The Medical Profession (Introduction)

The history of disease is as old as the history of mankind. The history of healing began in primitive man’s quest to seek remedies for his afflictions by trial and error, by observation of animal behaviour or by simply imploring the mercy and benevolence of the higher forces. Early man was his own healer when he tried to remove a thorn, clean a wound, and cure it with leaves and roots. Gradually, individuals with special abilities emerged who used plant and animal based drugs, charms, amulets or magical rites to rid the body of malevolent disease-causing elements and provide relief and comfort. Primitive medicine of the medicine men, the shamans and the faith-healers was a system based on magico-religious elements incorporating demons and spirits. Elements of magic and mystery which we notice in the Vedas gave way to the codified medical knowledge of the empirical-rational paradigm in the classical medical compendia. This meant a transition from the world of medicine men and folk-healers to the world of the physicians of the Carakian and Suśrutian prototype -the bhiṣaks or the vaidyas.

We begin this chapter with a brief overview of references to healers in the Ṛgveda and the Atharvaveda to understand the functions of medicine men. We have further examined various aspects of the medical profession in the medical treatises of Caraka and Suśruta: the pre-requisite requirements of a physician, categories of medical practitioners and specialisation within the profession and the role of medical attendants. We have tried to look for evidence of how the one type of specialist perceived the other. This has been studied with additional evidence for the medical profession from other brahmanical texts, Buddhist and Jaina literature as well as epigraphic sources. The social position of the physician in the Vedic and the Dharmaśāstric corpora has been analysed and compared with the physician’s own perspective on this subject in the medical treatises.