Vaidya - The Physician of Ancient India

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Vaidya- the physician of ancient india

Darani Vasudevan


Vaidya – the Physician of Ancient India

Darani Vasudevan


Preface, The process of treating diseases with drugs from plants is a practice prevailing in India since ancient period. Vaidya is the name given to experts in ancient medical practice. This book is about the origin of Ayurvedha as well as about vaidyas who are the ancient physician. Hope you will enjoy reading it...

-V. Darani M.Sc., M.Phil., SET



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>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Diseases these days are treated and cured with

a variety of

practices.

With

the

advancement of technology, humans brought some endemic diseases to an end. Death due to disease outbreak were reduced a lot these days. All these technological advancements in the field of medicine would never be possible without the foundation laid for medicine in the prehistoric period. Since the origin of life on earth, man has been in harmony with nature. Nature provides a lot of knowledge on plant wealth. Plants were used as the main curative agents in traditional medicinal systems. Traditionally this knowledge has been passed on from


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generation to generation. This system is mostly followed by indigenous group of people of different areas. Even today this system exists despite the advancements in allopathy. Medicinal plants used in modern healthcare system are obviously from the accumulated knowledge on folk medicine of different sources world wide. Various researches are being carried out in plants to identify the compounds of potential medicinal importance. Traditional knowledge forms the basis for innovations of novel drugs for the benefit of humanity. Even this indigenous system has its root in the most predominant medicinal practice of Ancient India called Ayurveda. Ayurveda is an


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organized medicinal practice used to cure variety of diseases. Plants were the major drug sources in Ayurveda. There were notes on the existence and practice of Ayurveda in the historic texts. When humans started to settle as society, they formed civilizations. The ancient civilization originated all over the world

developed

their

own

medicinal

practices to cure illness and ailments of people in the civilization and so did the people of ancient India. The methodological and holistic approaches of the ancient Indian system made it the most acceptable among all the civilizations of ancient

world.

The

ideas

and

curing

procedures gave the credit to the practice.


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The 19th century laid the foundation of Ayurveda. But to our astonishment, the reliable

information

on

medicine

and

medicinal practitioners dates back back to 1500 BC. We could find texts in Vedas about the medicinal practitioners of vedic period (1500- 600 BC). These practices are the actual root for the present day development in the field of medicine. The Vedas laid the foundation for Ayurveda. Vedic era presented 4 vedas to the world. They are Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas. Of which Atharva veda describes the medicinal practices and curative methods used in disease treatment. Vedic people believed that spirits residing in all living


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objects were gods. They considered ailments of the human body were due to divine factors and

hence

they

used

magico-religious

measures for curing the ailments. Priests were the most respectable persons during the vedic era since they were considered to form a connection between human and God. They were believed to contain powers to summon, pacify and appeal to gods. Vedic people also believed that priest held a magical power over gods through mantras. The mantras were also used for healing purpose as well. The priests who were experts in using magico- religious rites for curing purpose were called the Atharvans, the Angivas and


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the

Bhrgus.

Atharvaveda.

These

priests

Atharvaveda

authored

deals

with

understanding human body, diseases and its curing phenomenon. Plants and their products formed

the

major

portion

of

drugs

prescribed by vedic healers. There were individual sages and schools of herbalists. They identified, described and propagated the proper usage of plants. Apart from plants, cowâ€&#x;s milk and related products, water, soil, powdered shells and rock salts were also recommended and used as drugs. The

priests

practice

spiritualize

through

hymns

the

medicinal

and

sacrifice.

Sometimes they used food as the vehicle to ingest medicine into patientâ€&#x;s body. Several


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methods

like

oral

intake,

inhalation,

fumigation and topical application were used. Medicines were administered at specific places and times. They believed that demons were responsible for certain illness and hence they used magico-religious practice to „trapâ€&#x; the demons in fire surrounded by a ditch filled with hot water. Another example for magico-religious practice is that the priests used hymns to transfer fever to a frog

that

is

tied

under

patientâ€&#x;s

bed.

Atharvaveda also holds descriptions of body parts including bones and internal organs. Vedic priests mentioned fever as sister or cousin of other diseases. There were notes on Hereditary diseases too.


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The

vedic

practitioners

believed

that

diseases were caused by change in the phlegm range, wind or bile, due to seasonal changes, infection with germs or worms and due to contaminated or unwholesome food. All these vedic principles and observations laid the foundation for Ayurveda which is called as the science of life. Ayurvedic practitioners were called vaidyas. The term „vaidya‟ means person of profound knowledge. Texts by Greek visitors, Buddhist texts and Chanakya‟s

Arthasastra

mentioned

the

existence of medieval ideas, the so called Ayurveda

from

600-200BC.

The

most

important reference texts of Ayurveda are Chanakya samhita and sushrutha samhita.


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Apart

from

these

two

Vagbhattaâ€&#x;s

Astangahrdaya dated 7th century AD is another important text of Ayurveda. As mentioned before, the roots of Ayurveda lay in the Atharvaveda from which Ayurveda emerged as a fully developed rational theory of health and diseases. The empirical thinking based on charaka samhita thought physicians the foundation ideas for proper diagnosis and treatment methodologies. In Ayurveda, both diagnosis and treatment are based on proper observation and reasoning. Atharvaveda contains 114 hymns regarding the formulations for treatment of different diseases.

Ayurveda

is

based

on

the

hypothesis that everything in the universe is


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composed of five basic elements. They are space, air, energy, liquid and solid. They exist in human body in combined forms called vata (space and air), pitta (energy and liquid) and kapha (liquid and solid). Vata, pitta and kapha are together termed as Tridosha (the three pillars of life). It is believed that they are in harmony with each other, but in every human being one of them is dominating which is termed as the Prakruthi of that person. Tridosha exist in human body in 7 forms called

saptadhatu:

Rasa(lymph),

raktha

(blood), meda (adipose tissue), mamsa (flesh), majja (nervine tissue), shukra (reproductive tissue) and asthi (bones).


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These tissues are subjected to wear and tear because of which mala (excretory material) is formed

from

them.

When

tridosha,

saptadhatu and mala are in harmony with each other it is called a healthy condition while

imbalance

causes

a

pathological

condition. Ayurveda grew as a scientific discipline through

discussions

and

sharing

of

information among sages or vaidyas through meetings. The discussions and exchange of ideas were considered important by vaidyas because

they

Ayurvedic theory.

helped

to

standardize


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Vaidyas thought each individual as unique and hence paid unique attention to each one of them. Vaidya used rational therapy as the primary treatment. He examined individual as a whole and not just his disease. The vaidya took careful notes on patientâ€&#x;s physiology, mental state and other basic details like age, food habits and season of occurrence of disease. Just like modern physicians, the vaidyas too conducted thorough examination using direct perception

(pratyaksa)

and

inference

(anumana). Apart from these two, the vaidyas used one more diagnostic tool which is the oral or written testimony of the personal


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experience of the Vaidya gained through his practice and experience. The vaidya questioned the patient in a detailed

manner

during

the

physical

examination as a part of diagnosis. There are two

methods

in

Ayurvedic

therapeutics

namely purifactory and curative methods. Both external and internal purification is achieved through a systemic procedure of Panchakarma methods

(5

processes)

include

several

and

curative

measures

and

methods to restore the balance of dosas. Charaka

samhita

mainly

deals

with

therapeutics but in susruta samhita various surgical procedures are also described.


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Ancient texts related to drugs had a lot of emphasis on physicianâ€&#x;s knowledge on drugs. A vaidya should keep in mind both therapeutic and adverse effects while prescribing a drug to a patient. The vaidya collected plants and related products on auspicious days and spiritualized

them

with

mantras.

They

prepared their own medicinal drugs using the plants collected. The vaidyas laid equal emphasis on the cure of disease as well as prevention

and

health

promotion.

They

prescribed daily and seasonal dosage and als insisted

on

nutrition

for

maintaining

a

balanced state of health. For a healthy life, the vaidyas advocated harmony of mind and body and also a harmonious interaction


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between man and universe. The vaidyas suggested spiritual therapy for diseases whose causes were unknown. They explained these as a punishment for patientâ€&#x;s activities in his previous birth. The cure for such diseases appealing

with

unknown

gods

through

causes

involved

prayers

and

offerings, recitation of mantras and wearing amulets and gems. For the diseases of mind, psychic therapy was used in which vaidya prescribed various methods to keep the mind away from harmful thoughts. During the historic period, there were three categories of vaidyas namely individual practitioners, vaidyas attached to hospital and vaidyas employed by state. The


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state vaidyas usually attend royal families, courtiers and palace people. The highest position among the state physicians was occupied by the Kingâ€&#x;s personal vaidya called Raja vaidya. To ensure the safety of the royal family, a physician used to check food cooked in the royal kitchen. Even in Ancient India, surgeons and physicians were regularly employed in the army mainly during war. The vaidyas were paid well. There was an ancient text mentioning that a vaidya was not supposed to collect fee from Brahmins and should provide them with free medicines. Moreover the vaidya was also advised not to treat criminals, hunstmen and opponents of


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the rulers. Fines were imposed incase of incorrect treatment of patients. The

famous

Ancient

or

India

renowned are

physicians

Charaka,

of

Dridhbala,

Sushrutha, Nagarjuna, Jivaka, Madhava kara and vagbhata. Charaka belonged to 3rd century BC and he was at the court of Kanishka. He made a principal contribution to Ayurveda through his work Charaka samhita and hence he is regarded as “Indian father of medicine.” He followed the predetermined and also believed that life may be prolonged by efforts of human and attention to life style. He believed that “prevention is better than cure.” He was considered as the first physician to present


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the concepts of digestion, metabolism and immunity. He studied the anatomy of human body and organs. He gave 360 as the number of bones in human body. His great work “Charaka

samhita”

survived

in

Bower

manuscript dated to around 4th century. Dridhbala was a Kashmiri physician who was the personal physician of Buddha and King Bimbisara. He lived in Rajgrha (Rajgir) during 6th – 5th century BC. He was honoured with the titles “medicine king”, “thrice crowned physician” and “kumarabhuta.” He was known for Indian traditional medicine and Thai massage. He has a central role in all ceremonies medicine.

involving

Thai

traditional


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Madhava kara was an Indian Physician lived during 7th century and wrote Rug- vinischaya (Madhava mdana) which includes 79 chapters dealing with diseases along with their causes, symptoms and complications. Sushrutha was another famous physician and author of treatise: The compendium of sushrutha (sushrutha samhita). Mahabaharatha, the ancient Indian epic text, represents him as the son of vishvamitra. He was honoured with the titles “Father of surgery and father of plastic surgery.� His work included 184 chapters which include descriptions of 1120 illness, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources.


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Nagarjuna revised and enlarged Sushrutha samhita. Vagbhata was one of the classical writers of Ayurveda. He was a disciple of charaka. His best

works

are

Ashtangasangraha

and

Ashtangahridayasamhita. Medicine as a separate discipline appeared in 2nd

century

pursued

BC.

after

Medical

education

completing

the

was basic

education. Medical training was given by the teachers to their students in ashramas. The University of Taxila was well known for the study of medicine in Ancient India. The pupils belonged to different castes and classes. Charaka gave the explanation that


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the purpose of studying medicine varies with castes. Brahmins study medicine out of empathy. Kshatriyas studied medicine to safeguard people and vaishyas learned it for monetary gains. The medical student was admitted through a proper ceremony. The student was expected to follow a strict code of conduct and behaviour. Jivaka mentioned that medical training lasted 7 years. Practical training was an important part of Ayurvedic studies. The students watched their teacher as he cured illness and also assisted him in drug preparation which enhanced

their

knowledge

and

learning.

Sushruta advised Ayurvedic students to practice

surgical

procedures

on

fruits,


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vegetables and body parts of animals as a part of surgical training. Sushruta recommended careful observation of a dead body for gaining anatomical knowledge. Charaka insisted identification of medicinal herbs as a part of their study. After completing his study, the student had to

improve

upon

conversational

skills

through experience.

his and

enunciation, understanding


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