Essay name: Physician as depicted in Manasollasa
Author:
Sri B. S. Hebballi
Affiliation: Karnatak University / Department of Sanskrit
This thesis critically evaluates the role of physicians in Ayurvedic literature, particularly in King Somesvara's Manasollasa. It explores the connection between mind and body health, emphasizing the influence of diet and actions.
Chapter 4 - Ancient treatises on Indian medicine
2 (of 64)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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system of medicine based on empirical-rational principles and practices,
issuing from an active encounter with the world. It should not be assumed
that empiricism or the process of observing and defining is evident only in
the classical medical tradition. Vedic medicine relied on close observation of
phenomena in order to develop its unique form of mythical and religious
classifications and associations. The difference between these two
epistemologies lies in their respective premises. The foundation of Vedic
medicine was a belief in a multitude of benevolent and malevolent deities
or spirits that populated the cosmos and caused good and bad effects in the
human realm. Controlling and taming these entities were the ultimate goals
of this healing system. In Ayurveda, a basic understanding of the
interrelationship between human-beings and their environment prefaced
every observation. Ideally human-beings and nature should be in perfect
harmony. Disease occurred when the equilibrium between these two was
disrupted. Restoration of a fundamental balance was the goal of this medical
system.
The social event occurring in Vedic antiquity was probably a key
factor in initiating change. A forthright denigration of medicine by the
priestly order and the Brahmanic hierarchy resulted in the exclusion of
healers from the orthodox ritual cults because of the defilement they
incurred from contact with impure people with whom they found
fellowship. This type of "excommunication" transformed the medical
priests into members of a fringe-group. Other important marginalized
people included the heterodox wandering ascetics who renounced the
trappings of orthodox ideologies and practices and abandoned society for
the wilderness in search of higher spiritual goals. Unencumbered by the
strictures of Brahmanical orthodoxy, these ascetics, who included among
others the Buddhists, acquired a radically different view of the world and
mankind's place in it, fostered by their intense meditative discipline. In
fact, early Buddhist literature reveals that their understanding of the
relationship between human-beings and nature was not very different
