,there existed in India two great universities: one atKsior Benares in the East and ano

Takshilaor Taxila in the Punjab. ln the latter University, shortly before Buddha,the leading professor of Mewas the great physician Atreya(Rockhill's Life of Buddha, pp. 65 and 96). Atreya'sdate therefore comes to behe sixth or seventh century B.C. Hoernle has shown in his "Osteology", that from indications in theShatap

Brhmana, the date ofSushruta may be referred to the sixth century B.C. His conclusion is that"Sushrutawather younger contemporary of Atreya,or let us say, a contemporary of treya's pupil Agnivesha".

4. The Charaka SamhithaCharaka and Drdhabala: The Agnivesha Samhitha,written about the sixth century B. C., was reviedacted byCharaka in the first century A.D. Charaka is said to have been the trusted physician of thendo-Scythian King Kanishka. He could not, however, complete his task, but left it half-finished at a po

Chikitsa Sthna,seventeen chapters of which together with the books calledSiddhiand Kalpa Sthnawere addeKapilabala'sson Drdhabala,of the city ofPanchanda,about the eighth century A.D. The extantCharaka Samhihus the revised Agnivesha Samhitharedacted byCharaka and supplemented by Drdhabala. But the texts fromortion of the book is now generally referred to as those from Charaka. The statement that Drdhabala supplemhe work is found in the current texts ofCharaka Samhtha(C.S. VI. 30 and C. S. II. 8 ).

5. The Sushrutha SamhithaThe two Sushrutha: As we have already noted, theSushrutha Samhitha was written about the 6th centur

n contrast with the Agnivesha Samhitha,which is primarily a work on general medicine,Sushruthas work mainly with surgical matters. Here we have detailed information about the surgica1 instruments of the ancwhich are not noticed at all in theCharaka Samhitha.But it omitted all mention of some diseases in the treawhich surgery, at that time, did not enter. Subsequently, a supplementary portion called theUttara Tantra, was a

y some anonymous writers. Who this supplementor was is not definitely known. At the present day thenclusive of the supplement, is known simply as theSushrutha Samhitha.In order to distinguish however betwwo writers, the origina1Sushruthahas been sometimes designated by the old commentator as Sushrutha, th

Vriddha Sushrutha. The younger Sushrutha has been identified by Dr. Hoernle as Ngrjuna, the we1l-kBuddhist patriarch. If that be so, then his date would practica1ly coincide with that ofCharaka, namely, the entury A. D.


4/5



Accordingly, the original compendia of Agniveshaand Sushruthawould have been revised and re-edmuch the same time.

6. Vgbhatta, the Elder and Vgbhatta IIViigbhattaIknew both theCharaka and Sushruta Samhitha.He tried to harmonize the more or less con

iews ofCharaka and Sushrutaand produced a more systematic work on yurveda,to which he gave the naAshtnga Samgrahaor the summary of the Octopartite Science." (I have already mentioned that Ayurvedais divnto eight branches. These are :

I. Kya Chikitsaor general medicine.2. Shalya Tantraor major surgery.3. Shlakya Tantraor minor surgery4. Bhuta Vidyor psychiatries.5. Kaumra Bhrutyaor pediatrics.6. Agada Tantraor toxicology .7. Rasyana Tantraor tonics, and 8.Vajkarana Tantraor science of Aphrodisiacs.Even inVgbhata'stime, the study of surgery had almost ceased).According to Hoernle, the Buddhist pilgrim Itsing, who resided ten years in the Nlanda monastery in B

rom about 675 to 685 A.D., states in his Record of Buddhst Practices that the "eight arts (i. e. branchesormerly existed in eight books, but lately a man, epitomized them and made them into one bundl

Accordingly,Vgbhata Imay be placed early in the 7th century A. D.The Ashtnga Samgrahais written mainly in prose. Later on, on the basis of the above summar

Vgbhattawrote a new work in verses called the Ashtnga Hrudaya Samhitha,or the compendium of the Essehe Octopartite Science. That the Ashtnga Hrudayawas based on the Ashtnga Samgrahais acknowledge

Vghhatta IIhimself (Uttara Tantra, Ch. 40). As regards the date ofVgbhatta II,Professor Jolly has shown thvidence of Tibetan and other sources point to the 8th or 9th century.

Mdhava:The Ayurvedic practionner cannot do without a copy of Mdhava Nidna.It is a book on pathollected from various authors. The arrangement of the texts is excellent, and the sequence of diseases adopt

Mdhavahas invariably been followed by later writers. From the evidence of Arabic sources, Professolaced Mdhavain the 7th or 8th Century.

We thus see that the three medical writers Mdhava, DrdhabalaandVigbhatta IIcome in the period froth to the 9th century, at no very great interval from one another and that Drdhabala takes his place intermedetween Mdhavaand.Vagbhatta II.

Srangadhara and Bhva Mishra: Among the books now much in use, may be mentioned the rangaadhara and of Bhva Mishra.Their dates are respectively the 14th and 16th century A. D.

7. The CommentatorsOf the commentators on Ayurvedic works, the name ofChakrapni Dattastands out most prominently.

nly wrote a complete and authoritative commentary on theCharaka Samhita,called theCharaka Ttparya Tikxplanation ofCharaka'smeaning) or Ayurveda Dipik( i. e. Light on General Medicine), but also a commeushruta Samhitaas well, called the Bhnumati.He lived about 1060 A. D.

TheCharaka Tattva Pradipikawas written in later times bySivadsa Sena,who also wrote theTattva candcommentary onChakradatta. We have got another well-known commentary onCharaka, a recent one, writt

he great Sanskrit Scholar and Ayurvedist of BengalGangdhara Kavirja,who published hisTka Jalpa Kalpata879.

Of the commentaries onSushruta Samhita,the most important now current is that of Dalhna, calledNivandha Samgraha. Dhalhnahas been placed by Dr. Hoernle in the 12th century. He frequently ommentary byGayadsa,called Nyya Chandrika. Gayadsa,therefore, cannot be placed later than the 11th


5/5


// k h t/E li h/P i i l T id h i B k/P tI Hi t i lI t d ti ht l[23/01/2015 3 50 21 PM]

nd he may have been a contemporary ofChakrapni,seeing that neither appears to quote from the other.On the compendium ofVgbhatta I,we have a commentary by Indu called Shashilekha,and on th

Vgbhatta IIone by Arunadattacalled theSarvnga Sundari. Arundatta probably lived in 1220 A. D.On Mdhava's Nidna,there exists a commentary called Madhu Kosha,the joint work ofVijaya Rakshit

is pupilSrikanta Datta.They lived about 1240 A.D.I give here a chronological list of the Ayurvedic authors and their commentators, whom I shall hav

n writing this monograph.

6 th 8 th century BC: Agnivesha, Bhela, Sushruta I 1st century AD: Charaka, Sushruta II (Ngarjuna)

Early 7 th century AD: Vgbhatta I

7 th Century A.D. : Mdhava

8 th century: Drdhabala

9th Century: Vgbhatta II

11th Century : Chakrapni, Gayadsa

12th Century: Dalhana About 1220: Aruna Datta About 1240: Vijaya Rakshit About 1260: Srikanta

14th Century: Srangadhara

15th Century: Shiva Dsa

16 th Century: Bhva Misha

19th Century: Gangdhara

principleoftridoshainayurveda parti

Documents