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RISHI CHARAKA
Charaka, the famous physician of Ayurvedic medicine, lived before 175 BC. In ancient medicine, he is looked upon as an incarnation of Ananthasesha, the giant cosmic serpent, which is believed to support the universe. Charaka Samhita was composed originally by Agnivesha, the disciple of Atreya, who lived around 7th-8th century BC.
Charaka Samhita describes the various aspects of Ayurvedic medicine which gives an insight into the state of medicine in ancient India. Charaka, in his work elaborately deals with foetal generation and development, anatomy of the human body, function and malfunction of the body, viz., vayu, pitha and kapha, etiology, classification, prognosis, treatment of various diseases and the science of rejuvenation of the body.
To Charaka, a human body consists of 360 bones totally, which includes teeth and nails. Muscles the body are first mentioned as fleshy masses. The heart has only one cavity in it and 10 vessels run from it to the different parts of the body.
Charaka, while discussing on physiology, describes all matter including food, as composed of five elemental entities (bhutas), viz., earth, fire, wind and wind and ether.
Diseases are classified in various ways. Internal diseases are due to the predominance of the tumors and these may be curable, curable with difficulty and incurable. These may be accidental, caused by demons, violent or mild.
Charaka's Materia Medica mainly consisted of vegetable products though animal and earth products were also used. These drugs are classified into 50 groups on the basis of their action on the body. The drugs were given in various forms such as powder, paste, infusion, decoction, pill, confection, roast, fermented, distilled, medicated and inhalants as well as injectives into the rectum, urethra and female genital organs. The aim of these drugs is to maintain the normalcy between dhatus and doshas.
