History of Indian Medicine—Up to the Buddha’s Time

India has a long history of civilisation. Human activities had already started in many parts of the South Asia Peninsula since the Early Stone Age. Around 7000 Before Common Era, agricultural communities with the growing of food crops and the domestication of animals had appeared (Wujastyk 1993, 755). For any culture in the world, a component of medicine is usually present. India, being one of the oldest cultures, has her own medical traditions together with an intriguing history of medicine. What then do we know about this history of ancient India, especially the part of medical history before and up to the time of the Buddha? According to scholars, ancient Indian medical history can be divided into several phases–preVedic, Vedic, śramaṇ-ic, and classical Āyurvedic. In this section an overview of the former three phases of the Indian medical history will be covered, i.e. up to and including the śramaṇ-ic phase which embraces the epoch of the Buddha, for the medical events recorded in the Chapter on Medicine (the source for this study) occurred at the Buddha’s time. The medical history of the Āyurvedic phase will be described in Section 2. 3. 1 of this chapter.

[1. Pre-Vedic Phase]

[2. Vedic Phase]

[3. Śramaṇic Phase]

In the above, the history of ancient Indian medicine in the pre-Vedic, the Vedic, and the śramaṇ-ic phases has been covered. The pre-Vedic phase of the Indus Valley Civilisation provides limited information, such as the presence of public and personal hygiene, certain possible medicinal substances, probable cults of healing deities or plants, and uncertain surgical techniques.

There is more medical information of the Vedic phase. In the Vedas, the medical lore demonstrates mainly a religious and magical approach, using prayers/ hymns, charms, rituals, and objects (such as amulets or talismans). Signs of an empirical approach to medicine have been noticed, but healing was still mainly magico-religious. Anatomical knowledge and materia medica have developed to certain extent, but physiological facts were still primitive.

In the intervening period from about the ninth century Before Common Era to the turn of the Common Era, it is maintained that the śramaṇas, especially Buddhist monks, played an important role in the development and accumulation of new and empirical medical knowledge. Such knowledge could have led to the well systematised and rational medical lore of the Āyurvedic system, as shown in the early classical medical texts. The classical medical system–a brief outline of its history as well as the basic principles of Āyurveda–will be illustrated in Section 2. 3 of this chapter.

The medical data of the śramaṇ-ic phase are found preserved in the early Buddhist literature. They are mainly found in the Vinaya literature, especially in the Chapter on Medicine. The Chapter on Medicine includes many medical cases and remedies as well as medicinal substances. In the following section, a description of the Vinaya Piṭaka, including the Skandhaka and the Chapter on Medicine, will be furnished.