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A Concise History of Science in India c8.s8.t1: Static Period of Āyurveda

A Concise History of Science in India c8.s8.t1

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Static Period of Āyurveda

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The beginning of the thirteenth century A.D. is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient period of Indian culture, though a period of transition had begun many centuries previously. This date, A.D. 1200, is also significant in the history of Indian medical science, as it marked the end of an era of growth and standardization. At this period, the classical treatises of Caraka and Suśruta had already become hoary with age; it had been necessary to revise the archaic matter and restore parts which had been lost or misplaced. The later works of Vāgbhaṭa, Mādhava and Cakrapāṇi also held high places in professional esteem but, due to the highly conservative cultural traditions of India, the older classics had not been pushed aside in favour of the more concise and better written later treatises. Besides these, many other commentaries, specialized works on the eight branches of Āyurvedic knowledge, anthologies and lexicons held the field and served the needs of medical men throughout the political and cultural sphere of Indian influence. Apart from the emergence of some new remedies in the Tantric works and the *Rasacikitsā* school, nothing challenged the dominance of *Āyurveda*. Its prestige was not confined to India. Through missionaries, visiting scholars and emigrant doctors, and by the written word, it had penetrated to the far corners of the known world, from Mongolia in the north to Ceylon in the south, and from Eastern Mediterranean countries in the west to the Indies in the east. Adoption of Indian drugs, methods, and theories in these lands and the translation of Indian medical works in many languages testify to the fact that *Āyurveda* was one of the foremost medical systems prevalent in the world at that period.

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In A.D. 1200 then, *Āyurveda* had long reached its peak, but the intellectual energy and creative research which had contributed to its growth and vigour were definitely things of the past; so also were dispensaries, hospitals and medical services maintained at State expense by past Buddhist and Hindu monarchs. The new generations of medical students had to depend upon largely on their personal teachers for practical and theoretical training, augmented no doubt by the great treatises. The main prerequisite of sustained intellectual development—prestige and security of the intellectual and professional classes in a politically stable and progressive society—was gone; for India was constantly overrun by powerful foreign hordes. The martial classes not only ruled the land; they had replaced the intellectuals as the dominant class in the social hierarchy.

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It would be, however, an unjustified oversimplification to ascribe this static condition and the later stagnation and decay of *Āyurveda* solely to political reasons. The seeds of decay lay inherent in Indian thinking, religious beliefs and social system, and these profoundly affected the Indian sciences themselves; and medical science was no exception. The intellectual curiosity and passion for experimental research, which were associated with the Tantric and *Raseśvara* faiths, also petered out due to the same inherited factors.

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But, during the broad period of Indian history (A.D. 1200–1800), the residual impulse of the vigorous medical systems of the earlier ages produced an impressive array of valuable secondary works before reaching almost complete inertia. This inertia was helped by the adoption of *Unani* (originally Arabic) medicine as the system recognized by the ruling power along with a passive neglect of *Āyurveda*. This loss of prestige was followed, as we shall see, by a loss of popularity as well, during the last centuries of this period.

Cites (6)