4. Post Vedic Medicine

Post Vedic medicine is divisible into two periods; the first extending from the completion of the collection of the Vedic hymns. (800 B. C.) to the rise of medical schools (600 B.C.); the Second from the rise of the medical schools to the end of classical Indian medicine. It is now supposed that the hymns of the Rgveda were composed 117

between 1500 and 1200 B.C.16 and that the collection of the Vedic hymns in their present form was completed by 800 B.C.. The schools of Atreya and Dhanvantari are supposed to have been established in the 6th century B.C. The two centuries (800-600) intervening between the completion of the collection of the Vedic hymns and the rise of the medical schools is described as the period of the Brahmanas and the Upanisads. We have no medical records to enlighten us as to the state of medicine during this period. We have to gather our information from non medical sources such as the Brahmanas and the Upanisads. The Gopatha Brahmana, the Brahmana of the Atharvaveda, mentions among other Vedas, Sarpaveda, Pisacaveda, Asuraveda perhaps in the sense of Upavedas. But no mention is made of the Ayurveda, showing that at that time this was not yet known or indigenous medical treatment was to not known by this term in those days. The Chandogya Upanisad, which is later than the Gopatha Brahmana, mentions among the subjects of study pursued in those days, the Atharvaveda, Sarpavidya, Pitriyavidya, and Bhutavidya. Here also Ayurveda is not mentioned. Susruta, giving details of the demons concerned in Bhutavidya, mentions Devas, Asuras, Pisacas and the 118

spirits of the ancestors (Pitriyas). These are the names of the Vedas and vidyas mentioned in the Gopatha Brahmana and Chandogya Upanisad. So it may be inferred that in the Brahmana Upanisads period, the centuries fallowing the Atharvaveda, i.e., between 800 and 600 B.C., medical studies appear to have been confined to Bhutavidya, and Sarpavidya. These two were mentioned in the Atharvaveda. The age of the Brahmanas and Upanisads (800-600 B.C.) has been designated as an epoch of mental ferment in Indian history. Of this epoch the 6th century B.C. was particularly important as it is the time of great intellectual ferment and spiritual revolt, leading to the establishment of the new faiths, Jainism and Buddhism. This was also an age of profound philosophical reflections which gave rise to the six systems of Indian philosophy, the Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa and the Vedanta. The earliest beginnings of most system of Indian thought can be traced to some time between 600 and 100 B.C. It is extremely difficult to say anything about the relative priority of the systems with any degree of certainty. It is possible that the earliest speculations of some form of Sankhya, Yoga and Mimamsa were prior to Buddhism, though 119

the elaborate works on these systems which we possess, are later than Buddhism. The Vaisesika system is also probably pre Buddhistic. Medical science was not unaffected by these movements of philosophic and religious thought. Consequently the rise of two contending systems of medical treatment the system of charms and that of drugs can be seen in the Atharvaveda. A separation between the two was already discernible. The rise of the medical schools we find a definite change has taken place in it. Both Caraka and Susruta describe Ayurveda, as an upanga or an upaveda connected with the Atharvaveda: and acknowledge it as the source of their medical knowledge. So Ayurveda must have been in existence prior to the establishment of the schools of Atreya and Susruta. Ayurveda consisted of eight divisions (astanga). During the transition period four new divisions came in to existence; viz., Salya, Salakya, Kayacikitsa and Kaumara Bhrtya and are allied to the Ayurveda. Tradition traces medicine from a mythical, through a semimythical, to a historical beginning. According to this tradition, Indra taught the science of medicine to Atreya and the Science of surgery to Dhanvantari. This may be taken to understand that Atreya, the 120

physician, and Susruta, the surgeon were understood to be the first founders in their respective departments of medicine as a science. According to another, Indian tradition, preserved in the Buddhist Jatakas, there existed in the age of Buddha two great universities or seats of learning, in which all sciences including medicine were taught by professors of world wide renown. These two universities were Kasi or Benares, in the East, and the still famous Taksasila or Taxila, in the West. In the latter university, in the time of Buddha or shortly before it, the leading professor of medicine was Atreya. Atreya accordingly should have flourished at some time in the 6th century B.C. As one of the names of Susruta's teacher is Kasiraja, king of Kasi, he may not unreasonably refer to the University of Benaras or Kasi. This would place the origin of surgery as a science in the east of India. From this time onwards the systematic development of Indian medicine proceeded primarily on two principal lines, one that of Atreya and the other that of Susruta. Atreya taught medicine to six disciples: viz., Agnivesa, Bhela, Jatukarna, Parasara, Ksirapani and Hariia, each of whom wrote a treatise of medicine. These were known as tantras. Similarly, Dhanvantari taught surgery to six disciples: Aupadhenava, Aurabhra, 121

Pouskalavata, Gopuraraksita, Bhoja, and Susruta, each of whom wrote a tantra on surgery. These tantras constitute the earliest medical literature and formed the basis of teaching in the medical schools. Caraka refers to the existence of various schools of medicine and various treatises on medicine before his time. Mentioning that various treatises on the profession of physician were in circulation, he then discusses the essentials of a good treatise on medicine. He also mentions that diversity of views with regard to medical theories existed. It was the existence of these diverse treatises expressing diverse opinions on medicine that called for the systematization of the then existing medical knowledge. The various samhitas are an attempt to accomplish this task. Thus, following tantral period we have the samhita period. The samhita period may be called. the creative period of Indian medicine. The three important samhitas are Caraka, Susruta and Bhela. The Bhela Samhita has come down to us in an imperfect and corrupt form. These samhitas of Caraka and Susruta form the classics of ancient Indian medicine. The medical schools of Caraka and Bhela conform to the tradition of as astanga Ayurveda. The treatises of Caraka and Bhela consist of eight divisions but 122

they differ essentially as to the contents of these divisions. The divisions are: Sutra, Nidana, Vimana, Sarira, Indriya, Cikitsa, Kalpa and Siddha sthanas. In the surgical school this tradition was not adhered to Susruta's original tantra which contained only five divisions: Sutra, Nidana, Sarira, Cikitsa and Kalpasthanas. Later, Susruta, the junior, added an Uttaratantra consisting of the divisions: Salakya, Bhutavidya and Kaumarabhrtya. Thus Susruta's treatise was made to conform to the traditional astanga Ayurveda. Both the Vagbhatas follow the example of Susruta Samhita and their works contained six sections comprising Sutra, Nidana, Sarira, cikitsa, kalpa and Uttarasthana and not an Uttara tantra. The Caraka Samhita stands as the finest document of the creative period of ancient Indian medicine (600 B.C.- 200 A.D.), with regard to the extent of its contents and to the state of its preservation. It consists of an enormous number of chapters, which overlap in content, thus hearing witness to the fact that its classic rendering grew out of a vast amount of floating tradition, consisting of monographs (kalpas), single prescriptions and specialized treatises (tantras), transmitted separately and groups. It marks the culmination of a creative period. 123

The rich inheritance from the preceding generations is carefully gathered, and brought into a definite, comprehensive form. Caraka is the most rewarding author among the writers of classic medicine; he excels Susruta and Vagbhata by far, in regard to the philosophic background of medicine and its inter relation with religious thought and the various aspects of Indian spiritual life and ideals. Ayurveda as it evolved in the Atreya school of medicine and as recorded in Caraka Samhita contains no section on surgery. Associated primarily with warfare, surgery for a long time remained a special branch distinct from the civil science of medicine and had not yet been incorporated into the encyclopaedic tradition represented by Caraka Samhita. It needed a particular effort, as a stroke of genius, to break down the barriers of traditional specialization, and to merge surgery in to the science of medicine. This step is accomplished through the work of Susruta. In Susruta samhita surgery has achieved a leading position as an in dispensable element of general medical training. One may say his emphatic statement of its incomparable value for the correct understanding of anatomy reflects a triumph in the evolution of Indian medicine. There is nothing to indicate that surgery 124

was relegated to an interior place, though it had been nanded down as a separate tradition from that of the Ayurveda before Susruta. Susruta recommends that every students of medicine must be taught both medicine and surgery .So also Caraka recognizes surgical treatment as an integral part of treatment in general. About the further hierarchy of Ayurvedic propounders, there are different views in Ayurvedic texts. According to Susruta Samhita, Lord Dhanvantari learned it from Indra and he taught to Divodasa who, in turn taught it to Susruta, Aupadenava, Aurabhra, Pauskalavata, Gopura raksita and Bhoja. According to Caraka Samhita, Bharadvaja learnt it from Indra and he taught it to Atreya Punarvasu. The latter in turn taught it to Agnivesa, Bhela, Jatukarna, Parasara. Harita, Ksirapanl, etc. According to Kasyapa samhita, Indra taught Ayurveda to Kasyapa, Vasistha, Atreya and Bhrgu. Many different medical works were composed by these sages of the past. However all of them are grouped under two schools. The Atreya school primarily deals with medicine and the Dhanvantari school mainly deals with surgery. Many of these texts no more exists. 125