Ayurveda
Traditions of Ayurveda
Three traditions of Ayurveda exist today - two of them based on the compendia of Charka and Sushruta Samhitas, and a third tradition known as Kashyapas. However, Ayurvedic remedies prior to these traditions also exist, as mentioned in the earlier Vedic literature (2nd millennium BC). Both the Sushruta and the Charaka Samhitas are the product of several scholars, having been revised and supplemented over a period of several hundred years. The scholar Vagbhata, who lived in Sindh at the beginning of the 7th century AD, wrote a synthesis of earlier Ayurvedic materials in a collection of verses called the Ashtanga Hridayam. Another work associated with the same author, the Ashtanga Samgraha, contains much of the same material in a more diffuse form, written in a mixture of prose and verse. The relationship between these two works, and a third intermediate compilation, is still a topic of active research. The works of Charaka, Sushruta, and Vagbhata are considered canonical and reverentially called the Vriddha Trayi, "The Triad of Ancients"; or Brhat Trayi, "The Greater Triad." In the early 8th century, Madhav wrote his Nidana, a work on etiology, which soon assumed a position of authority. In the 79 chapters of this book, he lists diseases along with their causes, symptoms, and complications.
Post Brhat Trayi period
The Brhat Trayi (literally "the three great compositions") is a classic Ayurvedic literary work, which was composed, compiled, and edited by Vagbhatta II, under the title Ashtanga Samgraha. At one time, it was believed that those who read and fully understood the contents of Vriddha Trayi and the Brhat Trayi, were good practitioners of Ayurveda. Legends concerning the origins of the text refer to the Ayurvedic practitioner Vagbhata who lived during the time of the epic Mahabharata and was the chief physician of king Yudhisthir. Most believe that the author of the Ashtanga Samgraha was born before 200 AD and is properly known as Vagbhata the 1st. Another man named Vagbhata (who was born about 100 BC) recomposed the text, including the writings of Charaka, Sushruta under a new title Astang Hridaya.
Mythology also refers to another Ayurvedic physician known as Vangsen. Myths place him in ancient Bengal where he wrote a classic Ayurvedic book, simply called Vangsen. The book is written in easy and understandable language and adds many new chapters to the previous texts.
After Vangsen, a scholar by the name of Madhavacharya composed the book, Madhav Nidan. He is thought to have been the prime minister for the Emperor of Vijaynagara. Madhav Nidan is widely considered the best Ayurvedic book for the diagnosis of some diseases known during that period.
After Madhav Nidan, the next in line of famous Ayurvedic books Bhav Prakash was written during the time that the Portuguese first came to India in 1498 by a man named Bhav Mishra of Madras. The period in which he wrote can be pinpointed accurately because in the Bhav Prakash, he described the symptoms of a disease called "Firang" (Gonorrhoea and Syphilis), which was introduced to the subcontinent through contact with Europeans. ("Firangi" was a Persian-derived pejorative for Europeans in India, who brought the diseases with them). Bhav Mishra's other contribution to Ayurvedic medicine was the introduction of pulse examination / pulse diagnosis.
Many writers after Bhav Mishra contributed to Ayurvedic literature. Among them Sharangdhar, Chakra Dutta, Vaidya Vinod, Vaidya Vamanotsava, Bhaisajya Ratnawali, and the Lolimb Raj, who wrote the Vaidya Jeevan in verse form. The first lines of the verses of the Vaidya Jeevan are addressed to the author's "beloved," while the rest of the verse has contains information about curing diseases.
About 200 years ago, Pranacharya Shri Sadanand Sharma wrote the Ras Tarangini, which was the "base book" for modernizing Ayurveda practices. In this book, advances in chemistry are included. The book describes the use of many chemical substances as medicine and their successful uses. Upon considering the advice of this book, Ayurvedic practitioners began to process the traditional herbs in sulphate, nitrate, muriate, phosphate and nitromuriate forms. Sarpagandha [Latin: Rauwolfia Serpentina Muriate, Sarpagandha Sulphate, Sarpagandha Phosphate, Sarpagandha Nitrate, Sarpagandha nitromuriate and many others have been prepared and tested on patients.The Ras Tarangini mentiones "Shankhadrav", which is a medicine used internally and externally in many disease conditions. Shankhadrav-based herbal medicine, invented by an Indian physician, is regarded by the National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad, India.
Excerpt from "Ayurveda" by Department of AYUSH. Reference link: http://indianmedicine.nic.in/html/ayurveda/ayurveda.htm#con
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