Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c8.45

c8.45

Caraka, Suśruta, AS and AHr also agree on the point that they all hold the original Āyurveda which is an Upāṅga of Atharvaveda, to have consisted of eight parts: Surgery (*Śalya*), surgery of eye, ear, nose, throat (*Śālākya*, *Ūrdhvāṅga*), demonology (*Bhūtavidyā*, *Graha*), treatment for children (*Kaumārabhṛtya*, *Bāla*), toxicology (*Agadatantra*, *Viṣagaravairodhikapraśamana*), elixir (*Rasāyana*, *Jarā*) and aphrodisiac (*Vājīkaraṇa*, *Vṛṣa*)*. In Caraka, AS and AHr, Kāyacikitsā is the first part. The Chinese traveller I-tsing (671-695 A. D.) knew those eight parts of Indian medicine in the order in which they are mentioned in Suśruta, and when he says that these eight arts existed originally in eight books but were lately brought together by a man, so this remark can be taken as based on the above Indian account, especially because he mentions Śakra (Indra) as the first author⁴.