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The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c12.s1: Caraka, Sutrasthana, XII

The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c12.s1

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Caraka, Sutrasthana, XII

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² The editions referred to are abbreviated as follows:

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[1] “We are now going to explain the chapter relating to functions and disorders¹ of the Wind”. [2], says the blessed Ātreya. [3] Conference of Ṛṣis: Desirous of knowing the opinions of one another regarding the knowledge of the functions and disorders of the wind, the great ṛṣis sat together and asked one another, “Which property has the wind? What excites

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N.=Narendranath Śāstrin, Lahore, 1929, with Vyākhyā (Ayurveda-dīpikā) of Cakrapāṇidatta (Cakr.); J.=Jīvananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1896; Ś.=Śaṃkara Śāstrin, Bombay, no date; K.=Khemraj Srīkṛṣṇadāsa, Bombay, 1898, with Hindi translation by Pandit Mihiracandra; H.=Harinath Sarkar, Calcutta, no date(towards 1880),with the Vyākhyā of Cakrapāṇidatta almost rigorously identical with that of N. of which it can be the model; G¹.=Gaṅgādhara with the Vyākhyā (Jalpa-kalpataru) of the same, Calcutta, 1868-1871, or G2; re-edited by Narendranath Sengupta and Balaicandra Sengupta, Calcutta, 1928; the text of Gaṅgādhara and that of more or less similar editions is without any authority with regard to the text commented by Cakrapāṇidatta, in view of arbitrary corrections and modifications, cf., Hoernle, Osteology, p. 21 (which wrongly indicates the edition of 1879 as the first edn. of Gaṅgādhara, but the one of 1868-71, indicated above does not seem to have been complete; in my copy it has 1,200 pages and ends in course of the XVIIIth Adhyāya of the Sūtrasthāna). Hoernle is mistaken in affirming that Ś. is a mere reproduction of G., but it follows G. quite closely. Manuscript: M. Bibl. Nat. Sanskrit, 1304, copy of a manuscript in Śārada script kept in the Deccan College written by Cordier on a copy of J. The indications in italics are added by us. Cakr. stands for Cakrapāṇidatta’s commentary.

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¹ According to Cakr., *kalā-guṇa* “property, chiefly favourable, quality”, or *aṃśa* “portion”. The second sense cannot be accepted; it cannot refer to “portions and non-portions of the wind”, although Gaṅgādhara has understood it in this manner (*vātasyāṃśāmyorjñānaṃ*) unless it be said to refer to the minute details concerning the wind or the diverse points of the doctrine of the wind. The former sense is found elsewhere in Caraka and is derived from that of portion, Sūtr., X. 3: *catuṣpadaṃ ṣoḍaśakalaṃ bheṣajamiti bhiṣajo bhāṣante/yaduktaṃ pūrvādhyāye ṣoḍaśaguṇamiti tadbheṣajam*, “Medicine has four feet and sixteen parts”, say the doctors; that which has been said in the preceding Chapter (XI, 9): “possessing sixteen qualities, that is medicine”. Wherefrom *kalā-guṇa* (Cakr.), in the sense that the parts referred to here are qualities; four of the compounder (instruction, etc.), four of drugs (efficacy, etc.) four of the compounder (ability of preparing the drugs, etc.) and four of the patient (memory, obedience for prescriptions, etc.) One can, therefore, translate “qualities and defects of the wind”, or “that which the wind has or does not have as qualities”. But *kalā* also denotes the arts and techniques (ordinarily said to number 64, which is 4³ when 16 is 4²; *kalā* is habitually in relation with the number 16, the *kalā* or the divisions of the lunar disc are 16 in number, the year has 16 parts, *Brh.-up.*, I, 5, 14; similarly the man, *Chānd.-up.* VI, 7, 1; *Praśnopa.*, VI, 1, 6). It can also refer to that which is done by the wind or that which is not done by the wind, or does the wrong way, of its normal and abnormal functions, therefore the translation given above, which fits better than the other ones is possible in the real context of the chapter.

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it? or which are the objects that calm it? And how, without having got it, that which lacks both consistency and stability, is it excited by the exciters or calmed by the sedatives? And which are its own actions that it, excited or not, circulates or does not circulate in the body, at the moment when it circulates in the body or outside the body?” [4] *Characteristics of the Wind*: Thereupon Kuśa, of the family of Sāṅkṛtya, said: light, cold, violent, sharp, inconsistent to touch, these are the six properties of the wind.¹ [5] *Exciters of the Wind*: As soon as he heard these words, Kumāraśiras Bharadvāja said: “It is just as the gentleman has observed. These are the properties of the wind; now, the wind is made excited by actions having similar properties and exercised by the drugs of the same type and the virtues of the same kind, because the means of reinforcing the elements are the putting into play of corresponding properties.” [6] *Sedatives of Wind*: As soon as he heard these words, the doctor from Bactria, Kāṅkāyana² said: “It is just as has been observed by the gentleman. These are the things that excite the wind. Thereafter, the contrary ones are the sedatives of the wind, because the antagonist of the exciter is the means of calming the elements”. [7] *Mode of Action of the Exciters and the Sedatives*: As soon as he heard these words, Badiśa Dhāmārgava said: “It is exactly as has been described by the gentleman. These are the sedatives of the excitation of the wind. Also, we are going to explain the way, in which attaining the wind³, which lacks both consistency and stability, the exciters and the sedatives, excite it or calm it. The exciters of the wind are, in truth, things which produce for the organism the bitter, the light, the cold, the violent, the sharp, the inconsistent and the hollow. The wind, having taken up residence in such and such an organism, growing, gets excited.

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¹ cf., below, (7) where another *ṛṣi* enumerates seven of them. cf. Suśr., Nid., 1, 6, infra.

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² That is to say, “of the line of the Sogdians”, cf., *supra*, p. 38.

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³ Gaṅgādhara and others who have followed him, have changed “in reaching it” into “without reaching it” to reproduce the expression used in [3]. The correction is useless as one feels that at the beginning of the conference [3] one might have supposed that the wind could not be reached, because of its inconsistent character, but once the action on similar or opposite properties having been admitted [6] it might have been thought that it could be reached, wherefrom the change of expression.

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The sedatives of the wind are things which produce for the organisms the unctuous, the heavy, the hot, the smooth, the slimy and the sticky. The wind installing itself, circulating in such and such an organism, he is made calm”. [8a] *Functions of the Wind*: As soon as he had heard the right statement of Badiśa, approved by all the ṛṣis, the royal sage Vāryovida¹ said: “Without any doubt it is exactly as has been stated by the gentleman and, in truth, after having adored the wind, we will explain, to the best of our ability, proving by means of observation, inference and comparison², the functions of the wind, excited or not, which circulates or does not circulate in the body, at the moment when it circulates in the body or outside the same. *Nature of the Wind*: The wind is the support of that which retains the chain³, it consists of the breath of the front, of the upward breath, of concentrated breath, of diffused breath, and of low breath.

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*Physiological Functions*: It promotes movements of all types, it puts brakes on the wind and also guides it⁴, this puts in action all the faculties, it is the conveyor of objects of all the faculties, the distributor of all the elements of the organism, which brings about the coherence of the body, it is the promoter of speech, is the matter⁵ of contact and of sound, the basis of the power of hearing and of touch, the source of joy and of liveliness, the kindler of fire, the drier of the elements of troubles⁶, the expulser of impurities, the border of the thick and fine canals, the maker of embryos.¹ It becomes the determining cause of the prolongation of life when it is not excited. [8b] *Pathological Functions*: But when, in truth, it is excited in the body, it inflicts on the body all sorts of derangements to the detriment of the forces of colour, of well-being and longevity. It puts in tumult² the mind, attacks all the faculties, throws down the embryos, provokes malformation, makes it go on for too long a time, engenders fright, chagrin, bewilderment, sadness, loquacity and blocks the breaths.

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[8c] *Normal Cosmic Functions*: Of the one which is in its natural state, the functions, when it circulates in the world, are, in truth, the following, i.e., the support of the earth³, the flaming up of the fire⁴, the regulation of the continuous course of the sun, of the moon and of the totality of the stars and the planets, the formation of clouds⁵, the emission of waters, the putting into movement of the course of water, the production of flowers and fruits, the piercing of that which pierces, the division of the seasons, of the elements, the determination of the quantity and the aspect of elements⁶, the elaboration of grain⁷, the growth of cereals, the dryness and the secondary drying up⁸ and the tranformation of that which is not transformed.

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[8d] *Perturbing Cosmic Functions*: Of the one that is excited, the functions, when it circulates in the worlds, are, in sooth, the following, i.e., the levelling up of the summits of the mountains, the uprooting of trees, the overflowing of the oceans, the rising of the lakes, the pushing back of the courses of water, the trembling of the earth, the swelling of the clouds, the production of the mist, of thunder, of dust, of sand, of fish, of frogs, of serpents, of caustics, of blood, of stones, and of lightning¹, the destruction of six seasons, the clearing² of cereals, the calamities³ for beings, the complete destruction of existences, the production of clouds, of the sun, of fire and of the wind which bring to an end the four yugas of the world. [8e] Divine Nature of the Wind: It is the blessed and the imperishable source of beings⁴, the author of the existence and non-existence, the ordinator of well-being and of troubles, the death, Yama⁵, the tamer, the Lord of creatures, Aditi⁶, the one which does everything, the one that has all the forms, the one that goes everywhere, the director of all the concatenatious, the atom between existences, penetrating Viṣṇu, who trsaverses the worlds; yes, the wind is the Blessed one”.

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[9] Objection: Having heard Vāryovida, Mārīci said: “Even though it is so, what is the relationship of this notion, either for the expression or for the doctrine, with the science of the medical man or whether this doctrine, which has just now been stated, does really concern the science of the medical-man”.⁷ [10] The Medical and General Interest of the Doctrine: Vāryovida replied, “The medical-man, does not consider that the wind possesses an extreme force, has an extreme violence, that it acts very promptly and brooks no delay when it is forcefully excited, what precautions he will take, having prepared himself thoroughly, to protect from the very beginning, to forestall, fearing loss of time. The praise of the wind made in this sense is, besides, worthwhile for health, for increasing the forces and for good mien, for the acme of extreme longevity.

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[11] *Physiological Rôle of the Fire*: Mārīci said: “It is fire which, inside the organism, incorporated into bile¹, excited or not, renders things good or bad, i.e., digestion, absence of digestion, vision, absence of vision, measure of and its lack as regards warmth, and colour of the normal state and that of the abnormal one, heroism and pusillanimity, anger, joy, aberration, serenity and other pairs (of the opposite) beginning with these ones.” [12] *Physiological Role of the Aqueous Element*: Having heard the words of Mārīci, Kāpya said, “It is Soma which, in the organism, incorporated into phlegm, excited or not, renders things good or bad, i.e., firmness, laxity, plethora, thinness, softness, virility, powerlessness, knowledge, ignorance, consciousness, aberration and other pairs (of the opposites) beginning with these ones.” [13] *Synthetic Conclusion of Ātreya*: Having heard the remarks of Kāpya, the blessed Punarvasu Ātreya said, “All of you, gentlemen, have said the right thing except that your remarks have been exclusive. All, in sooth, the wind, the bile and phlegm, in normal state, make man, with his faculties intact, full of vigour, good mien and in good health; thus he manages to live a long life, just as morals, interests and pleasures, rightly practised make man attain the utmost happiness in this world.

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But rendered abnormal, they take him into the abyss of adversity, just as three seasons, rendered abnormal, lead the world to calamity during their respective periods.” [14] *Conclusion*: All the *ṛṣis* approved this discourse of the blessed Ātreya, and were glad thereof.¹ [15] And there is (a verse) on this subject: “Hearing this discourse of Ātreya, all approved (it), and the *ṛṣis* were glad like gods hearing the words of Indra”. [16] Verse on the above: *Résumé*: The six properties, the cause of two types², the multiple function, that which also appertains to the wind, the quadruple³ function respectively that of phlegm and of bile, [17] the opinion which is of the great *ṛṣis* and that of Punarvasu all this, a propos of the functions and disorders of the wind, has been presented.

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¹ Or Vāyorvida, “One knowing the wind”, *lectio facilior* which differs from the preceding one by the displacement of only the *repha* written over the syllable *yo* to the syllable *vi*. The aberrant reading of M denotes “knower of that which has reference to the three properties” (of Nature according to the Sāṃkhya philosophy).

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² The three measures-criteria (*pramāṇas*) enumerated are those which are habitually recognised in the Nyāya philosophy, minus the revealed word (*śabda*), not considered here, except in S, which adds its equivalent, the teaching (*upadeśa*). The reading of M and that of the variant indicated by H, which comprise observation, inference and teaching correspond to the theory of Sāṃkhya. The text has, therefore, been modified respectively by the advocates of Nyāya and Sāṃkhya.

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³ The chain (of weaving) is the body (*Cakr.: tantram śarīram*), that which supports the chain corresponds to the joints (*Cakr.: sandhi*). One may, thus, understand *tantrayantra* as the “machine of the body”.

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⁴ Cakr. explains: “the one which puts brakes on the mind, which puts itself movement when the object is not desired and is the guide of the mind when the object is desired.”

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⁵ Cakr.: *prakṛti kāraṇam*, “*prakṛti*—instrumental cause.”

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⁶ Cakr.: *doṣasaṃśoṣaṇaḥ—śarīrakleda-saṃśoṣaṇaḥ*, “drier of the doṣas—drier of the humours of the body”.

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¹ Cakr.: *bhettā karttaitacca śarīrotpatti-kāle*, "borer, maker and that at the moment of body-formation".

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² Or variant, *vyāvarttayati*, "it throws upside down".

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³ *lit.*, "of the one that supports". The use of expressions of this type is the mark of a certain *finesse*.

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⁴ *lit.*, "of the flaming one".

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⁵ K.: "of the intelligences", bad reading due to the easy confusion between *gha* and *dha* in Nāgarī.

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⁶ Cakr.: *mānam parimānam samsthānam ākṛtis tayor vyaktir abhivyaktih kāranamiti yāvat*, "mānam is the quantity; samsthānam, the aspect; of these two it is the vyakti, the manifestation, i.e., the instrumental cause."

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⁷ Cakr.: *abhisamskāro'nkura-jananaśaktih*, "*abhisamskāra*, the germinative power".

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⁸ Ś. K.: the drying of humidity; M.G.: the drying of the dry one (commentary of G.: drying of things which are a little humid, *vikledahīnānām upaśosanam*). Cakr.: *avikledah pākakālādarvāg aviklinnatvam upaśosanam ca pākena yavādīnām, ārdrānām eva vikledapośosanam*, "*avikleda*, absence of humidity before the movement of maturity and *upaśosanam*, secondary drying up because of the maturity of the humidity of unripe barley, etc." One should thus understand that it is the cause of the general drying up and of the drying up of the ripening cereals.

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¹ Cakr. does not comment upon the expressions between “thunder” and “lightning”, probably because he did not think them to be subject to confusion but, since they constitute an hetroclite enumeration inserted accidentally between “thunder” and “lightning” they appear to have been interpolated after the editing of the commentary of Cakr., M. adds “thunder”.

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² Cakr.: asaṅghāto ’nutpādo ’nupacayo vā, “asaṅghāta, non-production and non-abundance”. Saṅghāta is, properly speaking, density.

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³ Cakr.: upasargo mārakādiprādurbhāvaḥ, “upasarga, appearance of pests, etc”.

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⁴ Or, “of the elements”; cf., Gayadāsa on Suśr., Nid., 1, 6, infra.

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⁵ The god of death.

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⁶ The Vedic goddess “without links”.

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⁷ M., Ś., G.: “Is it made in consideration of the science of the medical man?”

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¹ Cakr.: *pittāntaragata iti vacanena śarīre jvālādi yuktavahniniṣedhena pittoṣmarūpasya vahneḥ sadbhāvaṃ darśayati na tu pittādabhedaṃ pittenāgnimāndyasya grahaṇyādhyaye vakṣyamāṇatvāt tathā pittaharasya sarpiṣo'gni-vardhanatvenoktavāt*. “By the expression, ‘incorporated in the bile’, is specified the real nature of fire in the body in the form of bile and heat, as it is impossible that fire in the body may have flames, etc., but it is distinguished from bile by the fact that in the chapter on chronic diarrhoea mention is made of a reduction of fire by bile and also following what is said about [medicine with the base of] ghee which destroys bile by increasing the fire”. The first passage which thus puts fire and bile in antagonism is *Cik.*, XV, 63 (in *Ś.*: XIX, 63): *pittam...agnim āplāvayat hanti jalaṃ taptam ivānalam*, “the bile... inundating the (digestive) fire destroys it as hot water destroys fire”. But this implies that if bile is not fire, it is like hot water and therefore it contains an igneous element. The second passage is *Cik.*, XV, 196: *parīkṣyāmam śarīrasya dīpanam snehasamyutam/dīpanam bahupittasya tiktam madhura-samyutam*, “Having observed the crudeness (absence of digestion by cooking) of the body, an enflaming (medicine) containing (some) fat (is beneficial), if the body has much of bile, the (beneficial) enflaming (medicine) is one having the pungent along with the sweet one.” The two passages belong to the latter part of *Caraka-saṃhitā*, added by Dṛḍhabala.

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¹ This final formula reminds us of the one which regularly ends the Buddhist Sūtras, “Thus spake the Blessed one; satisfied the... (listeners) were glad of the Blessed one”:

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² Cakr.: *dvidvidho heturiti vātaprakopahetur vātapraśamahetuḥ*, “Cause of two types, cause of the excitation of the wind, cause of the calming down of the wind”.

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³ Quadruple, because it differs according as it is in the body or in the world and whether it is excited or not.

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COLOPHON:—In the manual of Agniveśa, re-edited by Caraka, in the section of verses⁴, the twelfth chapter, entitled, “Functions and Disorders of the Wind”, is finished.

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⁴ Or *Sūtrasthāna*, “section of the sūtras” (*lit.*, place of the Sūtras).

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The discussion of the *ṛṣis* gathered together shows clearly the various tendencies which have dominated the ancient physio-cosmological speculations of Indians and whose classical theory is the synthesis summarised by Ātreya. He attributed the main rôle in the organism to an unique element, wind, fire or water, the last one of these, water, is represented here by soma, the cosmic liquid *par excellence*. This inevitably recalls the attitude of the Ionian Physiologists seeking the primordial element and finding the same, Thales in water, Anaximenes in air or Heraclitus in fire. In all the cases, the effort aims at supplying a purely physical explanation of the universe and of

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idam avocad bhagavān āttamanāḥ te
...bhagavato bhāṣitaṃ abhinandanniti;
in Pāli; idaṃ avoca bhagavā, attamanā te
...bhagavato bhāsitaṃ abhinandun ti.

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the organism, both conceived as having the same nature. In the opinion of Vāryovida, where wind is assimilated to an entire series of gods, indeed to the Blessed One, to the supreme God, the point of view cannot be held to be mystic, in spite of the protests of Mārīci who feels that the assimilation of the wind to the gods comes out of the framework of speculations that are really medical. The Indian gods in question are not really supernatural beings, powers which freely govern Nature by placing themselves above it. They are included in it; they are eminent therein, but only as participants. Besides, the wind, as it is described by Vāryovida, is nothing but the material element known as such, and when Vāryovida identifies it with the gods, he does not substitute the natural notion of the wind with a mystic representation but, on the contrary, he furnishes a materialistic interpretation of the being of the gods and aims to be fully rational, but not entirely concrete. Our text does not describe in detail the physical action of the breath inside the organism. The ṛṣis who discuss the wind or breath judge that it is, in each movement or change, the activating force, but do not see in each case the mode of action of this force. Their conceptions were too vague to be able to concretise themselves as physical representations and a deepened observation would have destroyed them immediately instead of making them more precise. In any case, the consideration of the properties enabled them to materially render the account of the action of wind in the organism without any necessity of having to make it physically precise. From the fact that breath entered the organism, it followed that it introduced therein its properties. When calm it put them to work in normal manner: excited, it disurbed the organism by means of their excesses as also by its own mechanical action. One could, therefore, without having to specify the concrete process of the latter, understand its normal or disturbing functions by referring them to the play of its properties in an abstract manner.

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The corresponding text of Suśruta will give us more details on the pneumatic pathology of Āyurveda. But beforehand, the comparison of the text of Bhela, thought to have integrally reproduced the teaching of Ātreya, like that of Caraka, will enable us to go back to the doctrine in the state which constituted the common fund of the teachings of Bhela and Caraka.

Cites (6)