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Hindu Medicine c7: I. Medical Tradition and the Hindu Physician

Hindu Medicine c7

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I. Medical Tradition and the Hindu Physician

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THE earliest documents of Indian medicine are found in the metrical parts of the ancient tradition of the Vedas, mostly in Atharva-Veda.¹ There they appear among seven hundred and thirty-one hymns, charms, and incantations which belong to the first centuries of the first millennium B. C. Some, presumably, go back to the second millennium and, at least in part of their substance, to an even earlier period. The Vedic term for medicinal charms, “bheṣaja,” also occurs in the Avesta language of the ancient Persian texts of the Zarathustrian religion (baeṣaza, baeṣazya), and points back to a primitive tradition in which both groups of Aryan tribes shared at a period prior to their separation, that is, before one of them filtered into India, conquering it, while the other laid the foundations of the ancient Persian empire and civilization.

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These Vedic records of early medicine are couched in terms of imprecations against demons, sorcerers, enemies; of charms for expelling diseases wrought by demons or sent by the gods as a punishment for man's sin; of incantations intended to impart health, longevity, success and victory, sex-attractiveness and manly vigor. All these are topics of medical interest that recur in classic Hindu medicine. In the Vedas, the songs are supplemented by amulets, medicines, philters and other devices of witchcraft, and show a prevalence of the magic element. This suggestive element persists throughout Hindu medicine, it forms part of its "psycho-somatic" approach to the task of healing. In classic medicine it is balanced, in time, by an increasing emphasis on rational theory, based in general on the "humors," as active in the metabolism of the human body, and on the efficacy of those foodstuffs and drugs which were thought to correspond to them in nature.

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In Vedic medicine there is not, as yet, a marked difference between diseases and demons; this distinction is developed later in the growth of classic medicine, which attempts to treat many maladies strictly along the lines of humoral therapy or through surgery. In the later periods, even though the demarcation between diseases and the realm of demonic powers remains undefined, only those diseases which to some extent defy rational treatment are treated by propitiation and magic. Diseases, in the Veda, are looked upon as possession by demonic personalities, or as visitations by the gods. Dropsy (jalodara: “water-belly”) is sent by Varuṇa, the god residing in the all-knowing, all-encompassing primal waters of the universe. He watches over the fulfilment of oaths and pledges which are sworn by taking the divine waters as witness, and punishes the perjurer by fettering his body with his threefold watery noose. Fever is sent and graciously taken away by Rudra-Śiva, the lord of ghosts and destructive forces.

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Jaundice (hariman: “yellowness”), when accompanied by heart-burn, requires the propitiation of two demons through a cumulative series of charms. These charms (Atharva-Veda I, 22) form part of a magic treatment, the single stanzas accompanying, step by step, the medical ritual.

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First, the two demons of jaundice and heart-burn are conjured to leave the patient’s body. A more congenial abode is pointed out and assigned to them, in the hope that this prospect might render them more willing to leave the ailing person: this abode is the sun, the burning center of yellowish light. The patient is addressed:

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Both shall go up towards the sun,
thy heart-burn and thy yellowness.

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At the same time, there is bound on the patient’s body some of the red color intended to dislodge jaundice from his complexion and his system as well:

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With the color of the red bull,
with that we enclose thee.

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Meanwhile an amulet made from the hide of a red bull is tied onto the patient.

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The amulet, beforehand, has been dipped into cow's milk, and the residue of melted butter used as an offering to the gods has been sprinkled upon it. What is left of the holy food, shared by the divinities, and thus consecrated through the sacramental act of the sacrifice, is believed to have been transubstantiated into the divine fare of the celestials; it shares in the virtues of soma and amṛta, the “nectar and ambrosia” (amṛta, “deathless,” etymologically corresponds to Greek ἄμβροτος, ἀμβροσία) on which the immortals live. The amulet, sprinkled with the dregs of the vessel of oblation, imparts to the patient the power to conquer death. The food consecrated to the immortals serves as the most powerful antidote against the forces of destruction.

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The patient, then, is made to drink the milk which has absorbed the virtue of the amulet. Thus "yellowness" is attacked from within and from without, with the idea of displacing it by the color red.

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The charm, then, proceeds:

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With red color we enclose thee
for full length of life;
that this man be free from defects,
and become not-yellow.

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With this charm goes another parallel treatment, by which the demonic disease again is attacked from inside and out: the patient is served a dish of rice which has a reddish color, having been seasoned with turmeric (haridā), and he is anointed all over his body with the remnants of this dish.

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As his limbs are rubbed, the following stanza is chanted:

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Those whose divinity is the Red One,
the cows that are red,
form after form (i. e. limb after limb),
vigor after vigor,
with them we enclose thee.

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Finally, jaundice is washed out of the patient's body by a magic ablution, and is transferred into yellow animals, where it might more appropriately choose to abide. Demons, we are taught in the Gospel (according to St. Mark, 5), when expelled from the human body, ask for some other lodging, preferably in another organism. "Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them," so the legion of unclean spirits besought Jesus, when he worked his magic cure on him who was possessed with the devil, and they "went out and entered into the swine." Here, in the case of jaundice, the yellow color represents the very demon of the disease; to transfer this symptom, the visible manifestation of the demon's presence in the patient's body, into some other living being is regarded as the main task of the cure.

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The patient is laid upon the bare leather-bands of the bedstead and some yellow or greenish birds, parrots and others, are tied to the left leg of the bed with yellow strings.

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Then, “yellowness” is dislodged by water poured over the patient’s body, dripping down upon these birds whose color suggests an affinity with the nature of the illness. The process of transferring it into them is enforced by the charm:

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Into the parrots, the ropaṇākas (a kind of parrot),
we put thy yellowness,
likewise in the hāridraves (apparently a yellow wag-
tail)
we deposit thy yellowness.²

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² [The footnote text is missing from the provided image.]

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Among the main characteristics of this kind of magic cure are:

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1. an approach to the disease-demon from as many vantage-points as possible, by various parallel procedures;

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2. an attempt to secure complete effectiveness of these means by accompanying spells which state their virtues and the cogency with which they operate;

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3. an appeal by suggestion to the patient through addressing him and acquainting him, at every step of the cure, with the process and progress of healing.

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The first feature, the many-sided approach, shows the elaborate and circumspect character of medical magic. It is far from being primitive: it utilizes the knowledge of many substances and experiences, techniques and general ideas, and it combines them to secure the defeat of the demons of disease. On the other hand, the array of means, in assailing the demonic power, betrays some incertitude as to the desired outcome of the treatment. In a way, it seems doubtful how far one alone of these magic remedies would go toward bringing about the expected result. The transferring of the disease to the sun; the red amulet moistened with the ambrosial fluid of immortal life; the milk-potion fortified with the virtue of the amulet; the reddish dish of rice, and the ablution with what remains of it, after the patient has partaken of it; and, finally, the transferring of the jaundice into the yellow birds; none of these by itself seems to be considered wholly reliable in its effect. With this kind of treatment, the intention is to be on the safe side. It combines all that experience and thoughtful intuition have gradually contributed to tradition.

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The explicit description of what is going on is indispensable for securing the desired effect, and it is essential that it be couched in Sanskrit, the traditional language of priestcraft, the holy language of the gods and the vehicle of truth. Without the knowledge of the magical and descriptive stanzas, and without the careful recital, the proper traditional intonation of them, the effort would be considered vain, and as useless as the uttering of the stanzas without the proper performance of the corresponding rites.

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The appeal to the patient’s imagination in so addressing him, the conjuring up of the healing forces inherent in his body to assist the doctor in his efforts, all these practices again point to the magic or psycho-somatic character of this kind of treatment.

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Moreover, the accumulation of several means and drugs to be on the safe side (the persuasive power of charms playing a rather subsidiary rôle) and the stimulating of the patient’s spontaneous forces for recovery, all these traits persist through the subsequent, somewhat more rational, periods of Indian medicine.

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The metrical parts of the Vedas likewise contain the earliest documents of Indian materia medica: two hymns addressed to healing herbs, blended into arcana (Atharva-Veda VIII, 7 and Ṛgveda X, 97).

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Atharva-Veda VIII, 7, in the tradition of the commentators, appears as “a charm bestowing longevity; the divinities to whom it is addressed are the herbs mentioned in the hymn.”

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The earliest text, commenting on the proper use of this kind of charm, explains that the hymn is used in a remedial rite against consumption (yakṣma) and all other diseases, together with a gilt and lacquered amulet of splinters from ten kinds of trees which is sprinkled with the residue of the sacrificial potion offered to the gods.³

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The hymn, consisting of twenty-eight stanzas, runs as follows:

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1. Those that are tawny and that are bright, the red and the spotted, the swarthy, the black herbs, all do we conjure hither.

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2. Let them save this man from Consumption sent-by-the-gods, these plants, fathered by Heaven, mothered by Earth, whose root is the primal cosmic ocean.

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3. The divine herbs in the beginning were the primal waters; they have made depart from thee, from every limb, thy sin-born Consumption.

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4. The spreading, the bushy, the one-spathed, the extending herbs, I conjure hither. Those with shoots, those with joints, those with spreading branches, I call for thee the plants that are of all gods, mighty, life-giving unto man.

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5. Whatever power is yours, ye powerful ones, whatever valor and strength is yours, therewith free ye this man from this Consumption, O herbs! Now do I make a remedy.

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6. The lively, by-no-means-harming, living herb, the non-obstructing, upward-leading, nourishing flower, rich in sweets, do I call hither, to make this man free from harm.

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7. Hither shall come the forethoughtful ones, the allies of my spell, that we may safely ferry over this man from distress.

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8. Food of Fire, fruit from the womb of Waters, growing up renewed, firmly rooted, named a thousand names, be they remedial in being brought.

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9. With Avakā (Blyxa octandra Rich) as their hull, with the waters as their nature, May the sharp-horned herbs rend distress asunder.

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10. Those that release, dispel Varuṇa (i. e. dropsy), the mighty, the poison-destroyers, the swelling-dispellers as well, the spoilers of witchcraft, May these herbs come hither!

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11. The purchased, and praised, most powerful plants, May they protect in this village cow, horse, man and beast.

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12. Rich in sweets the root, rich in sweets the tip, rich in sweets has grown the middle of these plants; rich in sweets the leaves, rich in sweets the flowers of these, partaking of honey, a drink of the elixir of immortal life (amṛta), May they milk forth melted butter, food, and first of all, milk.

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13. How many and whatsoever be these herbs upon the earth,

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May they, the thousand-leafed,
release me from death, from peril.

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14. May the tigerish amulet of plants, protecting, guarding against imprecations, smite far from us diseases and all demons.

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15. As at the lion’s roar, they start with fear, as at fire, they start fearing the herbs brought hither; May Consumption of kine, of men, be gone, driven out by the plants, beyond the navigable streams.

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16. Herbs, released from the Fire who-dwells-with-allmen (Vaiśvānara), go ye stretching over the earth, ye whose king is the forest-tree.

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17. Those herbs, related to the Aṅgirases (the semidivine first Brahmans), which grow on mountains and plains, May they be rich in milk, propitious, weal to our heart.

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18. Those plants I wot, those with the eye I see, the unknown and the ones we know of, and those in which we wit the virtues brought together,

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19. May all herbs together note my spell, that we may safely ferry over this man out of distress.

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20. The Aśvattha (-tree, Ficus religiosus Indica), the Darbha (-grass, Saccharum Cylindricum), Soma, the king of plants, oblation, the immortal dish, rice and remedial barley, ye twain immortal sons of Heaven,

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21. Rise ye up;—it thunders and roars at (you), O herbs, when Parjañya (the god of rain) favors you with seed, O ye children of the Spotted Cow (the earth).

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22. Of this divine elixir of immortal life (amṛta) we make this man drink strength; . now I do make a remedy, that he come to a hundred years. ^

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23. That plant the boar knows, that remedial herb the mongoose knows, those ones the serpents, the Gandharvas know (the genii of the amṛta-containing moon-cup, guardians of the vegetative lunar cycle), those I call to his aid.

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24. Whatsoever herbs, related to the Aṅgirases, the eagles, whatsoever divine ones the bees (?) know, whatsoever the birds, the swans know, and all winged ones,

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25. Of however many herbs the inviolable kine eat, of however many the goats and sheep, May all these herbs, brought hither, extend protection unto thee.

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26. In however many herbs the human physicians find a remedy, so many, all-remedial, do I bring unto thee.

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27. Those rich in flowers, rich in shoots, rich in fruits, those fruitless ones as well, like mothers assembled, let them yield milk unto this man for freedom from harm.

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28. I have snatched thee away from Him-with-thefive-stings, and from Him-with-the-ten-stings as well, also from the fetterlock of the Tamer (Yama, King Death), from all sickness sent by the gods (in retribution for offences).

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The demon disease, to be expelled from the patient's body through the magic ritual of which this hymn forms the oral part, is regarded as extremely powerful, since the whole array of the healing powers the vegetable kingdom has in store is conjured to fight him off. The term "Consumption," used in a rather vague but very comprehensive way, somehow seems to cover an anonymous collection of malignant forces which cause the ailing person to languish. Accordingly the doctor-magician calls upon the herbs and plants to furnish all possible aid.

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The underlying idea seems to be that there are, strictly speaking, no herbs whatsoever that are destitute of healing power. All of them have a specific character, particular virtues of their own, which are manifested in their many forms, colors, the places where they are found, their uses, their effectiveness, and so forth; accordingly all these various forces may be brought into play to prevent the decline and loss of life-power, if properly propitiated and harnessed to the physician's efforts.

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The gathering together of all plants and herbs existing on earth by the enumeration and description of their characteristics and forms, is one of the *leitmotifs* of the hymn (1, 4, 8, 13, 27); the full treasury of healing forces in vegetation, called by "a thousand names" (8), is to be brought to the aid of the patient. Insofar as they form part of the physician's wisdom, they are all brought together and blended into an all-powerful arcanum; but there are many which are unknown to the doctor-herbalist (13, 18), nor are they listed by medical tradition; however, they are well-known to other beings, domestic animals and beasts of the wilderness, birds and insects; and to genii presiding over the life-cycle in man and nature (23-25). These are conjured to enter the arcanum magically and, present in virtue if not in substance, to concur in the effect of healing (19).

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Another recurrent *leitmotif* of the hymn is the solemn laud addressed to the herbs and their virtues. It proceeds along the traditional lines of praises offered to the gods in Vedic hymns and, later on, in the mythical epics of Hindu popular tradition (purāṇa).

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The origin of the herbs is extolled, their ancient and noble lineage is pointed out in flattering terms: they are praised as the first-born of the divine aristocracy of beings, for they all spring from Father Heaven and Mother Earth, the primordial divine pair; they have their origin in the primal waters which brought forth the body of the universe and the organisms of all creatures and which maintain them by circulating under various forms through macrocosm and microcosm (2, 3).

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Moreover, the herbs are reminded of the ancient semi-divine ancestors of the oldest Brahmin-clans, of the Aṅgirases (17, 24), who were the first to discover their virtues and to use them in magic treatment. The herbs are told that they were familiar even to these priestly supermen, these early inventors of magic, who, by their concentrated power of vision, helped the gods to their seats on high in the struggle between divine and titanic powers for world-supremacy.

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The many virtues of the herbs are specifically insisted upon (4-7, 9, 10); they are vividly described as irresistible, to make their effectiveness doubly sure (15).

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These main themes reappear again and again; with their variations and repetitions, they form the structure of the elaborate score of the charm. The insistence in the refrain is intended to praise and invoke the divine personalities of the herbs; at the same time it is meant to operate along the lines of psycho-somatic treatment as a suggestive stimulus to the patient's will to recover. The varied formulae act as so many comforting, reassuring compulsions on the patient, affording every possible help to his ailing organism.

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The plants themselves are blessed, that they may prosper and spread on earth (16), and increase as a blessing to man, by being brought within the human sphere (11, 17). Underlying is the idea that the divine herbs, like most extrahuman powers, display a fundamentally ambivalent attitude towards man; that they are indifferent, at best, to man's weal or woe, unless propitiated and made friendly through an established ritual of magic. The herbalist-magician is aware of the fact that the herbs might be reluctant to succor man in his need, or might prove vengeful, having been uprooted and estranged from their proper soil. Their favor has to be courted, not only by extolling their origin and virtues, but by expressly alluding to the hoped-for beneficent aspect, which they are urged to disclose. In an apotropaic euphemism, they are styled "by-no-means-harming," "non-obstructing," and so forth (6); their beneficent nature is thus bespoken and emphasized to ward off any possible ill-will, which might manifest itself in a harmful, even poisonous effect. Finally they are besought to protect, in general, the health of the inhabitants of the village, men and animals (11).

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Other stanzas refer to the actual implements of the treatment; the herbs are besought to bestow their life-giving essence upon the arcanum (12, 17, 25, 27). Possessed of the virtues of the elixir of immortality, or the milk of life, this arcanum is administered as a potion, acting internally to drive consumption out of every part of the patient's body. As an external measure, the patient has tied to himself an amulet of herbs, whose "tiger-like" strength is praised (14).

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Moreover, the magic power of the principal sacred ingredients and implements of the sacrifice to the gods is invited to join forces with the herbal arcanum as it takes effect (20): the Aśvattha tree, which yields the stick for stirring the sacred and the domestic fires; the holy grass (darbha), which is possessed with exorcising power. The latter serves to cover the altar and the seat of the Fire-god; moreover it is bundled into a brush and used to scrape clean the sacrificial ground, to remove particles of defiling matter which might harbor demonic forces obstructive to the sacrificial procedure. These powerful utensils are invoked to cooperate with the usual oblation to the gods: Soma, the nectar, which invigorates the celestials; barley-water and rice-cakes, transubstantiated into divine fare through having been offered to the gods. And the divine materials, evidently, are to be activated through the unconsumed remainders which are sprinkled upon the amulet. This medicinal ritual is to be inferred from the parallel hymns and the treatments of which they form the oral part.

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An indispensable element of the charm, intended to secure definite effectiveness, is the solemn and explicit statement that the treatment has already operated according to expectation: “I have snatched thee away,” the doctor addresses the patient in concluding his magic work, “. . . from all sickness . . .” (28). The result, however, is stated in an anticipatory way, as an evocation of the desired effect, at the very outset of the procedure (3): “they have made depart from thee . . . thy sin-born Consumption.”

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The all-powerful arcanum of this hymn exhibits a complex pattern of motifs. It looks like the final result of a prolonged process of adding and blending all possible means of treatment together with their proper formulae. To what extent smaller charms, once independent, or fragments of earlier hymns were combined to form the incantation as it stands, can only be surmised. Here, as in many far more extensive and famous instances of sacred Hindu tradition, as in the “Bhagavadgītā” for instance, a complex mosaic, meant to be encyclopedic, became the classic vehicle of thoughts developed during earlier periods. The intention to create a formula, all-effective through being all-embracing, is evidenced in the present form of the hymn, hallowed by faithful tradition in subsequent ages. It exhibits a wide and detailed knowledge of what forms the subject-matter of materia medica, and it reveals an intrinsic diffidence and insecurity with regard to the specific effectiveness of the components of this highly praised arcanum.

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This is the typical aspect of Vedic materia medica, as is borne out by another extensive document of Vedic pharmacopoeia, Ṛgveda X, 97:

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1. Those herbs, the first-born of the gods,
three ages of the world ago,
those will I worship in my thought,
the hundred-and-seven virtues of those (with
new) tawny (sprouts).
2. Hundred, O mothers, are your virtues,

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and thousand your shoots, ye, of hundred potencies, then, make me hale this man.

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3. Rejoicing, herbs, respond, ye with flowers, ye with shoots, like mares, winning the race, eager, the plants to ferry over to the side of safety.

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4. Herbs!—thus I address you, mothers, goddesses, may I win horse, cow, clothes, . . . thy life-spirit (ātman), O man!

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5. In the Aśvattha (-tree) your seat, your abode made in its leaf, ye like milking cows would be, when you better me this man!

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6. With whomever the herbs have come together like kingly chiefs unto the gathering, that Brahman is called a “healer” (bhiṣaj), a demon-killer, a plague-dispeller.

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7. The rich in mare-like waters, the rich in Soma, the invigorating, the one excelling in strength: all herbs found I for this man to free him from harm.

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8. Like cows from the cowpen stream forth the virtues of the herbs, eager to secure rich fee (for me), (for thee) thy life-spirit (ātman), O man!

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9. Weal-working is your mother's name, hence you are Woe-expellers. Winged streams are you; you expel what ails.

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10. Over all enclosures they have climbed, like a thief into the cowpen. The herbs have driven away all defects of the body whatever.

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11. Since, strength-imparting, I hold in my hand these herbs, the life-spirit (ātman) of Consumption vanishes, as if in front of Him who seizes the life-soul (Yama, King Death).

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12. Whom, herbs, you crawl along, limb by limb, joint by joint, from him Consumption you divide asunder, as, located-at-the-center, the mighty (king divides asunder the ring of neighbor kings who prey upon his realm).

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13. Fly away, Consumption, together with the jay, with the blue jay, with the blast of the wind, with the storm, vanish!

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14. One of ye help the other, one to the other be helpful, ye all, of one consent, help onward this my spell.

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15. Those with fruit, those without fruit, those flowerless, and those with flowers, impelled by the Lord of Magic Spells (Bṛhaspati), may they deliver us from ill,

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16. may they deliver me from imprecation, and from (the dropsy) that-comes-from-Varuṇa, and from the Tamer’s fetterlock (sickness unto death), from all god-sent diseases.

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17. Flying down from heaven the herbs spake: Whom, alive, we reach, that man does not perish.

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18. Whatever herbs there are in Soma’s kingdom, the many, wise a hundred-wise, of these thou art the best, ready to desire, weal to the heart.

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19. Whatever herbs ye be in Soma’s kingdom, spreading earth-wide, impelled by the Lord of Magic Spells, lay your strength together in this herb.

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20. May he not come to harm who digs you, nor he, for whom I dig you; our two-footed, our four-footed all uninjured be.

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21. Whatever plants hearken to this spell, and those gone out of reach, all flocking here together, shall give their strength together in this herb.

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22. The herbs consult with Soma, with their king:

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“For whom a Brahman works a charm,
him, O king, we ferry over to the side of safety.”

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23. Thou art the best, O herb,

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the trees to thee are servants;
Be subservient unto us
He, who seeks to do us harm.

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Tradition ascribes this hymn to a mythical author, to one Bhiṣaj Ātharvaṇa, that is, to the Vedic prototype of the doctor (bhiṣaj)—magician (ātharvaṇa), the founder and embodiment of the magic art of healing.

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Again all existing herbs are invoked to lend aid: “the many, wise a hundred-wise” (18) with “hundred-and-seven virtues” (1) and “of hundred potencies” (2), those within reach, and those out of reach of the healing magician (21).

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All the forces of the vegetable kingdom, again, are blended into a powerful arcanum (21) to conquer “Consumption” (11-13), by which term it is not quite certain what is meant. Neither is the patent decline of the patient’s life-strength clearly diagnosed with regard to its origin. It may be “ god-sent ” (16) as a visitation for the sinful conduct of the patient, perhaps by Varuṇa (16); or it may foreshadow the approach of King Death, the all-powerful “ Tamer ” (16), who catches the life-spirit with his noose and drags it away; it may be caused by some demon (6) or through the imprecation (16) of someone “ who seeks to do us harm ” (23). In any case, the efficacy of the divine herbs, when duly recognized, brought together, and put to use, is beyond question. They are, again, propitiated by extolling their origin, kinship and virtues (1, 3, 5, 9, 17, 22). Their friendly, “ motherly ” character is insisted upon to preclude any harmful reactions due to their ambivalent nature (2, 4); they are appeased for being disturbed and uprooted (20), and implored to protect the inhabitants and the animals of the household and of the village (20).

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An arcanum is built up of their combined forces (14, 15, 19, 21), which is supposed to cure all kinds of disease (16), and to ferry the sick man “ over to the side of safety,” out of the reach of Death (3, 16).

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A particular and rather striking element of this hymn is its insisting on the close relation between the expected healing effect of the treatment and the doctor’s “ rich fee ” (8), consisting of “ horse, cow, clothes ” (4). The magic procedure assures the patient’s recovery, inasmuch as the latter bears in mind the ample reward that he owes to the healing magician. The fee the physician expects is regarded as reciprocal to the effectiveness of the treatment, and even as guaranteeing it. The considerable size of the expected salary is “ rubbed in.” Such a business-like aspect of the relation between doctor and patient has its therapeutical value. The emphasis on the costliness of the treatment is intended to reflect the high capacity of the medical authority called upon to treat the case, and the efficacy of the means at his disposal as well. This is expected to exert a salutary psychological effect through its appeal to the “ sacred egotism ” of the ailing individual, his monetary instinct; it is not intended as a distracting reminder of the bill to be footed, but is meant to act as an incentive, appealing to the patient’s instinct for cooperation and recovery. High fees invariably inspire confidence in the practitioner’s skill and the efficacy of the medical tradition; they stimulate the lingering, or malingering, patient to mobilize whatever hidden energies are within him, to pass the crisis and get over his illness.

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For the same purpose the secret knowledge of the medical magician is emphasized: he knows what council the divine herbs hold among themselves and how they pledge their assistance to the Brahmin doctor (22), the authentic healer (6), before their king Soma. An important asset of the Brahmin magician in dealing with these disease-demons is his ability to league himself with the divine healing forces. The hymn points out this privileged position of his by referring to the Lord of Magic Spells (Bṛhaspati, Brahmaṇaspati) as his powerful ally (15, 19). Bṛhaspati is the foremost of the Aṅgirases, the ancestors of the oldest priest-families; he attained divine rank through acting as house-priest and arch-magician to Indra and the gods. He is, by very name, the "master" (pati) of the innermost soul-force (bṛh, brahman) which works magic through communion with the divine.

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The effective steps the doctor takes to dispel consumption from the patient's body are reflected in detail in the course of the hymn.

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First, he concentrates on the divine powers of the herbs, and, praising their origin and virtues, he convokes them, urging them thither (1-7). The mere physical presence of the vegetable drugstuffs, combined into the arcanum to be administered, is evidently far from sufficient to secure the effect desired. The spiritual energy of the herbs, their good will, cooperation, and eagerness to help must be secured. Their personalities, like those of human beings, must be activated in order to render their cooperation effective.

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Next, they are enjoined to go to work, presumably through the arcanum administered as a potion (8), and the actual working of their qualities and strength is stated and described (9). Then, the definite success of this internal treatment is emphatically asserted: “the herbs have driven away all defects of the body whatever.” Herewith the internal treatment apparently reaches its culmination.

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The next stanzas seem to reflect a parallel external treatment. The same arcanum, presumably, is poured all over the limbs and joints of the patient’s body; this ablution, again, is made with the intention of transferring the disease into the birds tied under the patient’s bedstead; there follows an appeal to the divine power of the wind, supposed, here as elsewhere, to act as the universal “ cleanser ” or “ purifier ” (pavana) , and to carry off the disease, far away, “ beyond the navigable streams ” (Ath.-Veda VIII, 7, 15) .

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Among the remaining stanzas, made up of variations on the principal themes of this kind of magic treatment, there appears a prayer (16) , “ may they deliver me . . . ,” evidently meant to be recited by the patient himself, repeating it after the physician; or it may have been intended for the doctor to recite it, assuming the rôle of the ailing person and speaking in his stead.

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The structure of the charm and the elements of which it is composed convey the impression that Vedic medical wisdom, uncertain of the character of the disease and not at all sure of the efficacy of the separate means at its disposal, is inclined to combine every available approach into a single strong weapon to overcome the demon disease; because of its uncertain origin and the manifold aspects of its strength, this demonic force seems too elusive and powerful to be conquered by half-measures.

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The principal diseases which occur in Vedic medical texts, more or less clearly discernible as to their nature and relation to those mentioned in subsequent classic tradition, are: fever (takman), diarrhoea (āsrāva), cough (kāsa), consumption (balāsa, yakṣma), dropsy (jalodara), sores (apacit), abscess (vidradha), tumor (akṣata), leprosy and skin-diseases (kilāsa), inherited diseases (kṣetriya) and “seizures” by various demons.

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Nineteen gods, altogether, are invoked for help against diseases: ⁴ those visiting upon man “god-sent” diseases in retribution for their sins (Varuṇa) are besought to remove the curse; Śiva, who sends fever, is implored to dispel it. The twin Horsemen (Aśvin), invoked in every kind of distress, bear the traits of divine physicians.

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The most significant tribute which could possibly be bestowed on Hindu medicine was conferred on it in post-Vedic times by the founder of Buddhism.

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The Buddha, in expounding his doctrine of salvation, modeled it after the attitude of the Hindu physician toward the task of healing. The Enlightened One, foremost among India’s heretics, the boldest genius among her thinkers, departed on many vital points from the hallowed authority of Brahmin tradition and practice, but was justified by the history of subsequent millenniums; his universal message was the only one to exert a fundamental influence on Far Eastern civilizations far beyond the borders of India and to effect so widespread and lasting an impact on human thought. Attaining to the height of a world-religion, Buddhism, in its elementary tenets, carried far and wide the fundamental concept of Hindu medicine with respect to the fourfold procedure of the physician confronted with a case.

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The so-called Four Noble Truths of Buddhism correspond exactly to the four successive problems which the Hindu doctor is taught to face in treating a patient. The Indian physician, when called upon to examine a patient, is instructed to ask himself four questions: three in order to reach a proper diagnosis, and one inquiring into the proper therapy of the case. First of all, are the complaints of the patient based on some real suffering; has he a real disease or is he only seemingly ill? If the answer is that he is ill, the physician proceeds to inquire into the particular nature of the sickness, answering the second question: with what kind of suffering is the patient afflicted and what is its origin? The third step, completing the diagnosis, is to decide whether the disease can be cured or not. If not, the doctor is supposed to withdraw. He leaves the patient to his relatives and his house-priest; at this point the priest may have recourse to the superior wisdom of magic procedure in an attempt to exorcise or propitiate the superhuman forces that may have seized upon the patient, baffling medical skill; or the priest and the relatives may dispense to the soul, definitely bound westward, the blessings of sacramental offices that it requires for the next life. But if the third question is answered in the affirmative and the disease seems curable, then the doctor will ask himself the fourth and last question: what kind of treatment is indicated for this particular ailment?

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The founder of Buddhism, in the fifth century B. C., adopted a parallel procedure. Perceiving that mankind and the universe are steeped, through the very process of life, in suffering without beginning or end, he did not attempt to deal with it by assuming the traditional attitude of the priestly teacher (Guru); instead, he adopted the standpoint of a medical man on the spiritual plane, putting the selfsame four questions and answering them affirmatively. This novel procedure of the Buddha was later followed in the classic system of Hindu yoga.⁵

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First of all, the Buddha states that universal suffering is real. Next, he defines suffering as caused by a deep-rooted ignorance concerning the essential laws of the process of life and consciousness, an ignorance which has its roots in the blinding effect of the universal desire to be, to grow and to enjoy, and in the naive clinging to the ego. His Third Noble Truth diagnoses this suffering through ignorance, though it affects even the highest divinities, as curable. The Fourth Truth points out, as the only proper therapy for establishing the state of unlimited well-being, the Buddhist way of ascetic practice which leads toward enlightenment (bodhi) and extinction (nirvāṇa).

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This characteristic attitude of the Enlightened One, later found representation, in Mahāyāna Buddhism, in the figure of the transcendental Buddha Bhaiṣajyaguru, the “Master of Medicaments.” Among the allegorical representations of the spiritual saviors, expressing the virtues of the doctrine, the Buddha is here shown acting as a spiritual healer of all beings, from the gods on high down to animals and inmates of purgatories.

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The tutelary divinity of classic medical wisdom is the god Dhanvantari. He does not figure in the Vedic pantheon of the Aryan immigrants; apparently he is an inheritance from aboriginal Indian antiquity.

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Dhanvantari belongs to the series of “fourteen jewels” (ratna), i. e. precious symbols and figures which, one after the other, make their appearance in the course of an important mythical process. At the beginning of time, when the gods and the titans, in their constant rivalry for supremacy and world domination, reached a temporary truce, they combined their antagonistic energies to churn the Milky Ocean, and extracted from the universal life-fluid its “butter,” the elixir of immortality (amṛta). First there emerged other representations of the divine life-force: the goddess of life, beauty, prosperity and riches, Śrī-Lakṣmī; the rain-bestowing elephant of Indra; the horse of the sun-god; Viṣṇu’s breast-jewel, Kaustubha; the kingly parasol of the water-god Varuṇa; and the divine earrings trickling the water of life. Finally, from the liquid depths of primeval cosmic life-substance, Dhanvantari arose, carrying the elixir of immortality in a milk-white bowl.

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As the embodiment of medical wisdom, Dhanvantari is allied with the divine maintainer of the universe, Viṣṇu, who has been directing the laborious process of churning the Milky Ocean; it is he who finally helps the gods to secure the precious beverage. Dhanvantari is regarded as a part (kalā) of Viṣṇu himself in his supreme manifestation, Nārāyaṇa, the divine substance of the universe in the form of the primal waters of life (nara) which gave birth to the organism of the world. Moreover, in popular Hindu lore, he is a pupil of the fair-winged sun-bird Garuḍa, who is the son of Mother Heaven (Vinatā), the vehicle of Viṣṇu, and the celestial one among Viṣṇu’s animal manifestations.

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But Dhanvantari is also reckoned as a disciple of Śiva, the conqueror of King Death, the “Tamer” (Yamāntaka), and lord of destructive forces, who is antagonistic to Viṣṇu, the maintainer. Through this twofold discipleship, Dhanvantari combines, as it were, the two main elements of Hindu medicine: the wisdom which increases lifestrength and maintains life-length to its full extent (āyurveda), and the wisdom of cures and remedies (bhaiṣajya) for diseases and demons.

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Dhanvantari plays no remarkable rôle in that unending strife between gods and titans, which, in its succession of dramatic events, triumphs and downfalls, forms the mythical history of the universe. Yet there is a significant tale in popular tradition (purāṇa), which tells how Dhanvantari fought the destructive power of venomous snakes and finally propitiated it by bowing to its might. This episode⁶ shows the religious and magic background against which Hindu medicine should be viewed; for it shares in the common beliefs, in spite of the growing rational tendencies of its classic texts.

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One time, we are told, when Dhanvantari with a thousand pupils was wandering to Mount Kailāsa in the Himālayas, an abode of Śiva, he encountered a giant serpent. The venomous monster, of colossal proportions, showed its tongue and assailed him as if to devour him. But Dhanvantari simply laughed at it. As a pupil of the sun-bird Garuḍa, the arch-enemy of snakes, who absorbs the serpent-genii or life-spirits of the terrestrial waters by means of his celestial solar heat, Dhanvantari knew himself to be possessed of the magic power to conquer snakes.

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One haughty pupil of Dhanvantari, encouraged by the master’s fearless attitude, disdainfully seized the proud serpent, and, by means of incantations, subdued it and extracted its poison. He even seized the priceless jewel which serpents are supposed to be carrying about in their heads; he rolled it in his hand and threw it away. The giant serpent, paralyzed, lay there as if destitute of life.

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Its companions fled and turned to the mighty snake-king Vāsuki, who, when he heard of this outrage, dispatched against Dhanvantari and his pupils certain other famous snake-princes with a countless host of poisonous snakes. The pupils, by the breath of the advancing snakes, were struck lifeless. Dhanvantari, however, centering his mind on his spiritual teacher Garuḍa, by the power of incantations, rained the elixir of immortality on his pupils and restored their bodies to life. The serpents, in turn, he paralyzed by magic spells, so that not one was left to report to their lord.

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Vāsuki, however, through his far-reaching divine insight, became aware of this discomfiture and implored the goddess Manasā for help. Manasā is the supreme female representation of serpent-power, the divine mother of serpents. She is regarded as the sister of the cosmic snake “Endless” (Ananta, Śeṣa), the cosmic waters which in their depths support the universe.

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Manasā is a jealous divinity; she punishes disrespect and avenges any injury to a serpent. Heeding the prayer of Vāsuki, incensed and self-assured, she set forth to avenge the humiliation the serpent realm had suffered: “I shall go to the battle and slay the enemy. Who can preserve him whom I would destroy? If even the highest gods join battle, I shall conquer.”

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The disastrous force of venomous snakes, against whose poisonous effect no magic, no medical wisdom avails, is explained as due to the serpents’ superior wisdom. Manasā boasts that she received her paralyzing magic and deadly power from the lord Ananta himself, who acted as her spiritual teacher and bestowed upon her a most wonderful charm,—a charm sacred to Nārāyaṇa, the primeval manifestation of Viṣṇu; for Ananta is another embodiment of Viṣṇu’s divine essence. She boasts that she is able to reduce the universe to ashes at will, and create it again. She vaunts herself to be a pupil of Śiva and disparages Dhanvantari for not being a pupil of Śiva himself: her enemy became possessed of his part of the secret wisdom of the lord of destruction only through the mediation of Garuḍa, who, in turn, had studied but for a short season with Śiva. Manasā herself, however, had been tutored for an extensive time by the lord of destructive powers; and, in days of yore, she had received from him vast wisdom.

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The rôle of the spiritual teacher, imparting charms and magic as the most precious elements of the art of protective healing, is emphasized by this popular tale. And the irresistible strength of the snake-poison is explained as due to the fact that the Snake Mother’s contact with the secrets of the realm of destructive powers is more intimate than that of the divine master of healing, who obtained his science of protective charms and cures through the mediation of the life-maintaining sphere.

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Upon reaching the battle-scene the Mother of Serpents revived with a single glance the paralyzed snakes and smote Dhanvantari’s pupils, so that not even the Master of Healing could restore them to consciousness by his magic charm. Then there ensued between the two a fierce duel with magic weapons such as befit divine powers. Manasā attacked the divine physician with missiles flaming with venom. But the charmed fiery lotus which she threw at him, Dhanvantari by his breath reduced to ashes; the mustard-seed, endowed with magic potency, which she hurled against him, he countered with a handful of dust. Her magic iron spear he cut in twain with a spear bestowed upon him by Viṣṇu. Against a magic noose of a hundred thousand serpents, the god-healer invoked, by mental concentration, Garuḍa, who came hurrying and devoured eagerly his favorite prey. From a ladle full of ashes, the gift of Śiva, which the goddess threw, Garuḍa shielded his pupil with his back, scattering the ashes with the wind of his wings. But when the infuriated goddess resorted to her most powerful weapon, a flaming spear given her by Śiva, radiant as a hundred suns and blazing like the conflagration of the universe at its dissolution, Brahmā and Śiva, the highest gods, hastened to the battlefield to intervene, lest Dhanvantari perish and Garuḍa lose his prestige.

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Manasā, joyfully, bowed to the almighty twain. Brahmā and Śiva advised Dhanvantari to propitiate the fierce goddess with offerings, prayer and meditation. This he did, humbling himself. Thus by praising her as the source of all wisdom and the gracious protectress of her devotees, he became reconciled with the wrathful divinity. Appeasing her, he evoked her benevolent aspect with its auspicious emblems, and gained her favor. By his devotional practice he established the pattern for propitiating the fierce force of destruction by acknowledging its irresistible strength. Furthermore, his auspicious vision of the goddess (dhyāna) provided the form in which Manasā is to be visualized in meditation and represented in images for worship, to avert the peril of poisonous snakes.

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This mythical tale illustrates the strength of Hindu medical skill in its attempt to deal with the constant danger of snake bite. It also stresses the limits of the art of healing and its close interrelation with magic and devotional practice.

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Dhanvantari, in the classic encyclopedia of Hindu medicine by Suśruta, figures as the divine authority who reveals medical wisdom to mankind.

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The god-healer became incarnate among men as Divodāsa, a mythical king of the holy city of Benares, “ foremost in ascetic fervor and moral virtues ” (Su. I, 1; V, 1; VI, 66).

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The account of the manner in which this revelation became available to men begins with the solemn errand of a group of holy seers led by Suśruta, who was the son of the famous Vedic priest and singer, Viśvāmitra, one of the deified Seven Old Sages. They resorted to the hermitage of Divodāsa and, respectfully addressing him, spake:

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“ We behold mankind smitten by many pains and hurts in illnesses of their bodies and minds, we see them cast down by sickness coming to them from outside or originating from their inner being. Though they are protected by divine patrons, they cry out as if they had none. This troubles us, and we would hear for the sake of all creatures thy sacred Doctrine of Longevity (āyurveda). Instruct us, that we may learn to heal the illnesses of those who desire well-being; and that we may prolong our own lives. On this knowledge rests all weal in this world and in the next. For this we have approached the Venerable One as his pupils.”

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The holy Dhanvantari answered them: “ Welcome my children; ye all, without further examination, are worthy to receive the teaching.”

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Then, Dhanvantari taught them the sacred knowledge of longevity which forms part of the fourth Veda, the Atharva-Veda, as it was laid down by Brahmā, the Self-born God, before he brought forth the universe and all creatures. His teaching was contained in a thousand lessons and a hundred thousand double verses. Brahmā, after having created this wisdom, bethought himself of the brief span of man’s life and of the limitations of the human mind; whereupon he epitomized it in eight books.

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This legendary setting, a familiar characteristic of Hindu traditional wisdom, is intended to afford to Suśruta’s compilation of medical knowledge a suitable background through stressing the authority of its antiquity and divine origin. Except for the final part, which was added still later, Suśruta’s compilation actually reached its present form in the fourth century A. D. But through the legendary framework it is presented as deriving directly from a mythical early period of the Vedic age, in which immortal sages and their sons were enabled through superior spiritual perfection to receive the revelations of the gods. Thus was man apprised of what he needs to know to preserve health and long life, in spite of the inevitable decline of his virtues with the gradual deterioration of the substance of the universe in the course of its four ages. The claim to the incontestable authority of age and origin provides no historical clue to the actual rise of classic medicine.

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Another classic of Hindu medicine, however, Caraka’s compilation, which belongs to the first century A. D., in its legendary setting offers some material on the lineage of medical tradition which is substantiated by other literature. According to Caraka (I, 1), the “Wisdom of Long Life” came from the hand of the God Creator Brahmā who revealed it in its entirety to the demiurgic god Prajāpati, the “Lord of the Creatures.” From him it went to the Aśvins, the divine “Twin Horsemen,” the helpers and healers among the Vedic gods. They passed it on to Indra, the King of Gods, and from him mankind received the divine wisdom.

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