Philosophy of Charaka-samhita
by Asokan. G | 2008 | 88,742 words
Ayurveda, represented by Charaka and Sushruta, stands first among the sciences of Indian intellectual tradition. The Charaka-samhita, ascribed to the great celebrity Charaka, has got three strata. (1) The first stratum is the original work composed by Agnivesha, the foremost of the six disciples of Punarvasu Atreya. He accomplished the work by coll...
Time and space [in Charaka philosophy]
Time and space are infinite and continuous. They have no perceivable specific quality. So they are not physical insofar as being physical is to be understood in terms of having some externally perceivable specific quality. They are nevertheless inferred as two of the common (sādhāraṇa) causal conditions without which nothing ephemeral can come into being.[1]
Time
Sāṃkhyās conceive time and space under the elemental evolute, akāśa.[2] In Nyāya-Viśeṣika philosophy, time and space are ultimate and objective realities and they are conceived as empty containers.[3] Time is defined as that which is the basis of notions like priority and posteriority, simultaneity, and also of late and soon.[4]
Annaṃbhaṭṭa says that time is the cause of the usages like past, present, and future.[5] It is infinite, eternal and one only.[6] Viśvanātha says that time is the cause of products and he considers it as the substratum of the universe.[7] Sivāditya divides time into three namely, the time of production, existence and destruction.[8] Purānic writers two aspects of time: indivisible (akhaṇda) and divisible (khaṇda) Eventhough it is infinite, eternal, and single entity in ultimate analysis, it is for practical purpose that these divisions and subdivisions are made. Its manifold conception in usage is only in a secondary sense.[9]
Quiet different from the Vaiśeṣikas, Caraka places time as the eighth in the schemata of substances[10] and describes it in terms of therapeutics. Accordingly, time is primarily classified into two: nityaga and avasthitika. Nityaga refers to determination of wholesomeness to different types of seasons while avasthitika refers to the states of the individual which is relevant to the manifestations of diseases.[11] Nityaga consists of years. Each year is sub-divided into two three, six, and twelve from different dimensions. Thus the two divisions of a year is dakṣiṇāyana and uttarāyana. The three divisions of a year are śīta, uṣṇa and varṣa. The six divisions refer to the seasons: śarat, hemanta śiśira, vasanta and grīṣma, varṣa, and the twelve divisions refers to caitra, vaiśākha, jyeṣṭha, āṣāḍha, śrāvaṇa, bhādrapada, āśvina, kārtika, margaśīrṣa, pauṣa, māgha, and bhālguna.[12]
In this connection, it is to be noted that Ayurveda has again postulated the concept of ṛtu-sandhi representing the period of transition between the outgoing and incoming seasons- seven days on either side, and fourteen days in all required by the organisms for gradually adapting themselves to the stress of incoming season.[13] With regard to the stages of the evolution of diseases (avasthikakāla) from the time of their inception to the time of its manifestation and subsidence, Caraka gives a three broad-based consecutive steps: caya, prakopa and praśama. Suśruta, at the same time, gives six distinct stages namely, sañcaya, prakopa praśara, sthānasaṃśraya, vyakti and bheda.[14]
Space
Space, in Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, is construed as the cause of the notions such as east and west.[15] In Caraka, dik refers to deśa or habitate which determines the characteristics of substances due to procreation and extend of drugs or their acclimatization to the region.[16] For instance drugs which grow in the Himalayas are very efficatious and those in deserts are light. Such habitats are classified into three: (i) jāṅgala, (2) anūpa, and (3) sadhāraṇa.[17] Carak gives a vast description for identifying these three habitates. In Aśṭāṅgahṛdaya, it is stated that jāṅgala habitates are those which are predominated by vāta; Anūpa habitats are those predominated by kapha, and the sādhāraṇa are those which have thee equipoise of the doṣās.[18] The description of time and space thus made by Caraka is purely for the treatment and maintenance of health and not from the point of view of metaphysical enquiry.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
CIPM, p. 3.
[2]:
CSP, p. 87.
[3]:
Ibid., p. 85.
[4]:
[5]:
TSA, p. 11.
[6]:
Ibid; Tarkabhāṣa of Keśavamiśra., p. 189.8.
[7]:
NSMK, p. 150.
[8]:
kālastu utpattisthitivināśalkṣaṇastrividhaḥ. Saptapadārthi of Śivāditya., p. 21.
[9]:
A Comparative Studyof the Concepts of Space and Time in Indian Thought., Kumar Kishore Mandal, p. 21.
[10]:
Time occupies the sixth place in the Vaiśeṣika table of substances.
[11]:
CS, Vimāna - sthāna, I, 21 (6); Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya of Vāgbhaṭa., Su, I, 24. Elswhere it is stated that time is that which has change - kālaḥ punaḥ priṇāmaḥ, CS, Vimāna - sthāna, VIII. 76.
[12]:
kālaḥ punaḥ saṃvatsaraścāturāvasthā ca. tatra saṃvatsaro dvidhā, tridhā, ṣoḍho, dvādaśadhā bhūyaścāpyataḥ pravibhajyate tattatkāryāmabhisamīkṣya, CS, Vimāna - sthāna, VIII. 125.
[13]:
ṛtvorantyādisaptāhāvṛtusandhiriti smṛtaḥ, Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya of Vāgbhaṭa., Su, III. 58.
[14]:
sañcayañca prakopañca prasaraṃ sthānasaṃśrayaṃ vyaktiṃ bhedañca yo vetti doṣāṇāṃ sa bhavedbhiṣak., Suśrutasaṃhitā of Suśruta., Su, XXI, 36. For details see IK, pp. 84 - 108.
[15]:
Praśastapādabhāṣya., p. 162; TSA, p. 12; Kaṇāḍā defines it as that which gives rise to the inference and usage that “this is here”. Vaiśeṣikadarśana., Su, II. ii. 10.
[16]:
[17]:
trividhaḥ khalu deśaḥ- jāṅgalaḥ, anūpaḥ sādhāraṇaśceti. CS, Kalpa - sthāna, I. 8.
[18]:
Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya of Vāgbhaṭa., Su, I. 23.