Father of medicine in ancient India : Charaka

The oldest text in Ayurveda is the Charaka Saṁhita. The original author of the book Charaka Saṁhita in the form in which it is now available is Agnivesh. One of the six disciples of Maharshi Atreya. Their names are Agnivesh, bheḍ, Jatukarna, Parashar, Ksharapani and Harit. All of them are the authors of separate Sanhita books, but in the course of time the rest of them are extinct today. From the time of Atharva Veda till the end of Upanishad era, Agnivesh Tantra was the main text of Ayurveda education. Over time, that book has been largely destroyed due to lack of proper practice. The pure form of this code is the Charaka saṁhita.

Seeing the untimely death, decay, disease outbreak in the society due to lack of full practice of Ayurveda, Lord Sheshnag descended to this world in the form of Charaka. Lost almost reformed the Agnivesh saṁhita. Charaka Samhita is named after Charaka.

Scholars speculate that the Charaka Saṁhita that is currently available cannot be the work of a single person. The reason is that at the end of the Charaka Saṁhita it is said that this book was written by Agnivesh. Reformed by Charaka and complemented by Kapil Ball's son.

Period - Although the exact date of the composition of the Charaka Sanhita is not known, it is thought to be from the Gupta period. The current version, however, dates from about the 1st century BC to 100 AD.

The Charaka Sanhita is still the largest and most comprehensive book on medicine. This book has eight Sthana(Books) and 120 chapters.

1. Sūtrasthān (General principals): Ayurveda has details of symptoms and needs, physical and mental defects. There is an analysis of minerals, plants and animals. Vegetation includes descriptions of plants, trees, herbs and medicines. Animal species include the birth, nature, location, entry into the body of other animals, and their reaction to life or death.

2. Nidānsthān(Pathology) - This includes discussion of various diseases, the main causes and secondary causes of the disease, infection, spread, changes, etc. are described here.

3. Vimānsthān(Specific Determination)- Whose main topic here is the discussion of the human body and mental state - the elements of the physical body, the nature of the mind, etc. are discussed.

4. Śārīrsthān(Anatomy and Physiology) - contains the details and features of the organs of the human body.

5. Indriyasthān(Sensory organ based prognosis)- Here is the origin of the disease, the role of different senses.

6. Cikitsāsthān(Therapeutics) - There are details of various diseases of human body, their cure, herbal treatment ingredients, medicine preparation method etc.

7.Kalpa Sthāna(Pharmaceutics and toxicology)-Here is the product quality, the method of preparing medicine from different plants.

8.Siddhi Sthāna(Success in treatment)-Ways to get rid of various ailments quickly are described.

Commentary on the Charaka Code - As a result of the popularity of the Charaka Code, many commentaries have been written. Notable among them are -

1. Charakatika by Bhattarahari Chandra (6th century AD)

2.Jeddah Nirantar-padavyaksa (9th century AD)

3. Annotations given by Chakrapani (11th century AD)