Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita
by Nayana Sharma | 2015 | 139,725 words
This page relates ‘Aetiology (a): Adhyatmika’ of the study on the Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita, both important and authentic Sanskrit texts belonging to Ayurveda: the ancient Indian science of medicine and nature. The text anaylsis its medical and social aspects, and various topics such as diseases and health-care, the physician, their training and specialisation, interaction with society, educational training, etc.
Aetiology (a): Ādhyatmika
The category ādhyatmika implies diseases arising from oneself (from ādhyatma meaning “belonging to self”)[1] and includes three types of diseases:
1. Hereditary (ādibalapravṛtta)
Caused by defective sperm and ovum, such as skin diseases, haemorrhoids, etc. transmitted through either parent.
2. Congenital (janmabalapravṛtta)
Caused by improper antenatal care, such as lameness, congenital blindness, deafness and dumbness, nasal twang in the voice, dwarfism, etc. These are of two types:
(a) Rasakṛtāḥ- arising from the vitiation of the rasa (chyle or plasma) of the mother, i.e., from dietary indiscretions;
(b) Dauhṛda-apacārakṛtaḥ arising from non-gratification of desires of the mother during pregnancy.
3. Doṣa-induced (doṣabalapravṛtta)
Caused by perturbation of doṣas in the absence of proper dietary habits and daily regimen. They can again be of two types:
(a) āmāsayottha-when the location is the stomach and the upper portion of the small intestine;
(b) pākvāśayottha-arising from the large intestine. Gastric or intestinal in origin and the manifestation can be either as diseases of mind or of the body.
Doṣika (humoral) diseases can be of further two types:
(c) śārīras omatic
(d) mānasā-psychic.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Monier-Williams, p.139.