Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita

by Nayana Sharma | 2015 | 139,725 words

This page relates ‘Dhanvantari (the god of the physicians)’ 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.

Dhanvantari (the god of the physicians)

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Dhanvantari is a deity of relatively minor importance in the Brahmanical pantheon but is held in high regard in Āyurveda as the god of the physicians. A modern scholar describes him as the only real god of healing.^[1] He was taught by Indra himself. He is first god (adideva) who freed the immortals of senility, disease and death (jarā-rujā-mṛtyu-haro(a)marāṇām)^[2] by giving them the ambrosia he had recovered from the ocean.^[3] The preceptor of Suśruta and his fellow students, Kāśīrāja Divodāsa is believed to be an incarnation of Dhanvantari himself.^[4]

The earliest reference to Dhanvantari occurs in Kauśika Sūtra (74.6) which prescribes that a portion of the daily offering be placed in the water-holder for the deity.^[5] Since water and herbs are known to contain healing properties,^[6] the water-pot is perhaps an allusion to his healing properties. Sacrifice to Dhanvantari is also known from the Gṛhya-Sūtras^[7] and the Dharmasūtras.^[8] He is regarded as the greatest of physicians in the Rāmāyaṇa.^[9] The epics narrate the story of the Dhanvantari emerging from the churning of the Ocean of Milk with a bowl of ambrosia in hand.^[10] The Bhāgavat Purāṇa describes him as tall and youthful with stout arms, dark skin and reddish eyes. He had risen from Viṣṇu and was his twelfth avatara.^[11] According to the Vāyu Purāṇa, after rising from the Ocean, Dhanvantari requested Viṣṇu to grant him a place among the gods.^[12] From the Viṣṇū and the Bhāgavat Purāṇas as well as the Harivaṃśa, we know that he had a second avatāra. This was as the son of king Dīrghatapas in the second dvāpara yuga according to Harivaṃśa. Dhanvantari became the king of Kāśī and learnt Āyurveda from Bharadvāja whereby he attained the stature of a deity and came to be worshipped by the twice-born.^[13] By the time of the composition of the Caraka Saṃhitā Dhanvantari had attained this honoured status^[14].

Gray argues that Dhanvantari was originally a cloud-god. By analysing cognate words in old European languages, it appears that the name means “whose boat is the [cloud-]island.”^[15] As clouds play little part in Vedic religion, his name does not figure in the Vedas, and his characteristics may have been absorbed by the rain-god Parjanya. Water is seen as life-giving, fertilizing and healing. As it was felt that the gods must have their physician, Dhanvantari received a new lease of life when he came to be associated with healing.^[16]

Unlike the other deities considered so far, Dhanvantari continues to be worshipped today in Kerala and Tamilnadu. The most important Dhanvantari temple is situated in the courtyard of Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam.^[17] A few of other temples located in Kerala are the Nelluvayi temple situated between Palakkad and Trishur, the Maruthorvattam temple near Cherthala in Alappuzha district, the Thottuva temple near Kalady in Ernakulam district and the Prayikkara temple in Alapuzha district.^[18]

So far we have looked at the deities associated with the transmission of Āyurveda. The Saṃhitās also refer to some other deities in association with particular clinical conditions. Among these we shall consider the role of the Sun, Viṣṇu and Rudra-Śiva and that of any female deity (if any) in healing. The role of the malevolent beings in disease will also be examined.