[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902) › v1.c9 # A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c9: Chapter I A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c9 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [v1.c9.s1 Chapter II. The Ayurvedic Period](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1) — 187 parts - [v1.c9.s2 Chapter IV. The Tantric Period](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s2) — 104 parts - [v1.c9.s3 Chapter V. Iatro-Chemical Period](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s3) — 46 parts - [v1.c9.s4 Chapter VI. Indebtedness of the Arabians to India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s4) — 89 parts ### Chapter I ### [v1.c9.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.1) CHEMISTRY IN RASARNATNASAMUCHCHAYA ### [v1.c9.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.2) Colophon—The Rasas—Abhra—Vaikránta—Copper Pyrites—Vimala—Silájatu—Sasyaka—Extraction of Copper—Chapala—Rasaka—Extraction of Zinc—The Uparasas or Inferior Rasas—Sulphur—Gairika—Kásisa—Tuvarí—Tálaka—Manassila—The Añjanas—The Common Rasas—Navasára and other Rasas—The Gems—Vajram—General Process of Reducing Gems to Ashes—On Metals—Gold—Silver—Copper—Iron—Tin—Lead—Brass—Bell-Metal, &c.—Initiation into Discipleship—On the Laboratory—On Technical Terms—Tests for Killed Iron—Antimony from Stibnite—Certain Other Technical Terms—On Apparatus (the Yantras)—Dola Yantram—Svedani Yantram—Pátaná Yantram—Adhaspátana Yantram—Dheki Yantram—Váluka Yantram (Sand-bath)—Lavana Yantram—Náliká Yantram—Tiryakpátana Yantram—Vidyádhara Yantram—Dhúpa Yantram—On the Ingredients for Crucibles, &c.—Vrintaka Crucible—Calcination, Roasting, &c.—The Metals—The Salts—The Alkalies—The Oils—The Fats—The Urines—The Acids—The Earth—The Poisons—The Solvents—On the Purification of Mercury—Fixation of Mercury—Incineration of Mercury . . . . . . 76 ### [v1.c9.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.3) NOTES ON THE MINERALS . . . . . 133 ### [v1.c9.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.4) Alum and Green Vitirol . . . . . 146 ### [v1.c9.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.5) ON METALS AND METALLURGY . . . 152 ### [v1.c9.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.6) Zinc . . . . . . . . . 156 ### [v1.c9.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.7) \*De la formation des métaux\* . . . . 162 ### [v1.c9.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.8) ON THE ESSENCE OF MINERALS . . . 169 ### [v1.c9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.9) Calamine—The Vitriols—Blue Vitriol . . . 169-171 ### [v1.c9.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.10) ON GUNPOWDER, SALTPETRE AND THE MINERAL ACIDS ### [v1.c9.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.11) Gunpowder—Saltpetre—Mineral Acids . . . 174 ### [v1.c9.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.12) KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNICAL ARTS AND DECLINE OF SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT . . . 190 ### [v1.c9.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.13) THE WASTAGE OF GOLD IN THE COURSE OF PREPARING JEWELRY IN BENGAL ### [v1.c9.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.14) Soldering—Filing and Cutting—The Chemical Operations of the Goldsmith : Cleansing, Colouring and Polishing -The Processes of the Rungwala—Chemical Explanation -The Restorative Processes—The Neharwala—The Jamakwala—Conclusion . . . . . . 198 Note on the Salts . . . . . . 243 Note on the Killing of Metals . . . . 246 On the Hindu Method of Manufacturing Calomel— The Hindu and Japanese Methods Compared—The Explanation of the Reactions Involved . . . . 250 ### [v1.c9.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.15) APPENDIX I ### [v1.c9.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.16) ANALYSIS OF SOME PREPARATIONS USED IN ### [v1.c9.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.17) THE HINDU MEDICINE ### [v1.c9.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.18) Æthiops Mineral—Sulphide of Copper—Calomel— Rust of iron—\*Achyranthes aspera\*—\*Trianthema monogyna\* . 261 ### [v1.c9.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.19) APPENDIX II ### [v1.c9.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.20) Illustrations . . . . . . 269-284 ### [v1.c9.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.21) INDEX ### [v1.c9.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.22) Index of Proper Names . . . . . 287-295 Index of Subjects . . . . . 296-313 ### [v1.c9.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.23) SANSKRIT TEXTS . . . 1-70 ### [v1.c9.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.24) \*Erratum\* : Intro., p. civ, the 3 lines from the bottom upwards are to be deleted ### [v1.c9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.25) Alchemical Ideas in the Vedas ### [v1.c9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.26) IN tracing the progress of chemical knowledge among the civilized nations of old, one always finds it intimately associated with medicinal preparations, metallurgical operations, the technical arts and the belief in the transmutation of metals. In India, more so than in Europe, chemistry has, however, been evolved chiefly as a handmaid of medicine; and, somewhat later on, as an adjunct of the Tantric cult. The efficacy of the drug alone was by no means considered sufficient unless backed by the kindly interposition of the deities. Thus in the \*Rigveda\* we find the Asvins, the divine physicians, invoked, who give sight to the blind and make the lame walk. These twin gods have many points in common with the Dioskouroi of Greek mythology. One very curious myth is that of the maiden Vispalá who, having had her leg cut off in some conflict, was at once furnished by the Asvins with an iron limb. ### [v1.c9.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.27) The higher gods of the \*Rigveda\* are almost entirely personifications of the elements and the other natural phenomena, such as the fire and the wind, the sun and the dawn. But we often find also herbs and plants endowed with potent and active properties, raised to the dignities of the gods and addressed as such. The Soma plant is an object of particular adoration and the Vedic worshippers are in ecstacy over the exhilarating effects of the fermented juice expressed from it.¹ The Soma rasa (juice) began even to be regarded as the amrita; this immortal draught, allied to the Greek ambrosia, is "the stimulant which conferred immortality upon the gods . . . it is medicine for a sick man and the god Soma heals whatever is sick.” It will be seen later on that in the Soma rasa and its attributes we have the dawn of Hindu Alchemy (\*Vide\* p. 79). ### [v1.c9.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.28) ¹ See Eggeling's Intro. to "Satapatha Bráhmana." Pt. II, pp. 1 \*et seq.\* also Roth; Ueber den Soma; "Zeit. deut. morg. Ges." XXXV. pp. 680-692; also ibid, XXXVIII. 134-139: Wo wächst der Soma? And Windischmann: Ueber den Somacultus der ### [v1.c9.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.29) Other plants were likewise invoked as divinities. Thus one entire hymn is devoted to the praise of plants (\*oshadhi\*) alone, mainly with regard to their healing powers.¹ ### [v1.c9.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.30) Arier: Abhand. d. Münch. AK. d. Wiss. IV. B. Abh. 2. ### [v1.c9.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.31) (1) One or two typical hymns may be quoted here:— ### [v1.c9.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.32) या ओषधीः पूर्वा जाता देवेभ्यस्त्रियुगं पुरा । मनौ नु बभ्रूणामहं शतं धामानि सप्त च शतं वो अम्ब धामानि सहस्रमुत वो रुहः । X.97.1. अघा शतक्रत्वो यूयमिमं मे अगदं कृत ॥ ibid., 2 ### [v1.c9.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.33) Sáyana’s commentary to the above is:— याः ओषधयः पूर्वाः पुरातन्यः जाताः उत्पन्नः, केभ्यः सकाशात् ? देवेभ्यः ; यद्वा देवाः द्योतमानाः ऋतवः, तेभ्यः । कस्मिन् काले ? त्रियुगं त्रिषु युगेषु प्रादुर्भावापेक्षया कृतादियुगत्रयमुक्तं, कलौ तु अत्यन्ताल्पत्वात् उपेक्षितम् । अथवा त्रिषु युगेषु वसन्ते प्रावृषि शरदि चेत्यर्थः । अहं बभ्रूणां बभ्रुवर्णानां सोमाद्योषधीनां शतं सप्त च धामानि अनुलेपमार्जनाभिषेकादिरूपेण आश्रयभूतानि स्थानानि नु क्षिप्रं मनौ मन्ये संभावयामीत्यर्थः । ### [v1.c9.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.34) हे अम्ब मातरः ओषधयः वो युष्माकं धामानि स्थानानि जन्मानि वा शतम् अपरिमितानि ; उतापि च वो युष्माकं रुहः प्ररोहः प्रोद्गमः सहस्रपरिमितः । अघा अपि च हे शतक्रत्वः हे शतकर्मणः यूयमिमं मे मां मदीयं वा जनम् आमयग्रस्तम् अगदं गदः रोगः तद्रहितं कृत कुरुत । ### [v1.c9.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.35) Again, in another hymn we read: "O King Varuna ! a hundred and a thousand medicinal drugs are thine." ### [v1.c9.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.36) It is in the "Atharva-veda" however, that plants and vegetable products in general are fully recognised as helpful agents in the treatment of diseases, though their use is invariably associated with the employment of charms, spells, and incantations. Thus the plant apámárga (\*achyranthes aspera\*), which still occupies a prominent place in the Hindu system of medicine as a di-uretic and laxative etc., is invoked as the "mistress of remedies" (IV. 17, 1.) and "sole ruler over all plants." In another hymn the Soma plant is thus referred to:— ### [v1.c9.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.37) "The strength of this amrita (ambrosia) do we give this man to drink. Moreover, I prepare a remedy, that he may live a hundred years !" ### [v1.c9.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.38) Again, "as many (plants), as the human physicians know to contain a remedy, so many, endowed with every healing quality, do I apply to thee!’¹ Here is a spell for the cure of leprosy by means of a dark-coloured plant :— ### [v1.c9.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.39) Born in the night art thou, O herb, Dark-coloured, sable, black of hue : Rich-tinted, tinge this leprosy, And stain away its spots of grey ! (I.23,1). ### [v1.c9.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.40) —Macdonell ### [v1.c9.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.41) There is also a distinct reference to a remedy for promoting the growth of hair. ### [v1.c9.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.42) “As a goddess upon the goddess earth thou wast born, O plant ! We dig thee up, O nitatní, that thou mayest strengthen (the growth) of the hair. “Strengthen (the old hair), beget the new ! That which has come forth render more luxurious !” VI. 136. 1-2. ### [v1.c9.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.43) Although in the Vedic age caste as a hereditary system did not exist, the healing arts had evidently acquired sufficient importance to be pursued by particular members of the patriarchal families. Thus with that charming sim- ### [v1.c9.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.44) (1) Bloomfield : “Hymns of the Atharva-veda” pp. 43-44. ### [v1.c9.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.45) plicity which is the characteristic¹ beauty of the \*Rigveda\*, one Rishi says pathetically of himself: ### [v1.c9.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.46) “Behold I am a composer of hymns, my father is a physician, my mother grinds corn on stone. We are all engaged in different occupations¹” (IX. 112, 3), ### [v1.c9.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.47) “Princes like Divodása, and bards and leaders of the tribe of the Angiras, administered medicines and gloried in effecting cures. A skilled physician is distinctly defined as one who lives in a place abounding with medicinal plants, and who assiduously devotes his time to the acquisition of knowledge².” ### [v1.c9.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.48) Thus not only in the Atharvan but even in the \*Rik\*, we can trace the earliest literary record of Indian Medicine. ### [v1.c9.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.49) The “Atharva-veda” deals chiefly with sorcery, witch-craft and demonology. There are deadly imprecations against evil-doers; ### [v1.c9.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.50) (1) R. C. Dutt: “Civilisation in ancient India,” p. 65 (Calc. ed.) (2) Introduction to “Astángahridaya” of Vagbhata, by Anna Morsvar Kunte, B. A., M. D., p. 2. ### [v1.c9.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.51) magical incantations for bringing about ruin, death, dementation and stupefaction of one's adversaries; and charms intended to secure the love of women through the potency of various herbs. Some of them are of hostile character, being meant to injure rivals. The picture here presented has its counterpart in the ancient Egyptians, who were noted for their magical lore to which the Greeks were no less attached. There is a close resemblance between the contents of the A. V. and those of the Papyrus of Leyden in some essential features. In the latter also there is an intermixture of magic, astrology, alchemy as well as recipes for love philters.¹ ### [v1.c9.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.52) ¹ The reader may compare this portion with Berthelot's "Les Origines de l' Alchimie," pp. 81-83. ### [v1.c9.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.53) The A. V., on account of its frequent calling-in-aid of super-natural agencies for selfish and malevolent purposes, has not generally been accorded the canonical sanctity of the Vedic Triad—The Rik, the Yajus and the Sáman; the very authority of the fourth Veda as a scripture has been questioned in the several law-books of the Apastamba, the Vishnu, the Yájñavalkya and the Manu schools, and the practices it sanctions strongly condemned. ### [v1.c9.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.54) As Hindu medicine has seldom been able to shake itself completely free from the influence of magic and alchemy as auxiliaries, physicians, as practicers of the "black art," have been given an inferior position in the legal treatises. The Mahábhárata, reflecting the spirit of the above law-books, regards the physicians as impure. In spite of this "the Atharvan retains in a measure its place by virtue of its profound hold upon popular beliefs, because the Atharvan performs, especially for the king, inestimable services in the injury and overthrow of enemies."¹ ### [v1.c9.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.55) In the A. V., the hymns for the cure of diseases and possession by demons of disease are known as "bhaishajyáni,' while those which have for ### [v1.c9.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.56) Rasáyana or Alchemy. ### [v1.c9.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.57) (1) Bloomfield's "Hymns of the Atharva-veda":—Introduction, p. XLVI. ### [v1.c9.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.58) their object the securing of long life and health are known as "áyushyáni"—a term which later on gave place to rasayana, the Sanskrit equivalent of alchemy (see p. 80). We shall quote two under the latter heading as invocations to pearl and its shell and gold respectively. "Born in the heavens, born in the sea, brought on from the river (Sindhu), this shell, born of gold, is our life-prolonging amulet." ### [v1.c9.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.59) "The bone of the gods turned into pearl; that, animated, dwells in waters. That do I fasten upon thee unto life, lustre, strength, longevity, unto a life lasting a hundred autumns. May the (amulet) of pearl protect thee!" ### [v1.c9.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.60) "The gold which is born from fire,' the immortal, they bestowed upon the mortals. He who knows this deserves it : of old age dies he who wears it." ### [v1.c9.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.61) "The gold, (endowed by) the sun with beautiful colour, which the men of yore, rich in descendants, did desire, may it gleaming envelop thee in lustre! Long-lived becomes he who wears it!" ### [v1.c9.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.62) ¹ Among the five kinds of gold referred to in the "Rasaratna-amuch chaya" (p. 10 5 अग्निसम्भूतं (born from fire) is one. ### [v1.c9.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.63) While gold is regarded as the elixir of life, lead is looked upon as the dispeller of sorcery: "To the lead Varuna gives blessing, to the lead Agni gives help. Indra gave me the lead; unfailingly it dispels sorcery."¹ ### [v1.c9.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.64) It is of interest to note the alchemical notions which had gathered round gold and lead ² at the time of the A. V. ### [v1.c9.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.65) To the student of Hindu medicine and alchemy, the A. V. is thus of special interest as the earliest repository of information on the subject. ### [v1.c9.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.66) (1) The quotations are from Bloomfield's A. V. pp. 62-65. (2) In the alchemy of the West, lead, as is well known, is associated not with beneficent but "Saturnine" influence. ### Chapter II. The Ayurvedic Period ### [v1.c9.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.1) The Ayurvedi Period ### [v1.c9.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.2) We now alight upon a period when we find the Hindu system of medicine methodised and arranged on a rational basis, with a scientific terminology. ### [v1.c9.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.3) The two great works of this period are the Charaka and the Susruta. In them we find the study of the subject to have made a distinct advance and to have been evolved out of the chaotic state it was in during the Vedic period. Of the two, the Charaka is by far the more ancient.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.4) ¹ Cf. "The theological doctrine of the nature of disease indicated its means of cure. For Hippocrates was reserved the great glory of destroying them both, replacing them by more practical and ### [v1.c9.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.5) There must have been a wide gap between the age of the A. V. and that of the Charaka—an interval of probably a thousand years or more. ### [v1.c9.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.6) In the latter the humoral pathology is fully developed, the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases described at length, and an elaborate mode of classification adopted. We have seen above that the physicians were assigned rather an inferior status in society; the healing art was, in fact, never recognised as a division of the Vedas.¹ Still the claims of the indispensable science of medicine, which can be distinctly traced to the A. V., could not altogether be ignored, and ultimately a compromise was arrived at. In the Charaka itself the Science of Life ### [v1.c9.s1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.7) material ideas, and, from the votive tablets, traditions, and other sources, together with his own admirable observations, compiling a body of medicine- The necessary consequence of his great success was the separation of the pursuits of the physician from those of the priest. Not that so great a revolution, implying the diversion of profitable gains from the ancient channel, could have been accomplished without a struggle, We should reverence the memory of Hippocrates for the complete manner in which he effected that object."—Draper's "Hist. of the Intellect. Dev. in Europe," I. p. 393 (ed. 1896). The services rendered by Charaka, Susruta and their predecessors were equally valuable. ### [v1.c9.s1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.8) (1) The six limbs or divisions of the Vedas are sikshá (phonetics), kalpa (ceremonial), vyákarana (grammar), nirukta (etymology), chhandas (metre) and jyotisha (astronomy). ### [v1.c9.s1.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.9) (Ayurveda) is regarded as a secondary or subsidiary branch (\*upánga\*) of the Atharvan and as a direct revelation of the gods (Sútra : Ch. XXX. 8-9). ### [v1.c9.s1.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.10) The Susruta even goes a step further and asserts that the self-existent (Brahmá) created Ayurveda, as an \*upánga\* of the Atharvan (sútra : I. 3.) ### [v1.c9.s1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.11) The age of Charaka. We shall now concern ourselves with finding the time of Charaka within approximate limits. The task is not a light one, and it is one of the most abstruse questions of Indian chronology. ### [v1.c9.s1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.12) M. Sylvain Lévi has recently unearthed from the Chinese Tripitaka the name of a physician named Charaka, who was attached as spiritual guide to the Indo-Scythian King Kanishka, who reigned in the second century A. D. The French Orientalist would have this Charaka as the author of the famous Hindu medical work, specially as it would offer an easy explanation of the supposed Greek influence discernible in it. ### [v1.c9.s1.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.13) "Les éléments traditionnels mis en œuvre par les conteurs peuvent se résumer ainsi : le roi devaputra Kanishka, de la race des Kushanas, règne sur les Yuetchi, sept cents ans après le Nirvāna ; il est assisté de ministers éminents, nommés Devadharma et Māthara. Le bodhisattva Asvaghosha est son conseiller spirituel ; l'illustre médecin Charaka est attaché à sa personne." \* \* \* \* ### [v1.c9.s1.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.14) "La mention de Charaka est la première indication positive obtenue sur la date du savant praticien qui dispute à Susruta la gloire d'avoir fondé la science médicale dans l'Inde. Les influences grecques qu'on avait cru reconnaître dans les doctrines de Charaka s'expliquent aisément, s'il est vrai que ce grand médecin vivait au temps et à la cour des Indo-Scythes, alors que l'hellénisme semblait pénétrer en vainqueur dans la vieille civilisation brahmanique." —"Journ. Asiatique" (1896), T. VIII. pp. 447-51 ### [v1.c9.s1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.15) We confess we are by no means convinced of M. Lévi's theory. If we are to go by name alone, we can claim a still higher antiquity for our author. The appellation of Charaka occurs in Vedic literature as a patronymic; in short, Pánini felt it necessary to compose a special sūtra for deriving the “Charakás” \*i.e.\* the followers of Charaka.¹ Then again, Patañjali, who is now generally admitted to have lived in the second century B. C., is known to have written a commentary on the medical work of Charaka, thus further proving the antiquity of our author;² and both Chakrapáni and Bhoja agree in alluding to him as the redactor of Charaka.³ Indeed, in such matters we would do well to set store by native traditions. It would be beside our purpose, however, to enter into any lengthy discussion on the grounds on which we are inclined to place Charaka in the pre-Buddhistic era, but we shall summarise below the salient points. ### [v1.c9.s1.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.16) ¹ कठचरकाल्लुक् । 4. 3. 107. ### [v1.c9.s1.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.17) ² आप्तो नाम अनुभवेन वस्तुतत्त्वस्य कात्स्न्येन निश्चयवान्, रागादिवशादपि नान्यथावादी यः स इति चरके पतञ्जलिः । Quoted in the “Laghu Mañjushá” of Nágesa Bhatta. ### [v1.c9.s1.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.18) ³ पातञ्जल-महाभाष्य-चरकप्रतिसंस्कृतैः । मनोवाक्-कायदोषाणां हत्रैऽहिपतये नमः ॥ Vide salutation in the commentary named आयुर्वेददीपिका on the Charaka by Chakrapáni. ### [v1.c9.s1.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.19) (1) कठचरकाल्लुक् । 4. 3. 107. ### [v1.c9.s1.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.20) (2) आप्तो नाम अनुभवेन वस्तुतत्त्वस्य कात्स्न्येन निश्चयवान्, रागादिवशादपि नान्यथावादी यः स इति चरके पतञ्जलिः । Quoted in the “Laghu Mañjushá” of Nágesa Bhatta. ### [v1.c9.s1.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.21) (3) पातञ्जल-महाभाष्य-चरकप्रतिसंस्कृतैः । मनोवाक्-कायदोषाणां हत्रैऽहिपतये नमः ॥ ### [v1.c9.s1.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.22) Vide salutation in the commentary named आयुर्वेददीपिका on the Charaka by Chakrapáni. ### [v1.c9.s1.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.23) In the handling of the subject-matter the Charaka is not so systematic as the Susruta, but indulges in random, hap-hazard and irrelevant discourses, which make the reader often lose the thread of the main narrative. The author, whenever he has an opportunity, boldly and with evident relish, launches into metaphysical disquisitions, which, he believes, make up for lack of experiments and observations.¹ In this respect the Susruta is far more scientific than the Charaka. The Nyáya and the Vaiseshika systems of philosophy, which have been interwoven into the body of the text, again remind us of a stage when they were more or less in a state of flux, but had not crystallised into the well-defined form and shape of the sútras in which they have come down to us—this also goes towards proving the high antiquity of the Charaka.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.24) ¹ This has given ample scope to a recent commentator, the late Kavirája Gangádhara Kaviratna, who in his जल्पकल्पतरु, surpasses Charaka himself in philosophical dissertations. ### [v1.c9.s1.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.25) ¹ The Nyáya of Gotama enumerates 16 padárthas (categories), while Charaka under his (medical) disputation, वादमार्ग, mentions 44 categories (Vide Vimána. Ch. VIII. 22., also A. C. Kaviratna's Eng. trans. pp. 564-65). Bodas in his learned Introduction to the Tarkasamgraha of Annambhatta (pp. 12-14) places the aphorisms of Gotama and Kanada in the period between 400 B. C. to 500 A. D. ### [v1.c9.s1.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.26) Again, only Vedic gods and mantras figure in the Charaka, not a trace of Pauranic mythology being discernible in it.² Charaka follows closely the Vedic authority³ in counting the number of bones in the human body; the limit of childhood he takes to be thirty years—quite in keeping with the conception of the heroic age. ### [v1.c9.s1.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.27) ² The names of Krishna and Vásudeva occur in a salutation in the supplement added by Dridhavala. Chikitsita. Ch. 21. 92-93. ed. Gaṅgádhara). But Krisna-worship was in vogue at the time of Pánini ; 4. 3. 98. See also Lassen's Alterthumskunde 1. p. 648. Bühler also points out that "the earlier history of the puránas, which as yet is a mystery, will only be cleared up when a real history of the orthodox Hindu sects, especially of the Sivites and Vishnuites, has been written. It will, then, probably become apparent that the origin of these sects reaches back far beyond the rise of Buddhism and Jainism."—Intro. to "Apastamba," &c. p. XXIX.. ### [v1.c9.s1.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.28) ³ Namely 360; Sáríra. Ch. VII, 5. According to the Institutes of Vishnu "it (the human frame) is kept together by three ### [v1.c9.s1.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.29) It should, however, be borne in mind that the Charaka, as we now possess it, can by no means lay claim to be the first comprehensive and systematic treatise on Hindu medicine, it represents rather a more or less final development of the subject, just as the elaborate grammar of Pánini is based upon some twenty previous works of his predecessors, notably of Yáska, Sákalya, Sákatáyana, Gárgya and others. ### [v1.c9.s1.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.30) The above has its parallel in the history of Greek medicine anterior to the time of Hippocrates. As Draper observes: ### [v1.c9.s1.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.31) “Of the works attributed to Hippocrates, many are doubtless the production of his family, his descendants, or his pupils. The inducements to literary forgery in the times of the Ptolemies, who paid very high prices ### [v1.c9.s1.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.32) Writings of Hippocrates. ### [v1.c9.s1.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.33) hundred and sixty bones” (XCVI. 55). This has been adduced by Jolly as a “reason in favour of the high antiquity of its laws.” Vide Intro. to Vishnu, pp. XVIII-XX. See also Jolly’s “Medicine” (Grundriss), p. 42. ### [v1.c9.s1.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.34) for books of reputation, have been the cause of much difficulty among critics in determining such questions of authorship. The works indisputably written by Hippocrates display an extent of knowledge answering to the authority of his name; his vivid descriptions have never been excelled, if indeed they have ever been equalled. The Hippocratic face of the dying is still retained in our medical treatises in the original terms, without any improvement." ### [v1.c9.s1.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.35) Still more appropriate are the remarks of Littré on the works which now bear the name of "the father of medicine." ### [v1.c9.s1.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.36) "Lorsqu'on recherche l'histoire de la médecine et les commencements de la science, le premier corps de doctrine que l'on rencontre, est la collection d'écrits connue sous le nom d'œuvres d'Hippocrate. La science remonte directement à cette origine et s'y arrête. Ce n'est pas qu'elle n'eût été cultivée antérieurement, et qu'elle n'eût donné lieu à des productions même nombreuses; mais tout ce qui avait été fait avant le médecin de Cos a péri. Il ne nous en reste que des fragments épars et sans coordination; seuls, les ouvrages hippocratiques ont échappé à la destruction; et, par une circonstance assez singulière, il existe une grande lacune après eux, comme il en existait une avant eux: les ### [v1.c9.s1.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.37) travaux des médecins, d’Hippocrate à l’établissement de l’école d’Alexandrie, ceux de cette école même ont péri complétement, à part des citations et des passages conservés dans des écrivains postérieurs; de telle sorte que les écrits hippocratiques demeurent isolés au milieu des débris de l’antique littérature médicale. ### [v1.c9.s1.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.38) Of internal evidence the first notable, and internal evidence. feature is the style. ### [v1.c9.s1.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.39) The simple, unvarnished prose of the Charaka reminds one of the Brāhmaṇas of the Vedas. Thanks to the researches of Bühler and Fleet, we have now some idea of the prose Kábya style as it existed in the second century A. D. The literary prose inscriptions discovered at Girnár and Násik, although less ornate and artificial than the romances of Subandhu and Vána (seventh century A. D)., abound in long-winded metaphors and alliterations and thus stand in bold constrast with the simple prose of the Charaka. ### [v1.c9.s1.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.40) Between the period of the A. V. and that of the Charaka there must have been composed several medical treatises, each reflecting the spirit and progress of its age¹. At the time of the Charaka itself there existed at least six standard works by Agnivesa, Bhela, Játukarna, Parásara, Hárita, and Kshárapáni, respectively. Charaka simply based his work on that of Agnivesa², which he completely recast and remodelled. Later on, Dridhavala added the last forty-one chapters³. The other five works seem to have perished⁴. Vágbhata, ### [v1.c9.s1.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.41) (1) We are at present engaged in examining the Bráhmanas, the Upanishadas and Buddhistic literature with a view to glean information on these points and hope to announce the results in the second volume. ### [v1.c9.s1.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.42) (2) Charaka himself naïvely assigns his reasons for giving preference to the treatise of Agnivesa in the words :—“of the six (authors) Agnivesa was the most “sharp of intellect” (sútra Ch. I 2.) ### [v1.c9.s1.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.43) (3) विस्तारयति लेशोक्तं सङ्क्षिपत्यतिविस्तरम् । संस्कर्ता कुरुते तन्त्रं पुराणञ्च पुनर्भवम् ॥ Siddhi. Ch. XII. 28. Also Chikitsita, Ch. XXX. 112; ed. D. N. Sen and U. N. Sen. ### [v1.c9.s1.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.44) (4) Cf. “We know how often in India the appearance of a convenient abstract has led to the neglect and subsequent loss of all earlier works on the subject.”—Intro. to Stein’s Rájatarñginí, p. 25. In Burnell’s Tanjore catalogue Pt. I. pp. 63-65, a full analysis is given of Bhelasamhita, from which it would appear that this work is still extant, though in a mutilated form. Dr. Burnell the epitomiser of the Charaka and the Susruta, mentions the works of Hárita and Bhela, which were probably extant in his days. ### [v1.c9.s1.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.45) On reading the Charaka, one often feels as if it embodies the deliberations of an international Congress of medical experts, held in the Himálayan regions to which even distant Balkh (Bactriana) sent a repersentative in the person of Kámkháyana (see p. 25). The work professes to be more or less of the nature of a record of the Proceedings of such a Congress.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.46) ¹ Cf. "La lecture de cet ouvrage nous initie aux comptes rendus de véritables congrès philisophiques et médicaux, dans lesquels des maîtres accourus des points les plus éloignés de l'Inde et même de l'etranger, prennent successivement la parole."—Quelques Données Nouvelles a propos des Traités médicaux Sanscrits antérieurs au XIIIe siècle, par P. Cordier, p. 3. ### [v1.c9.s1.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.47) Bodas in discussing the philosophical disquisitions of the Bráhmanas observes : ### [v1.c9.s1.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.48) "It was a special function of the Brahmá priest to give decisions on any disputed points that may ### [v1.c9.s1.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.49) remarks; "the most superficial comparison shows how much Vágbhata was indebted to this ancient work." ### [v1.c9.s1.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.50) An "Hárita Samhitá has recently been published; but its authenticity is questionable. ### [v1.c9.s1.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.51) arise in the course of a sacrifice, and this he could not have done unless he was a master of ratiocination. Such decisions, which may be likened to the chairman's rulings in a modern assembly, are scattered through the ancient Brāhmaṇas, and are collected together as so many Nyāyas in the Pūrva Mīmamsa aphorisms of Jaimini."' ¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.52) ¹ Intro. to Annambhatta's Tarkasamgraha, p. 28. ### [v1.c9.s1.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.53) We would invite the reader to go through the "Discourse on the Tastes" (pp. 25-28) and he will naturally agree that the above remarks apply with equal force to our author. In short, judging both from the manner and the matter of the work, we have little hesitation in placing it in the pre-Buddhistic era. We shall revert to the subject under Susruta. ### [v1.c9.s1.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.54) As regards the Susruta we are on more solid grounds. Its terminology and \*technique\*, in genenal, do not differ much from those of the Charaka. In style the Susruta is rather dry, pithy, laconic, and matter-of-fact, as the Charaka is discursive and diffuse, and its composition altogether would point to a much later date. ### [v1.c9.s1.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.55) This is easily accounted for. The Susruta, such as has been preserved to us, is generally held to be a comparatively modern recension by the celebrated Buddhist Chemist, Nágárjuna,¹ who is said to have added the Uttaratan-tra or the Supplement.² Here for the first time in the history of Hindu Medicine and Chemistry, we come accross a personage who is historical rather than mythical (see below). That the redactor thoroughly recast and remodelled the Susruta is evident from the fact that there are numerous passages in it which agree almost verbatim with the Charaka, and which appears to have been amply laid under contribution. ### [v1.c9.s1.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.56) ¹ "यत्र यत्र परोक्ते नियोगस्तत्रैव प्रतिसंस्कर्तृसूत्रं ज्ञातव्यमिति प्रतिसंस्कर्तापीह नागार्जुन एव "Vide Dalvana's commentary. ### [v1.c9.s1.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.57) ² Cf. "It is said by Dalvanáchárya, the commentator of Susruta, that at the time of war between the Bauddhas and Hindus, the Susrutatantra was re-edited and rendered more comprehensive by the renowned chemist Siddhanágárjuna with a supplement called "uttaratantra." Since that period it has been known by the name of Susruta Samhita." Intrcduction to "Vaidyakasabdasindhu" p. 6. by Kavirája Umesachandra Gupta Kaviratna. ### [v1.c9.s1.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.58) The Susruta is \*par excellence\* a treatise on surgery¹ as the Charaka is on medicine proper. Ancient India must have acquired considerable skill in the handling of the lancet; for in the Charaka we find a distinction drawn between the "Káyachikitsakas," \*i. e.\* the physicians properly called, and the "Dhanvantvarisampradáyas" \*i. e.\* followers of Dhanvantvarí or the Chirurgeons—a distinction which we have already noticed in the beginning of the Vedic Age. ### [v1.c9.s1.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.59) ¹ For a description of the surgical intstruments together with their drawings, see Wise: "Commentary on the Hindu System of Medicine, (1845) pp. 168-170. ### [v1.c9.s1.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.60) The age of Susruta has been the subject of animated controversy for a long time past. The Hindus regard this branch of Ayurveda as a direct revelation from the Asvins or the Divine Surgeons (see p. i, Intro.). The origin of this myth can be traced to the Rigveda as already seen. In the Mahábhárata, Susruta is spoken of as the son of the sage Visvámitra and in the "Várttikas" of Kátyáyana (about 4th century B. C.) we also find mention of the same name. It is not, however, easy to establish any connection between these names and our present author. That there was a Vriddha (old) Susruta, exisiting as early as the fifth century A. D., has now been established almost beyond doubt. Dr. Hoernle, to whose profound scholarship and indefatigable labours the world is indebted for the excellent edition of the Bower Ms., has deduced from palæographic evidence that it must have been copied within the period from about 400 A. D. to 500 A. D.¹—a conclusion at which Prof. Bühler has independently arrived. The work professes to be by Susruta, to whom it was declared by the Muni Kásirája. The origin of the Ayurveda as given in the Bower Ms., is on much the same lines as in the Charaka and the mention in it, among others, of such names as Hárita, Bhela, Parásara, and the Asvins as founders of the science of medicine, would go to prove that even so early as the 5th century A. D., the old Susruta had come to be regarded as of mythical origin, and that therefore it must have been composed many centuries anterior to that time. Several important recipes as given in the Bower Ms., \*e. g.\* those of the “chyavanaprása,” “silájatuprayoga” (the doctrine of bitumen p. 53) etc., occur in practically identical recensions in the Charaka. This is easily accounted for. The Charaka, the Susruta, and the Bower Ms., and even the \*Ashtángahridaya\* of Vágbhata have more or less a common basis or substratum. In order to understand this point more clearly it is only necessary to refer for a moment to the legal literature of the Hindus. The “Mánava Dharmasástra” or the Institutes of Manu, which still exercises a potent influence in the regulation of the social life of the Hindus, is by no means the ancient work that it pretends to be. Modern research has shown that it is only a recension, or rather a recension of a recension, of “Dharmasútras” connected with the Vedic Schools, incorpora ting at the same time the laws and usages of the age at which it was remodeled.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.61) ¹ On the date of the Bower Ms., See "Journ. As. Soc." LX. Ft. 1. p. 79. ### [v1.c9.s1.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.62) ¹ Vide Bühler’s Introduction to “the Laws of Manu”: pp. XVIII et seq. “Sacred Books of the East,” Vol. XXV. ### [v1.c9.s1.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.63) It would equally be a great mistake to suppose that the knowledge—chemical and therapeutical—which our Susruta embodies is only representative of the time of its final redaction. As a matter of fact it is a repository of the informations on the subject accumulated from the Vedic age to the date of its final recasting. ### [v1.c9.s1.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.64) The remarks of M. Berthelot regarding a Greek technical treatise, which, from palæographic evidence, seems to have been written about the 11th century A. D., apply with still greater force to the Susruta. ### [v1.c9.s1.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.65) “En effet la date de rédaction originelle n’est certainement pas le même pour les divers articles que le traité renferme : les uns étant plus anciens et remontant parfois jusqu’à l’antiquité gréco Egyptienne ; tandis que les autres reproduisent des recettes postérieures et des additions peut-être contemporaines du dernier copiste. En tous cas, ce traité continue la vieille tradition de l’orfèvrerie alchimique, qui remonte aux anciens Egyptiens.”—“Coll. des anciens alch. Grecs.,” t. iii., trad. p. 307. ### [v1.c9.s1.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.66) The period when the Susruta received its final cast must always remain an open question. Vágbhata in his Ashtángahridaya makes copious extracts both from the Charaka and the Susruta. The latter must therefore have existed in their present form prior to the 9th century A. D. Mádhavakara in his Nidána quotes bodily from the Uttaratantra, and as the Nidána was one of the medical works which were translated for the Caliphs of Bagdad (see below), it can safely be placed in the 8th century at the latest. In is thus evident that the present redaction of the Susruta must have existed anterior to that date, and that it had become at that age stereotyped as it were. The Vágbhata and the Nidána are simply summaries of the Charaka and Susruta,¹ and were written at a time when the latter had become very old, and were therefore studied by few experts, and their abstracts were likely to be prized by the general practitioners. ### [v1.c9.s1.67](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.67) ¹ This statement we make in a qualified sense, and we fully agree with Roth when he observes “Udoy Chand Dutt in seiner Mat. Med. bezeichnet das Werk als eine methodische geordnete Compilation aus Charaka und Susruta. Ich glaube er thut ihm damit Unrecht; Vágbhata der sich übrigens mehr an ### [v1.c9.s1.68](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.68) Vágbhata concludes his masterly treatise with the following observation, which is highly significant :— ### [v1.c9.s1.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.69) “If a work is to pass current as authoritative simply because it is the production of a sage of old, why are the treatises of Charaka and Susruta alone studied and not those of Bhela and others¹? It thus follows that whatever is reasonable \[methodical and scientific\] is to be preferred.”² ### [v1.c9.s1.70](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.70) ¹ e.g Játukarna, Parásara, Kshárapáni, etc. see p. xxi. ### [v1.c9.s1.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.71) ² ऋषिप्रणीते प्रोतिषेन्मुक्ता चरकसश्रुतौ । मेड़ाद्याः किं न पद्यन्ते तस्माद्ग्राह्यं सुभाषितम् ।” ### [v1.c9.s1.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.72) Read between the lines the above is to be taken as an apology on the part of our author for appearing in the field ; it further establishes clearly that even during his life- ### [v1.c9.s1.73](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.73) Vágbhata's apologia. ### [v1.c9.s1.74](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.74) Susruta hält, ist nicht so unselbständig.” “Zeit. deut. morg. Ges.” 49. p. 184. ### [v1.c9.s1.75](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.75) time the Charaka and the Susruta were regarded as hoary with the prescription of age, and their memories had passed into the region of tradition.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.76](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.76) ¹ On the age of Vágbhata see below under its proper heading. ### [v1.c9.s1.77](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.77) The earliest commentary of the Susruta that has been partially preserved to us is known as the Bhánumati by Chakrapáni Datta, the celebrated author of the medical work which goes by his name (about 1060 A. D.). The other well-known commentary, the Nibandha Samgraha, is by Dalvana, who lived in the reign of Sahanapála Deva whose kingdom was situated somewhere near Muttra. Dalvana acknowledges his obligations to the previous commentators, namely Jejjata, Gayadása, Bháskara, and Mádhava whose dates it is not easy to ascertain. ### [v1.c9.s1.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.78) Since a remote period the text of the Susruta has been jealously preserved and no tampering with it tolerated. Thus Dalvana refuses to recognise the authenticity of a passage, because an ancient commentator, Jejjata, has not noticed it.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.79) We have been at some pains in arriving at an approximate age of the composition of the Susruta, because attempts have been made now and then by a certain school of European scholars to prove that the medical works of the Hindus are of comparatively recent date. Haas has propounded the bold and astounding theory that the systematic development of Hindu medicine took place between the tenth and sixteenth centuries A. D.² We ### [v1.c9.s1.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.80) (1) अनार्षोऽयं योगः, जेज्जटाचार्येण नोक्तत्वात् । तस्मान्न पठनीयम् । Chikitsita. VII. 3. Many such instances may be cited. For the purity of the text we are much indebted to these commentators. ### [v1.c9.s1.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.81) (2) Kehren wir nunmehr wieder zur historischen Frage zurück, so konnen wir jetzt einen Anfangs—und einen Endpunkt aufstellen, zwischen welche wir mit einiger Sicherheit das Entstehen der systematischen Wissenschafft der Medizin bei den Indiern verlegen müssen, nämlich den Zietraum von der Mitte des 10. bis Zur Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts.—“Ueber die Ursprünge der Indischen Medizin, mit besonderem Bezug auf Susruta.” “Zeit. deut. morg. Ges.” XXX. p. 642. ### [v1.c9.s1.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.82) shall see later on that this is precisely the period which marks the decadence of the Hindu intellect in the field of medicine and mathematics.¹ We should not have thought it necessary to discuss seriously the various arguments which Haas adduces in support of his views, some of which Dr. Hoernle curtly disposes of as "an elaborate joke," were it not for the fact that this German critic represents a school which cannot or will not see anything in India, which can claim originality or antiquity. In his blind zeal to support this theory, Haas has been led into the most egregious blunders. He comes to the strange conclusion that the works of Vāgbhata, Mádhava and Sárṅgadhara and others supply the germs, out of which the Charaka and Susruta have been elaborated, forgetting or ignoring that the former repeatedly and gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to the latter. ### [v1.c9.s1.83](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.83) ¹ Vide "Decline of Scientific Spirit" pp. 190-198. ### [v1.c9.s1.84](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.84) Haas is anxious to prove that the Hindus borrowed their notions of humoral pathology from the Greeks, and that the \*origines\* of Indian Medicine are to be looked for in the writings of Galen and Hippocrates; indeed he goes so far as to suggest that the very name of Susruta is derived from the Arabic word Sukrat (=Sokrates), which is often confounded with Bukrat, the Arabic corruption of the Greek Hippocrates.¹ There is certainly a strange similarity between the chapter on "Initiation" in the Charaka and the "Eides" of Æsculapius as pointed out by Roth,² and there is also much in common between the doctrine of humoral pathology of the Greeks and the Hindus respectively—suggesting that borrowing may have taken place on one side or the other. But the Hindus would seem to have priority of time in their favour. ### [v1.c9.s1.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.85) ¹ No less preposterous is the etymology of Kásí (Benares), which Haas derives from Kos, the native place of Hippocrates. ### [v1.c9.s1.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.86) ² "Indische Medicin: Charaka," Z., D. M. G., Vol. 26. p. 441. Roth, whose knowledge of the Vedic and, to a certain extent, of the Ayurvedic, literature was encyclopedic, simply points out the analogy and stops short there. M. Liétard, who evidently borrows his information from Roth's article, jumps at once to the conclusion that the Hindus owe their inspiration to the Greeks!—Bull. de l'Acâd. de Méd. Paris, May 5, 1896 and May 11, 1897. ### [v1.c9.s1.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.87) The doctrine of humoral pathology or at any rate the first beginnings of it can be traced so far back as the time of the \*Rigveda\*.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.88](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.88) In the Atharva-veda, which may be looked upon as the parent of the Ayurveda, we naturally come across ample evidences of an ingrained belief in the causation of diseases by the disturbance of the humors. Thus we have such terms as "Vátikrita," \*i.e.\* a disease brought on by the derangement of the humor "Váta" (wind or air), "Vátagulmin," &c.² ### [v1.c9.s1.89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.89) (1) \* \* \* त्रिधातु शर्म वहतं शुभस्पती ॥ I. 34. 5. Sáyana's commentary to the above:— हे शुभस्पती शोभनस्य औषधजातस्य पालकौ युवां त्रिधातु वात-पित्तश्लेष्मशमनविषयं शर्म सुखं वहतं प्रापयतम् । ### [v1.c9.s1.90](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.90) (2) This has been lately pointed out by Jolly ("Medicine" p 41) : The discussion on the term quoted above is so very important that we think it desirable to quoted it at length :— ### [v1.c9.s1.91](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.91) Early Buddhist literature also furnishes us with abundant proofs of this nature. On going through the chapter on "Medicaments" in the Mahávagga, we are often reminded of the contents of the Susruta.¹ From Pánini ### [v1.c9.s1.92](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.92) "The history of the interpretation of this hymn is of uncommon interest, because it illustrates forcibly the particular closeness of relation between the hymns of the Atharvan and the practices reported in connection with them. Professor Weber, Indische Studien, IV, p. 405, translated the hymn under the caption 'Gegen hitziges fieber,' and guided especially by the more immediate meaning of garâyugáh, 'the product of the placenta, after-birth,' he thought that the hymn referred to puerperal fever, or the fever of a child. Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, p. 343, surmised that the hymn was directed aginst inflammation, and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 390, refers to it in connection with the word váta in the first stanza, which he would translate by 'wound;' he also identifies váta with 'wound' etymologically. The compound vátabhrâgâs in the first stanza, as he understands, means 'suffering from wound-fever.' But Zimmer's theory that the word váta ever means 'wound' has not sustained itself: váta is 'wind in the body;' vátíkritanásanî (VI,44,3¹) is 'destroyer of the disease which comes from wind (of the body);' cf. báta byádhi (vátavyádhi), 'diseases produced by wind (in the body),' in Wise's Hindu System of Medicine, p. 250, and see Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII, p. 427." Bloomfield's A. V. p. 246. ### [v1.c9.s1.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.93) (1) One or two instances may be quoted here:—"Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu had a superfluity of humors in his body" —Vinaya Texts: pt. II. p. 60. ### [v1.c9.s1.94](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.94) also we can glean technical terms as used in the Ayurveda, suggesting that a system of medicine existed in his life-time.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.95](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.95) Positive historical evidence. We have thus what amounts to positive historical evidence that during the life-time of Buddha and even much earlier the doctrine of humoral pathology and the Ayurvedic method of ### [v1.c9.s1.96](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.96) “And the blessed one said to the venerable Ananda: ‘A disturbance, Ananda, has befallen the humors of the Thathágata’s body’”—\*ibid\*, p. 191. ### [v1.c9.s1.97](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.97) The various kinds of salts used in medicine as also the eye ointments, to wit, black collyrium \[stibium\], rasa ointment \[rasáñjana\], sota ointment \[sotañjana\] &c. \*ibid\*. p. 90, are exactly the same as prescribed in the Susruta and other works on Hindu Medicine. (See also under añjanas, p. 93 of this book). ### [v1.c9.s1.98](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.98) Note specially the reference to \*vatthikamma\* which is a Páli corruption of the Sanskrit \*vastikarma\*: ### [v1.c9.s1.99](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.99) “Now at that time the Chhabbaggiya Bhikkhus, since a surgical operation had been forbidden by the Blessed One, used a clyster.” ### [v1.c9.s1.100](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.100) No body has yet been bold enough to suggest that in the Mahávagga Greek influence can be traced. ### [v1.c9.s1.101](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.101) (1) The very terms Ayurveda and Ayurvedika \*i.e.\* expert in the Ayurveda occur in Pánini. We give below a list of some of the technical terms. ### [v1.c9.s1.102](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.102) शिश्रन्दयमसहन्तेन्द्रजननादिभ्यष्छः ४।३।८८; परिमानान्ताससंज्ञा- माणयोः ७।३।१७; खाव्योः प्राचाम् ५।४।१००; खाव्या ईकन् ५।१।३३; ### [v1.c9.s1.103](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.103) treatment were in vogue.¹ ### [v1.c9.s1.104](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.104) In the Várttikas of Kátyáyana also (4th to 3rd century B. C.) the three humours of váta (air), pitta (bile) and sleshman (phlegm) are ranked together. ### [v1.c9.s1.105](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.105) Regarding the age of the Vinaya Text, Rhys Davids and Oldenburg say : ### [v1.c9.s1.106](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.106) "The Vibhanga and the Twenty Khandhakas were at that time (circa 350 B. C.) already held in such high repute that no one ventured to alter ### [v1.c9.s1.107](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.107) आढकाचितपात्रात् स्वौडन्यतरस्याम् ५ १ ५३; लोमादिपामादिपिच्छादिभ्यः शनेलचः ५ २ १००; सिध्मादिभ्यश्च ५ २ १६७; रोगाख्यापनयने ५ ४ १६; कालप्रयोजनाद्गेगे ५ २ ८१; अर्श आदिभ्योऽच् ५ २ १२७; रोगाख्यायां खल् बहुलम् ३ ३ १०८; कथादिभ्यष्ठञ् ४ ४ १०२। ### [v1.c9.s1.108](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.108) (1) The Jívaka Komárabhachcha, who treats Buddha, derives his surname from "kaumárabhritya," a technical term for one of the eight divisions (astángas) of Ayurveda, meaning treatment of infants. Vide the Mahávagga, pt. II, p. 174. ### [v1.c9.s1.109](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.109) In Asvaghosha's "Life of Buddha" we also read: "Atri, the Rishi, not understanding the sectional treatise on medicine, afterwards begat Atreya, who was able to control diseases."—Beal's trans. p. 11. This Atreya (Punarvasu) may have been the same sage who taught Agnivesa. ### [v1.c9.s1.110](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.110) (2) Weber's "Hist. Sanks. Lit." p. 266, Eng. trans. ed. 1892. ### [v1.c9.s1.111](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.111) them; a sanctity of this kind is not acquired without the lapse of a considerable time: and we think it is not going too far to say, Firstly, that these books must have been in existence, as we now have them, within thirty years, earlier or later, of, at least, 360 or 370 B. C.” (Intro. p. xxiii). ### [v1.c9.s1.112](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.112) It is therefore evident that almost before the birth of Hippocrates, the Hindus had elaborated a system of medicine based upon the humoral pathology. And yet Hass would have it that the Greeks, in the field of medicine as in several others, were the “pioneers and the first teachers of the world.” ### [v1.c9.s1.113](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.113) M Liétard very justly observes that if it could be proved that the doctrine of humoral ### [v1.c9.s1.114](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.114) (1) “Wenn aber einmal der Boden von der Vorstellung geräumt ist, dass die Araber den Susruta und Charaka schon im 9. Jahrh. gekannt haben müssen, und wenn auf der andern Seite sich herausstellte, dass die Theorien der indischen Autoritäten in ihren Grundzügen mit denen des Galen übereinstimmten, so stünde nichts der Annahme im Wege, dass auch auf diesem Felde, wie auf so vielen andern die Griechen wieder das bahnbrechende Volk und die ersten Lehrmeister der Welt gewesen sind”:—Z. D. M. G. Vol. 30. p. 670. ### [v1.c9.s1.115](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.115) pathology was broached in India anterior to the time of Hippocrates, not only would the originality of the Hindus be established, but that of the Greeks would be compromised thereby.¹ The question may therefore be now taken as settled for good. ### [v1.c9.s1.116](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.116) ¹ "Il est évident que si l'on arrivait un jour à pouvoir reporter jusqu'au delà de l'époque d'Hippocrate, la formation de la doctrine médicale indienne, son originalité serait incontestable, mais, du même coup, celle de la médecine grecque serait fort compromise, puisque, comme je le rappellerai dans un instant, les théories sont à peu près identiques de part et d'autre." ### [v1.c9.s1.117](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.117) The capacity of a nation must be judged by what it has independently achieved in the several fields of knowledge and branches of literature—Mathematics, including Arithmetic and Algebra, Geometry, and Astronomy; Phonetics, Philology, Grammar, Law, Philosophy, and Theology. ### [v1.c9.s1.118](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.118) Cantor, the historian of mathematics, was so much struck with the resemblance between Greek geometry and the Sulva sútras that he, as is natural to the European, concluded that the latter were influenced by the Alexandrian school of Hero (215 B. C.). The Sulva sútras, however, date from about the 8th century B. C., and Dr. Thibaut has shown that the geometrical theorem of the 47th proposition, Bk. I., which tradition ascribes to Pythagoras, was solved by the Hindus at least two centuries earlier,¹ thus confirming the conclusion of v. Schroeder that the Greek philosopher owed his inspiration to India.² Nor must we forget that the most scientific grammar that the world has ever produced, with its alphabet based on thoroughly phonetic principles, was composed in India about the 7th or 8th century B. C.³ As Professor Macdonell remarks : “ we Europeans . . . . . 2500 years later, and in a scientific age, still employ an alphabet which is not only inadequate to represent all the sounds of our ### [v1.c9.s1.119](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.119) (1) Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1875, p. 227. (2) In his learned work: “Pythagoras und die Inder.” pp. 44-59. (3) See Goldstücker : “Pánini : his place in Sanskrit Literature.” ### [v1.c9.s1.120](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.120) language, but even preserves the random order in which vowels and consonants are jumbled up as they were in the Greek adaptation of the primitive Semitic arrangement of 3000 years ago.” ### [v1.c9.s1.121](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.121) It is curious to reflect that the upholders of the “Greek Culture” are often found ready, though unconsciously, to twist and torture facts and conclusions to serve their own purpose, and reserve to themselves the benefit of doubt as regards date; but whenever the priority of the Hindus is unquestionable, an appeal is made to the theory of common origin and independent parallelism of growth.¹ These scholars seem to smart under a sense of injury if they have to confess that Europe owes an intellectual debt to India, hence many a futile attempt to explain away positive historical facts.¹ It may not be superfluous to add here that Albérúní, before he took to the study of Sanskrit, enter- ### [v1.c9.s1.122](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.122) ¹ Cf. “une affirmation nouvelle de l’unite de l’esprit humain. Chaque fois que l’homme au même degree de culture se retrouve dans le mémes circonstances, il tend à penser, à croire, à sentir, à agir de la même façon.”—Goblet d’ Alviella on “Classical Influence in Literary and Scientific Culture in India”; “Bull. de l’ Academie Royale de Belgique,” 3rd Series, T. 34, pp. 434 et seq. ### [v1.c9.s1.123](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.123) ¹ In the mind of the average European this belief has taken too firm a hold to be easily eradicated. As Dr. Johnson observes: "Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients. Greece appears to me to be the fountain of knowledge." ### [v1.c9.s1.124](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.124) (1) In the mind of the average European this belief has taken too firm a hold to be easily eradicated. As Dr. Johnson observes: "Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients. Greece appears to me to be the fountain of knowledge." ### [v1.c9.s1.125](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.125) Thanks, however, to the recent researches of orientalists, this notion is fast disappearing. The late Prof. Max Müller, who always held the balance evenly in deciding between the rival claims of the East and the West, in his last work, thus gives expression to the European sentiment: "In some respects and particularly in respect to the greatest things........., India has as much to teach us as Greece and Rome, nay, I should say more. We must not forget, of course, that we are the direct intellectual heirs of the Greeks, and that our philosophical currency is taken from the capital left to us by them. Our palates are accustomed to the food which they have supplied to us from our very childhood, and hence whatever comes to us now from the thought-mines of India is generally put aside as merely curious or strange, whether in language, mythology, religion, or philosophy.—'Auld Lang Syne': second series, p. 161. Elsewhere he says: ### [v1.c9.s1.126](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v1.c9.s1.126) "Another excellent result which may, and I hope will, follow from our increased acquaintance with the actual thoughts and literature, as well as with the personalities of Oriental peoples, is a loosening of that prejudice which undoubtedly obtains, even tained notions similar to those of Haas, d'Alviella and others, but after his intimate acquaintance with the literature of the Hindus he had to change or modify his views. We _First 192 of 497 passages. 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