The Legacy of Caraka

by M.S. Valiathan

Caraka, the master physician, is believed to have lived in the first century AD. The Samhita composed by him forms the bedrock of ayurvedic practice today. His contribution to India’s cultural inheritance was profound. Caraka Samhita was, in fact, a revision of an older text Agnivesa Tantra, which was written several centuries before Caraka’s time. Caraka’s revision became so popular that it was translated into Tibetan, Arabic, English and many Indian languages. T

he Legacy of Caraka retells the Samhita in a new format. Instead of adhering to the sequence of the Sthanas in the original, the author has retold the Samhita through thematically structured chapters, in contemporary idiom. The retelling has involved some degree of restructuring and condensation but has ensured that whatever is stated can be traced back to the original. In a detailed introduction, the author has commented on specific aspects of Caraka’s philosophy, concepts and practice, as seen from the point of view of modern medicine.

This book will be of special interest to students of Ayurveda, medicine and other sciences, and those interested in the history of science in India.

Contents:

1. Preface
2. Introduction:
3. Caraka and his legacy
4. Atharva Veda to Caraka
5. Diseases in Caraka’s period
6. Doctrines and concepts
7. Five evacuative procedures (pancakarma)
8. Procedures for rejuvenation and enhanced virility (rasayana and vajikarana)
9. Medicinal plants
10. Food and drinks
11. Habitat
12. Learning to be a physician
13. Ayurveda
14. Drugs formulations in therapeutics
15. Sense perception and well-being
16. Life in accord with the seasons
17. Suppression of natural urges; comments on physical miscellany
18. The medical quartet
19. Three desires, means of knowledge and some triads
20. Lubricants in therapeutics
21. Fomentation
22. Evacuative therapy
23. Imbalance of dosas – varied expressions
24. Slimming and building up in therapeutics
25. Obesity and leanness; stray remarks on sleep
26. Blood
27. Food as the source of man and his diseases
28. Rasas
29. Food and drink
30. The fate of food and drink in the body
31. Physicians – genuine and fraudulent
32. Rasas, dosas and a healthful diet
33. Epidemics; reflections on lifespan
34. Norms for the quantity of meals
35. Body – a network of channels
36. Disease – manifold expressions of deranged dosas
37. Infestation by worms (krmi)
38. Training of a physician – theory, practice and ethics
39. The body and its knower
40. Conception
41. Genesis of the embryo
42. Pregnancy – fetal development, anomalies and personality types
43. Antenatal and postnatal management and care of the baby
44. The individual and the cosmos
45. A count of body parts
46. The spectre of death
47. Rejuvenant therapy (rasayana)
48. Virile therapy (vajikarana)
49. Fevers (jvara)
50. Pitta-induced bleeding disorders (rakta pitta)
51. Gaseous and hemorrhagic lumps of the abdomen (gulma)
52. Polyuria (prameha)
53. Skin disorders including leprosy (kustha)
54. Phthisis (sosa)
55. Insanity (unmada)
56. Epilepsy (apasmara)
57. Chest injuries and their sequelae (ksata ksina)
58. Swelling (svayathu)
59. Abdominal disease with distension (udara)
60. Piles (arsa)
61. Digestion and digestive disorders (grahani)
62. Disorders of pallor (panduroga) (anemias)
63. Hiccup; shortness of breath (hikka; svasa)
64. Cough (kasa)
65. Diarrhea (atisara)
66. Vomiting (chardi)
67. Cellulitis (visarpa)
68. Thirst (trsna)
69. Poisoning (visa)
70. Alcohol disorders (madatyaya)
71. Sores and injuries (vrana)
72. Three regional disorders (basti, hrdaya and siras)
73. Numb and immobile thighs (urustambha)
74. Disorders of perturbed vata (vatavyadhi)
75. Disorders of perturbed vata and blood (vatasonita)
76. Disorders of the reproductive system; reflections on the principles of therapeutics
77. Drugs for evacuation (emetics and purgatives)
78. Evacuative procedures (pancakarma) and formulations
79. Epilogue
80. Botanical names
81. Glossary
82. Index.