The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c3.9

c3.9

The two works called Charaka Sanhitá and Susruta A'yurveda are the oldest and most celebrated treatises on Hindu medicine now extant. An older work called A'yurveda is mentioned in both these works as having formed a part of the Atharva Veda. It is said to have been originally composed by Brahmá, the creator, and to have consisted of a thousand chapters and a hundred-thousand slokas. Afterwards, in consideration of the short lives and small intellects of human beings, it was abridged into eight chapters as follows :—