Eternal India Encyclopedia

Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems

Eternal India

encyclopedia

Nidanasthana

(diagnosis), 3)

Vimanasthana

(specific determi-

nation of taste etc), 4)

Sarirasthana

(anatomy, physiology and bi-

ology), 5)

Indiryasthana

(prognosis of disease), 6)

Chikitsasthana

(treatment of diseases), 7)

Kalpasthana

(pharmaceutics), 8)

Siddhisthana

(administration of five elimination therapies).

Charaka was aware of the germ theory of diseases but he

rejected the theory that germs are the only causative factors of

diseases. He advanced the theory that it is the imbalance of dosas

or humours -

vata

(wind),

pitta

(gall) and

kapha

(mucus) - and

vitiation of dhatus or tissue elements that are the primary causes of

diseases and create a favourable environment for the growth of

germs in the body. The etiology of disease as described by Charaka

is a psychosomatic phenomenon, the somatic elements being

closely connected with the psychic ones. This is a central principle

of the Ayurvedic concept of the cure of diseases as enunciated by

Charaka.

The

Charaka Samhita

states:"

Vata

is the source of both

structure and function. It is that which is represented by the five

forms:

prana, udana, samana, vyana

and

apana.

It is the initiator of

the upward and downward flow (of all internal processes such as

circulation, metabolism, breath, etc.) the controller of the senses;

the companion of the sensations; the organizer for the elements of

the body; the principle of synthesis; the storage battery of speech;

the cause of feelings and perception; the origin of excitement and

stimulation. It fans the gastric fire, dries out harmful phlegm and

expels excrement. It is the purifier of the coarse and fine channels

of the body; the creator of fetal form; the principle of life preserva-

tion. All these are normal functions of vata in our body."

Disturbances in

vata

lead to illnesses such as hypertension and

other metabolic and circulatory diseases, emotional or depressive

states and everything related to tension, relaxation, expansion,

contraction and so on.

Pitta

is literally translated as "gall", which implies tempera-

ment. It is said to be derived from the word

tap

"to heat".

Charaka

states; "The results are digestion or indigestion, power of precep-

tion and its loss, normal or abnormal body temperatures, healthy or

unhealthy looks, fear or courage, joy or anger, clarity or confusion,

and other such contrasting pairs." Diseases resulting from this are;

inflammation, fever, pus, bad odour, itching and pain.

Kapha

is literally translated as

which means "water" and

pha

which can be translated as "the process of biological evolu-

tion". Thus it is "life-fluid", and has also been called "phlegm". The

Charaka Samhita

states : "Kapha is the nectar. It is fertile water

for the play of life; it is living fluid, the protoplasm that sustains all

processes; it is the scaffold of life. It binds all the limbs together

and produces all the connecting, nourishing, developing and fortify-

ing functions. It promotes the well being of the body by its

lubricating process. Thus it supplies the water for the roots of life.

In its physiological aspect kapha is the power and perserverance of

man, which however, immediately becomes a disturbing impurity

when its balance is disturbed."

In disease it manifests as cold, swelling due to fluid, constipa-

tion, diabetes and tumors.

It is said that there is no pain unless vata is present, no

inflammatory process without pitta, and no swellings can occur

without kapha.

Ayurveda has formulated an extensive discipline of diets, rou-

tine and conduct to rectify humoral balance, improve physical and

mental health, ward off senility and promote longevity.

The different tastes of all foods and drugs are given special

importance for indicating their potentiality to augment or rectify the

dosas. There are six specific tastes - sweet, sour, saline, bitter,

pungent and astringent. Their combinations taking two, three, four,

five and all at a time make 63 tastes in all. These tastes emerge in

different substances which can augment, rectify or counterbalance

the different humours. A judicious selection of substances from the

different taste groups can maintain health and cure diseases.

Indian medical knowledge influenced the Greeks considerably.

The Hippocratic treatise on Breath discusses the concept of

pneuma in more or less the same manner as the Indian concept of

vata.

The Roman, Celsius, (1st century A.D.) gave in his medical

treatises a graphic account of lithotomy (cutting of the bladder to

remove a stone) which was practised in India much earlier. Galen

(2nd century A.D.) makes no secret of his borrowing from India the

material relating to ointment for the eyes and the Indian plaster.

But India also received medical knowledge. In the 12th century

the examination of urine and the pulse was practised by Indian

medical men perhaps learning the technique from China and the

Arabs.

In the 13-14th centuries, the Unani system of medicine from the

Perso-Arabic culture area began to take root in India under the

Muslim rulers and became popular with the advent of the Mughals.

The Muslim rulers encouraged both the Ayurveda and the

Unani

Tibb

and the

Hakims

and

Vaidyas

worked together in hospitals and

medical schools in a testimony to the Islamic patronage of scientific

tradition. At the instance of Mohammed Bin Tuglaq (14th century),

Ha Kim Diya Muhammed compiled a treatise "Majmuai Diyaiyya"

incorporating the Arabic, Persian and Ayurvedic medical knowl-

edge.

The physician was a respected member of society. The rules of

professional behaviour were laid down and resembled those of

Hippocrates. Charaka instructs a physician thus : “ If you want

success in your practice, wealth and fame, and heaven after your

death, you must pray every day on rising and going to bed for the

welfare of all beings, especially of cows and brahmins, and you

must strive with all your soul for the health of the sick. You must

not betray your patients even at the cost of your own life. You must

not get drunk, or commit evil or have evil companions... when you go

to the home of a patient you should direct your words, mind,

intellect and senses nowhere but to your patient and his treatment.,

nothing that happens in the house of the sick man must be told

outside, nor must the patient’s condition be told to anyone who

might do harm by that knowledge to the patient or to another”.

Charaka laid more emphasis on prevention rather than cure.

This is in line with the modem concept of health and the role of

modem medicine.

Ancient Indian doctors had no clear knowledge of the function

of the brain and believed that the heart was the seat of intelligence.

They realised however the importance of the spinal cord and knew

of the existence of the nervous system.

SELECTED REFERENCES

Charaka

by Bhagwan Das and

Sushruta

by P.S. Sankaran and

P.J. Deshpande in

Cultural Leaders of India,

Publications Division, New Delhi 1990