The ancient Indian medical treatment system

Abstract

Indian medical treatment and ayurvedic medicine is the oldest medical system in the world. It began in India and dates back thousands of years ago. This  system of medicine have historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are a type of alternative  medicine.In countries beyond India, Ayurvedic therapies and practices have been integrated in general wellness applications and in some cases in medical use.

Keywords: sushruta Samhita, ayurveda, sushruta, Indian medical treatment, Atreya

So, here we are going to rediscover some of the great techniques as well as systems of the ancient India, lost because of time.

It is believed in Hindu cultures that the ancient rishis or seers of India received the gift of Ayurveda from their gods about 5,000 years ago. Essential information for how to achieve a balanced and healthy life was recorded in their sacred texts, the Vedas, specifically the Atharva Veda.

Ayurveda is just another way of treating illnesses with medicines that are made up of herbs. Well, Ayurveda is much much more than that and today

Ayurveda is the Upaveda (sub or near to veda) of Atharva veda. It’s also called Panchama veda (5th veda). The word Ayurveda is made of two words Ayu and Veda. The word Ayu doesn’t mean just life, instead it means -

शरीरेन्द्रिय सत्वात्मा संयोगो। – चरक संहिता १।४२

śarīrendriya satvātmā saṃyogo। 1.42

The union of Shareera (body), Indriya (sense organs), Satva (mind) and Atma (soul)

And Veda means knowledge. Hence, Ayurveda means the knowledge of the union of body, sense organs, mind and soul. So when people bless saying ‘दीर्घायुषी भव।’ (dīrghāyuṣī bhava।) it means let you be in union with all the above factors for a long time!

समान्यं एकत्वकरं,विशेषस्तु प्रुथक्त्व क्रुत् ॥

सर्वदा सर्व भावानां सामान्यं व्रुद्धि कारणं, ह्रास हेतुर्विशेषस्च॥ (चरक संहिता सूत्र १।४५)

The principle of a dravya (substance) that brings about union or increase in the dravya’s quality or quantity is called as samanya. The principle of a dravya that brings about non-union or decrease in a dravya’s quality or quantity is called as vishesha.

The hymns about herbs indicate the beliefs of Vedic society. They believed that the herbs and the amulets made out of them can do wonders. The herbs will cure all the diseases, flush out the poison from the blood and even attract men towards wives. They associated all herbs with soma plant and moon. They attributed magical and divine qualities to herbs. Ancient Hindus were botanists and environmentalists. They studied their surroundings well. They used plants as similes in poems. Hundreds and hundreds of plant names are in Tamil and Sanskrit literature. Even Bhagwat Geeta says about the process of maturing a baby inside the womb

The ancient  texts speaks a lot more than herbs they  even have surgical methods including methods of abortion , rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions, sutures, and the extraction of foreign objects.Some scholars assert that Ayurveda originated in prehistoric times, and that some of the concepts of Ayurveda have existed from the time of the  Indus valley civilization or even earlier.Ayurveda developed significantly during the Vedic period and later some of the non-Vedic systems such as Buddhism and Jainism also developed medical concepts and practices that appear in the classical Ayurveda texts.

Some fascinating things of medical science mentioned in ancient scripts

• The Aitareya Upanishad (1-1-4) states how the organs develop in the foetus. It says that first the mouth comes into existence, then the nostrils, then eyes, then ears, then heart, then navel, then the penis. The same order of development is given in the Bhagawata. It is surprising that the same order is discovered by the modern science, recently.

• The Bhagawata (3/31/3) states that the head of the foetus is formed at the end of the first month. This appears true in the light of the modern investigations in embryology. The Bhagawata gives further information that as soon as the nostrils develop there appears Prana and vocal chords also develop. Modern science has the same opinion.

A statue dedicated to Sushruta at the Patanjali Yogpeeth institute in Haridwar.

• Sushruta, a medical scholar and practitioner, lived 2000 years before, in the ancient Indian city of Kasi, now Varanasi. His work is compiled in a collection called ‘Sushruta-Samahita’ in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery in 8 categories. Because of his contributions to the science and art of surgery he is known as the “Father of Surgery.”

Using Vedic tradition of surgery, Sushruta could develop plastic surgery to repair severed or deformed nose – Rhinoplasty. He used a flap of skin from forehead to repair nose. In 1957 Prof. Vartak was working as a surgeon in S.T.R. Hospital and Tilak Ayurvedic college, where he read Sushruta Samhita. He suggested to use that old technique but it was neglected. Twelve years later one German surgeon read Sushruta and operated accordingly with good results. Since then all the surgeons are using the same technique thinking that it is a German technique.

Surgery Tools as described in ancient Indian texts

Sushruta was also the first surgeon to advocate the practice of operations on inanimate objects such as watermelons, clay plots and reeds; thus predating the modern practice of the surgical workshop by hundreds of years

• Ancient scholars of India like Atreya and Agnivesa have dealt with principles of Ayurveda as long back as 800 BC. Their works and other developments were compiled by a scholar called Charaka and is called “Charaka-Samahita”. This text deals with a variety of matters covering body functions (physiology), etiology and embryology, concepts of digestion (what happens to food after it enters the body), metabolism, and immunity (protection from diseases). I wonder how the discoveries were made without an MRI machine…

Sushruta Samhita

"Sushruta Samhita" is devoted essentially to surgery. But also includes explanation on medicine, pathology, anatomy, midwifery, ophthalmology, biology and hygiene. From the available records, it is evident that major abdominal operations were also carried out at that time.

Some advanced medical practice of ancient era

 

Bladder Stone operation

Vesical calculi (bladder stone), even those days, were common and hence the operation for the removal of vesical calculi was well described in Sushruta Samhita. Surgical procedures for anal fistula, fractures, extraction of foetus in abnormal presentation, amputation, excision of tumours, repair of hernia and couching of cataract were also known.

Rhinoplasty

Rhinoplasty was commonly performed for restoration of severed or cut noses as punishment for certain offences such as adultery. Sushruta carried out plastic surgery, giving his patients a new nose or a new ear by the process of skin grafting. Dr.Hirschberg of Berlin pays his tribute to ancient Indian surgery by writing "The whole plastic surgery in Europe took a new flight when these cunning devices of Indian workmen became known to us". Sushruta described many sharp surgical instruments.

The original stitches

It is believed that an ingenious method for suturing the severed ends of intestine was employed at that time. The cut ends of the intestine were held together and big black ants, collected specifically for this purpose, were made to bite the two ends, and their heads severed when their pincers had closed. Thus the pincers remained 'in situ' for some time. The heads and the pincers of the ants being organic matter got digested in due course of time.

Artificial limb surgery

In ancient India , advances in surgery took place through wars and battle wounds. Aryans used their knowledge of herbal, mineral and other drugs effectively besides their surgical skill. It is believed that Visapala, a woman related to Raja Chola, accompanied him into the battle field and lost a leg. The Vedic surgeons Aswinis fitted her with an artificial leg.

Drilling the brain

Also described in Rig Veda as the legend has it, that Raja Bhoja's (980 A.D.) skull was trephined to relieve him of his severe headache and to remove the malignant portion of the brain. A trephine is an instrument used for cutting out a round piece of skull bone. After the surgical procedure, the Raja was cured of the pain.

Inventing Vaccination

Charaka also made the earliest Indian reference to smallpox, and this is just around the time that smallpox first devastated the Roman Empire, coming from the East. Indian doctors were the first to invent a way to inoculate people against smallpox. In the 700s AD, a doctor called Madhav wrote about vaccination. Madhav knew that you could keep people from catching smallpox by scraping a little pus or scabs from someone who had smallpox.

Cataract removal

Sushruta performing an eye surgery

Susruta gave considerable time to ophthalmic study, as conditions such as cataracts were common in his region of the world. His description of the eye included five basic elements: earth (Bhu), fire/heat (Agni), air (Vayu), fluid (Jala) and void (Akasa). The extraocular muscles are the solid earth; heat/fire is the blood flowing through the vessels. Air forms the iris and pupil; fittingly, the vitreous part is attributed to the fluid element. Finally, the lacrimal ducts are derived from the void.

Fundamentals of genetics

Charaka knew the fundamentals of genetics since he knew the factors determining the sex of a child. He also stated that a genetic defect in a child like lameness or blindness was not due to any defect in the mother or the father, but in the ovum or sperm of the parents.

Modern diseases

The treatise also has useful treatment techniques to what we think are very modern day ‘lifestyle’ diseases like ‘Madhumeha’ or diabetes and ‘Hridroga’ or disease of the heart.  These ancient surgeons had the knowledge of a structure in the chest and its role in the circulation of vital fluids through the channels. Sushruta Samhita contains classifications of bones, dislocation of joints, fractures, and their treatment. The text also has commentary on paediatrics and midwifery

Cancer

Indian clinicians were aware of malignancies and neoplasm. They used to diagnose cancer as swelling of body surface linked to internal organs (tumors or Arbuda) or as non-healing ulcers (Asadhya vrana). The earliest records of malignancies are found in Atharva veda of approximately 2200 BC (3). One of the oldest definitive medical texts from India written in Sanskrit language, Susruta Samhita, dealt with diagnosis and cure of diseases putting focus on surgery. The Susruta Samhita contains 120 chapters divided in 5 books or divisions. Chronology committee of National Institute of Sciences of India considers Nagarjuna’s redaction of Susruta Samhita to be written in 3^rd to 4^th century AD

Not only diagnosis but treatment of cancers was prescribed in Susruta Samhita. Treatment consisted generally of application of medicated poultices, fomentation with boiled meat, use of emetics and purgatives etc. Para surgical approaches such as maggotification, blood-letting and cauterization by heat and alkali were suggested. Surgical removal of tumors was also prescribed followed by cleansing and bandaging with medicinal preparation containing herbs

Cancer was identified and methods of Healing included total eliination of cancer, Management .handling weight loss associated with Cancer and the side effects of Cancer.
Twenty Five plants have been identified, their chemical and therapeutic  properties analysed and were used in treating Cancer

AIDS

Ayurveda describes many diseases which incorporate HIV like illness e.g. Rajayakshma, Ojo Kshaya, Sannipata jwara etc. 

AID/HIV in Ayurveda may be considered as Ojakshaya, meaning the loss of Vital Energy or immunity. The symptoms, Signs and Causative factors (Nidan), and the Treatment aspect has been described in many Ayurvedic Treaties like Charak Samhita, Susrutha Samhita and Ashtanga Hrudaya, Bhavprakash, Vaidya Chintamani and Chakradatta etc.

AIDS and its opportunistic infections have been correlated with Ojo Kshaya. The virus invades the Rasadi sapta dhatus and causes decrement in their quality and quantity.

Shilajatu is one of the best of the rasayanas described by Charaka, Sushruta in all diseases where Bala i.e Ojus is involved.Hence Shilajatu along with Mandukaparni, Guduchi and Amalaki, well known rasayana herbs were selected to evaluate their role in boosting the immunity.

Ancient India saw great advancements in medical science. It seems very shocking as well as surprising to see such advancement in that ancient age. No one can ever figure out that from where the knowledge came. But from all these we can conclude that ancient Indian were more advanced than the present in case of intellectually and intelligence.