AyurvedGuru

We Find That 79 Chapter Of Caraka Samhita End With The Following Sentence:-

These 79 Chapters Are Distributed In The Different Sections As Under:-

30 In The Section On General Principles
8 In The Section On Pathology
8 In The Section In Specific Determination
8 In The Section On Human Embodiment
12 In The Section On Sensorial Prognosis
13 In The Section On Therapeutics

But The Remaining 41 Chapters And With The Following Addition To The Above Quoted Ending:-

These 41 Chapters Are Distributed In The Different Sections As Under:-
17 In The Section On Therapeutics.
12 In The Section On Pharmaceutics.
12 In The Section On Success In Treatment.

Out Of These, One Chapter I. E. The 25th Chapter In The Section On Therapeutics Ends As Follows:-

In This The Word Is Not Found. All This Indicates That The Text Of The 79 Chapters Is The Portion Expounded By Agnivesa And Redacted By Caraka, While The Text Of The Remaining 41 Chapter Is The Portion Expounded By Agnivesa As Restored By Drdhabala In The Place Of The Unavailable Portions Of Caraka,S Redaction.

According To The History Of Ayurveda As Found In The Texts, We Learn That Bhagawan Atreya Expounded The Whole Science To Six Pupils. Each Of Them Tried To Write A Systematic Treatise According To His Grasp And Intelligence.

The Treatise Of Agnives Was The Outstanding One Among These And It Received The Sanction And Authorisation Of The Committee Of Jearned Sages. Out Of The Six Treatises Of The Pupils Of Atreya, Only Two Are At Present Available. One Is The Agnivesa-Tantra And The Other Bhela-Samhita. The Latter Is Available Only In Fragments And Hence It Is Incomplete. It Is A Very Short And Concise Form Though Greatly Similar To Agnivesa’s Treatise In The Treatment Of Subject, Order Of Arrangement, Classification Etc., Leading To The Conclusion That Both Received Their Instruction From The Same Preceptor. The Agnivsa Samhita. Being The Outstanding Work Out Of All The Six Received The Attention Of The Redactors Who Corporated Into The Body The Progress Achieved From Time To Time.

The Period From Atreya To Drdhabala Covers At Least 1000 Years. This Was The Golden Period Of Ayurveda And The Science Was Continually Progressive. This Original Text Of Agnivesa Might Have Been Reviewed And Redacted Very Often To Assimilate The Features Of Progressive Science And To Adapt It To The Circums.

Tances Of The Period; But Only Two Redactions Are Known At Present.

A Vast Fild For Researchwork Lies Unexplored In These Treatises. The Subjectfor Research Would Be What Actually Was Preached By Atreya, What Was Described By Agnivsa, What Caraka Did While Redacting It By Way Of Alterations And Additions. What Portion Was Modified Or Completed Or Reconstructed By Drdhabala, What Were The Other Redactions, When Were These Redactions Made Etc. The Rescarch Workers Will Have To Resort To General History, Records Etc, But The Labour Will Be Amply Repaid.

When Properly Explored This Quest Should Throw Light Not Only On The History Of Medicine, But It Would Enlighten Us On The General History Of Aryan Civilization From Various Points Of View.

Now Let Us See What A Redaction Is. Drdhabala Gives The Definition Of Redaction As Follows:-

“The Redactor Enlarges What Is Concise And Abbreviates What Is Very Prolix And In This Manner Brings An Ancient Work Up-To-Date”. Redaction Is Also Defined As Under”

“That Is Called Redaction By Which An Author Correlates And Supplements A Work By Corresponding Facts And Statements Found In Other Treatises Specially Bearing On A Subject”.

Thus We See That In A Redacted Work The Terse Portions In The Original Treatise Is Made Lucid By Elaboration And The Portion Treated Too Prolificly Is Abridged.

There Are Two Methods Of Redaction. One Is Technically Known As Sangraha And Vigraha Medthod As Defined By Drdhabala. The Other Is Known As Avapodwapa Method. The Latter Changes The Very Construction And System Of The Whole Work. Caraka Seems To Have Followed The Former Method.

The Caraka Samhita Only A Modified From Of The Original

If We Compare Caraka Samhita With Bhela Samhita We Find Striking Similarities, All Pointing To One Common Usource. 1. The Text Is Divided In Eight Sthanas Out Of Which Vimana Indriya And Sidhi Are The New Word With Specific Meanings Used Only In Carak, Kasyapa And Bhela Samhitas And These New Words Are Not Found In Susrnta Or Later Medical Works. The Word Kalpa Is Used In A Somewhat Different Meaning Than As Used In Susruta Or Later Medical Works.

2.The Prevalent System In Theose Days Seems To Be To Have 120chapters In All Medical Text Books. We Find 120 Chapters I Caraka, Bhela, Kasyap, Susruta And Vagbhata, The Last Named Author Makes 120chapters With The Addition Of An Extra Secton- Uttaratantra Thus, Though The Total Number Of 120 Is Maintained, The Number Of Chapters In Each Section Varies In Caraka Susruta And Vaghbhata But It Remains The Same In Caraka, Bhela And Kasyapa.

3.The Titles Of Chapters Are Very Often The Same In The Caraka And Bhela Samhitas. Caraka Adopts The Following Method Of Nomenclature Of Chapters:-

(A) According To Subject.
(B) According To The First Word Or Phrase In The Chapters.

A Greater Resemblance Is Found Between The Caraka Samhita And Bhela Samhita As Will Be Evident From The Following Examples.
In The Above Instances We Find That The First Five Are Quite Similar In Both Caraka And Bhela And Naturally Both Have Given The Same Titles To The Chapters In Their Works. Though The First Lines Differ In A Considerable Degree Yet We Find That The Titles Of The Chapters In Both The Works Are The Same.

4.Besides This Resemblance Of Titles, We Comeacross Many Concepts And Descriptions Which Are Common To Both. Caraka And Bhela.

There Is A School Of Thought Which Ascribes The Entire Work To Caraka. It Says That It Was Only A Vague Nucleus In The Form Of Common Medical Knowledge Round Which Caraka Reconstructed A Grand Edifice. But Such A Conclusion Is Precluded By The Very Text Of The Colophon

Undoubtedly There Is Much That Has Been Added, There Is Much That Has Been Abridged Or Expanded. Yet That Caraka Merely Redacted The Old Work Cannot Be Denied. Caraka Never Claims The Authorship For The Work. Internal Evidence Also Corroborates The Same View-Point. Even Drdhabala The Restorer And Redactor Of The Last Portions Based His Work On The Original Treatise And Its Parallel Treatises.

“Thus This Best Of All Treatises Which Is Replefe With Truth And Wisdom And Which Has Been Redacted By The Extremely Enlightened Scholar Caraka Is Now Available Only In Three Quarters Of The Original Extent.* * He In Whose Memory Resides This Compendium Of These Twelve Thousand Verses* * (Known) The Science Of Therapeutics, Compiled By Agnivesa For The Well Being The Healthy And The Ailing”.

Thus He Confirms That Agnivesa Was The Author Of The Treatise Consisting Of Twelve Thousand Verses. The Credit Of The Authorship And The Popular Title Of ‘Caraka Samhita‘ Are Probably Due To The Fact Caraka In His Missinonary Zeal For Propagating This Master Piece Of Medical Work, Travelled Extensively For Research, Lectures, Propagation And Experimentation And Gained The Nick Name Of Caraka-One Who Moves Constantly. His Name Has Got Precedence Over The Original Titel Of The Work As Agnivesa Tantra, And The Work Has Ever Since Been Named After Caraka In The Word.

Help

For More Information Please Contact To Our Website:
Www.Ayurvedguru.Com