Ancient Indian medicine

Medical literature of ancient India has been systematized periodically into works of singular excellence. One such work is the Caraka Samhita (a revised version of Agnivesa's earlier work), named after its author, the master physician Caraka, whose time and place are a matter of debate.

His Samhita, a compendium of systematically arranged text and verse, is an intellectual watershed containing the collective knowledge of medicine existing down the ages from the Vedic to the post-Vedic eras. It contains the stream of Ayurvedic knowledge coming from divine origins, as tradition would have it, first propounded by Brahma and then passed on through Dakshaprajapati, the Asvins, Indra, Bharadwaja and Atreya Punarvasu to Agnivesa.

And as Ayurveda is considered an "Upa Veda" or a derivative of the Vedas, it rests heavily on the sophisticated medical contents of the Atharva Veda and the associated Garbhopanishad (the Upanishad related to human intra-uterine gestation) along with less esoteric but equally valuable inputs from folk medicine.

In keeping with the Indian tradition, wherein all science is moored in philosophy and related metaphysics, Caraka draws on the Sankhya, Vaisesika, and Nyaya schools of philosophy to define terminology and concepts, to explain and elaborate the philosophy behind the principles and practice of internal medicine.

In concordance with other Ayurvedic texts (such as Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hridaya), the Caraka Samhita has 120 chapters arranged in eight Sthanas or sections: Sutra, Nidana, Vimana, Sarira, Indriya, Cikitsa, Kalpa, and Siddhi. The purpose of the work very clearly was two-fold. The first was to teach and train medical students in anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and clinical medicine supported by a grounding in medical ethics. The second was to serve as a compendium of continuing medical education programs with consensus statements evolved at medical conferences by a sifting of evidence through a process of peer review.

Caraka Samhita, therefore, is contemporary in terms of concepts of medical training and practice. It is no wonder then that the book has remained a beacon to medical practitioners down the ages. The author is one such individual, who though a modern cardiac surgeon and eminent medical administrator and academician, has been attracted intellectually to this ancient text.

(source: Ancient Indian medicine - By Uma Krishnaswamy - hindu.com. For more refer to chapter on Hindu Culture2).