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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c13.s3: (3) Medicines, Diseases and Treatment

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c13.s3

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(3) Medicines, Diseases and Treatment

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*Ayurveda* is defined as the science and art of life. It deals with life in all its phases—philosophical and biological—and comprises both preventive and curative medicine and surgery It is the great healing art of ancient India which aims at giving us "a happy and benevolent life" by showing the ways and means to it.⁸⁷

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⁸⁷ The Spirit and Culture of Āyurveda, p 411f, The Cultural Heritage of India, Vol III

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The science of Medicine (*tegicchaya* or *āyuvveya*), which is counted among the nine false sciences (*pāvasuya*) in the Jain texts,⁸⁸ is said to have been discovered by Dhannantari.⁸⁹ Dhannantari was well-versed in the medical science which comprises eight branches : Pediatrics (*kumāra-bhicca*), surgery and midwifery (*salāga*), the treatment of eye, ear, nose and throat (*sallahaltha*), the treatment of bodily diseases (*kāyaticchā*), toxicology (*jangola*), demonology (*bhūyavijyā*), the science and art of restoring health in old age (*rasāyana*) and sexual rejuvenation (*vājīkarana* or *khāratanta*).⁴⁰

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82a Das sū 8 5.

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⁸⁸ Thā 9. 678.

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⁸⁹ Nisī cū 15, p. 944, cf. Milindapañha, p. 272, also Ayoghara Jātaka (No. 510). IV, pp 496, 498.

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⁴⁰ *Vivā* 7 p. 41, also cf *Susruta Samhitā*, ch 1. 8, p 4f

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The physicians carried their bags of surgical instruments⁴¹ (*satthakosa*) and gave various treatment according to the nature of the disease by treating the patient by methods such as rubbing with oil (*abbhanga*), rubbing with powder (*uvvattana*), oil drinks (*sinehapāna*), vomiting (*vamana*) purging, (*vireyana*), branding (*avaddahana*), medicated baths (*avanhāna*), oil enema (*anuvāsana*), head bath (*bathikamma*), purging by drugs (*nirūha*), opening veins (*sirāveha*), cutting (*tacchana*), scrapping (*pacchana*), bathing the head with oils (*sirobathi*), nourishing the body with oils (*tappana*), by means of ingredients roasted on fire by *putapāka* method, barks, roots, bulbs, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bitters (*silikā*), pills, drugs (*osaha*) and mixtures (*bhesajja*).⁴²

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⁴¹ The following instruments are mentioned *angulisatthaya*, *sirāvehasatthaya*, *pacchana*, *kap-pana*, *lohakantiyā*, *sandāsaa*, *anuvehasalāgā*, *vimuha* and *sūmuha* (*Nisi* cū. 11, p 701.)

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⁴² *Vivā*. 1, p. 8.

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We are told how a Jain monk, when suffering from sickness, should procure the services of a physician. It is said that the physician was to be approached in an auspicious moment and his advice was to be carefully followed. Sometimes, the sick persons were taken to the physician's residence. After examining the case, the *vaidya* made a diagnosis and suggested appropriate treatment and diet. If a *vaidya* was brought to the home of the patient he was provided with a hot bath and other comforts. He was to be fed on old rice and was provided with costly utensils. After the examination the physician was to be given his proper fees.⁴³

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⁴³ *Bth* *Bhā* 1, 1910-70, cf. for a similar description *Susruta Samhitā*, ch. 29, sū. 13 p. 175 ff.

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There were state physicians as well. It is said that once a physician did not treat the queen of a certain king properly and so he was put to death.⁴⁴ Another physician was addicted to gambling and he did not attend to his work. His book on medicine was stolen by robbers and his surgical instruments rusted. When this was brought to the notice of the king, he stopped his salary.⁴⁵

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⁴⁴ *Bth*. *Bhā* pī. 376.

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⁴⁵ *Vya*. *Bhā*. 5 21.

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Hospitals (*tigicchayasālā*) are freely mentioned. The *Nāyādhammakahā* mentions that a hospital was built on hundred pillars where a number of physicians and surgeons were employed who treated various kinds of patients with various kinds of medicines and herbs.⁴⁶

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⁴⁶ 13. p. 143.

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The *Ācārānga* mentions the following sixteen diseases: boils (*gandi*), leprosy (*kuttha* of eighteen kinds),⁴⁷ consumption (*rāyamsī*), epilepsy (*avamārīya*), blindness (*kāṇīya*), stiffness (*jhimīya*), lameness (*kuṇīya*), humpback (khujiya), dropsy (udari), dumbness (mūya), swelling (sūniya), over-appetite (gulāsaṃ), trembling (vevaṛ), disablement (pīdhasa-ppi), elephantiasis (sīlivaya) and diabetes (madhumeha).⁴⁸

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⁴⁷ For eighteen kinds of *kustha* also see *Susruta Samhitā*, *Nidānasthāna*, 3. 4-5, p. 342, *Caraka*, ch. 7, pp. 2069-73.

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⁴⁸ 6. 1. 173 Cf the list in the Vivā (1, p 7) asthama (sāsa), cough (kāsa), fever (jara), inflamation (dāha), intestinal colic (kucchsūla), fistula (bhagandara), piles (arisā), indigestion (ajīraa), optic neuralgia (ditthisūla), cerebral neuralgia (muddhasūla), loss of appetite (ahāraya), pain in th eye (acchiveyanā), pain in the ear (kannaveyanā), itches (kandu), and dropsy (uyara) The Jambu (Sū 24, p 120) adds family disease (kularoga), village disease (gāma), country disease (mandala), pain in the lips (otthaveyanā), pain in the nose (nakkaveyanā), toothache (dantaveyanā), jaundice (panduroga), intermitent fever coming at the interval of one, two, three or four days (egāha, beāha, teāha, cautthāha), obsession by Indra (Indaggaha), paralysis (dhanuggaha), obsession by Skanda (khandaggaha), Kumāra (kumārraggaha), heartache (hiyayasūla), stomachache (pottasūla) vaginal pain, (jonisūla), and pestilence (māri), also Nisī cū II, p 737 f Jivā 3, p 153, Bhag (Abhaya ), 3 6, p 353, also cf Law B. C, History of Palı Literature, p. 281. Also see Mahābhārata, III 230, 44 ff

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The following are mentioned as the causes of diseases. Over-eating, eating unwholesome food, over-sleeping, over-walking, checking calls of nature, travelling, irregularity of food, and indulgence in sexual intercourse.⁴⁹

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⁴⁹ Thā 9 667 Compare ten causes of disease in the Milindapañha, p 135

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Meat and wine were freely prescribed as diet by physicians ⁵⁰ The practice of using skin with or without hair (saloma-nilloma) for the Jain monks and nuns is pretty old and is referred to in the Brhatkalpa sūtra. It is laid down that if a nun suffered from flatulence (uddhavāta) or from paralysis (dhanuggāha), or from piles or from acute pain, or her hand or foot was dislocated, or her whole or a part of the body was affected by ‘wind’, she was made to lie down on a skin ⁵¹ Similarly, if her waist or hand was affected by rheumatism (vāta) the skin of a hyena (taraccha) was wrapped around the affected part, and if she were bitten by a dog she was made to lie down on a tiger skin (divicamma).⁵² In the same way the hairless skin was prescribed for the Jain monks, who suffered from bad leprosy (galantakodha), piles, kacchu⁵³ or kilibha (a kind of leprosy).⁵⁴ Droppings of a ram and cow urine were used to cure leprosy known as pāmā ⁵⁵ The leg of a vulture was tied to cure paralysis (vāyu) ; the teeth and the nails of the bear and the hair of the ram were also used for similar purposes ⁵⁶ Then gosīsa sandal was used to cure leprosy full of maggots (kimikuttha).⁵⁷

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⁵⁰ Cf. Vivā 7, Nāyā 5,p 80, cf also Mahāvagga, VI, 10 2 where in the cace of a disease not human, Buddha allowed them the use of raw flesh and blood

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⁵¹ 3 3-6, Bhā 3839-41.

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⁵² Bṛh Bhā 3816-18

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⁵³ Kacchu is also mentioned in the Dhammapada A. I, p 299.

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⁵⁴ Bṛh Bhā. 3839-40

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⁵⁵ Ogha. p 134 a.

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⁵⁶ Ibid. p 134 a; also Pinda. Nir. 48 ff.

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⁵⁷ Ava. cū p 133.

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The drinking of urine (moya) was another old practice described in the Brhatkalpa sūtra.⁵⁸ The Jain monks and the nuns drank each other’s (annamannassa) urine to cure snake-bite,⁵⁹ cholera and fever The mud from the ant-hill, salt, gold and incantations were other means to cure snake-bite ⁶⁰ Water was sprinkled over the blisters caused by the spider and snake-bite.⁶¹ The fly dropping was used in case of vomitting, and the horse-fly (*āsamakkhyā*) to remove dirt from the eye ⁶² There were pills to cure eye-sore ⁶³ Flesh was used to cure fistula and in its absence rice powder (*kaṇukkā*) mixed with honey and *ghee* was used ⁶⁴ For madness, it is stated that if a monk or a nun became mad, they were tied gently and were kept in a room or a well without water ⁶⁵ A novel method of curing the madness of a nun due to her attachment to the sexual part of a person is mentioned A slave was made drunk and made to sleep. His body besmeared with vomit, attracted flies, seeing which the nun was cured of her obsession ⁶⁶

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⁵⁸ 5. 37.

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⁵⁹ In Buddhist texts in case of snake biting four kinds of filth were given : dung, urines, ashes and clay; Mahāvagga, VI. 14.6.

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⁶⁰ *Nisī cū* Pi. pp 58, 121, *Ogh* pp. 129a, 134 a.

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⁶¹ *Ogh.* p 129 a

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⁶² *Ibid.* p 134 a.

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⁶³ *Brh Bhā.* 1. 1277.

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⁶⁴ *Nisī.* *cū.*, p. 89

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⁶⁵ *Vya.* *Bhā* 2. 122-5.

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⁶⁶ *Brh.* *Bhā.* 6 6267.

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Besides, various oils such as *hamsatella*, *satapāgatella*, *sahassapāgatella* and *marutella* are mentioned in Jain canonical literature ⁶⁷

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⁶⁷ *Nisī.* *cū.* Pi. p 109, *Brh.* *Bhā* 5. 6031.

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Sores were healed by applying oil, *ghee* and powder, by bandaging the injured parts and by stitching them properly. In the battle field the physicians carried these articles with them ⁶⁸ The fringe of the garments was used in case a monk was suffering from carbuncle (*visakumbha*).⁶⁹

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⁶⁸ *Vya.* *Bhā.* 5. 100-103, *cf* *Arthaśāstra*, p 397.

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⁶⁹ *Brh.* *Bhā.* 3 3907.

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Pearl oysters (*suktikā*) were used for storing medicine.⁷⁰

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⁷⁰ *Ogh.* *Nir.* p. 134 a.

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Besides medicinal treatment, surgical operations also seem to have been carried out We read that once a fish bone (*maccha-kaṇṭaka*) stuck into the throat of a fisherman; the surgeons were called. They tried to extract the bone with an instrument (*salla*) and tried other means but could not succeed.⁷¹

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⁷¹ *Vivā* 8, p 48; also *Brh.* *Bhā.* 1051. That medical science including, surgery was fairly developed in ancient India, is revealed from the stories of the physician Jivaka told in the *Vinaya-vastu* of the Mūlasarvāstivāda, pp. 27-43.

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Lastly, the knowledge of physical science was not confined only to human beings, but it was also applied to animals. We read in the *Nisītha cūrṇi* how a thorn was extracted from the body of a horse.⁷²

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⁷² p. 1244; cf. *Susruta Samhitā*, 26. 13, p. 163.

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