Charaka

2021-07-01T07:02:14Z

117.221.95.86:

{{Short description|Indian physician and academic}}
{{refimprove|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Charaka
| image = Charak.jpg
| caption = Charaka monument in the Patanjali campus, [[India]].
| birth_name = Charaka
| birth_date = {{circa|600 BCE}}
| birth_place = [[Ancient India]]
| death_date = {{circa|500 CE}}
| death_place =
| body_discovered =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| field = [[Medicine]]
| known_for = [[Charaka Samhita]]
| native_name_lang = Sanskrit
| fields = Medicine
| honorific_prefix = [[Maharshi]]
}}
'''Charaka''' was one of the principal contributors to [[Ayurveda]], a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in [[Ancient India]]. He is known as an editor of the medical treatise entitled ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'', one of the foundational texts of classical Indian medicine and Ayurveda.

== Date ==
After surveying and evaluating all past scholarship on the subject of Charaka's date, Meulenbeld concluded that,<blockquote>... the author called Charaka cannot have lived later than about A.D. 150-200 and not much earlier than about 100 B.C.<ref name="meulenbeldhimlc10">{{Cite book|last=Meulenbeld|first=Gerrit Jan|title=A History of Indian Medical Literature, Vol. 1A, Part 1|date=1999|publisher=E. Forsten|isbn=9069801248|location=Groningen|page=114|language=en|chapter=10. Caraka, his identity and date|oclc=42207455}}</ref></blockquote>

Charaka has been identified as a native of [[Kashmir]].<ref>Martin Levey, ''Early Arabic Pharmacology: An Introduction Based on Ancient and Medieval Sources'', Brill Archive (1973), p. 10</ref><ref>[[Prithivi Nath Kaul Bamzai |P. N. K. Bamzai]], ''Culture and Political History of Kashmir'' - Volume 1, M D Publications (1994), p.268</ref><ref>S.K. Sopory, ''Glimpses Of Kashmir'', APH Publishing Corporation (2004), p. 62</ref><ref>Krishan Lal Kalla, ''The Literary Heritage of Kashmir'', Mittal Publications (1985), p.65</ref>

==Charaka and the Ayurveda ==

The term Charaka is a label said to apply to "wandering scholars" or "wandering physicians". According to Charaka's translations, health and disease are not predetermined and life may be prolonged by human effort and attention to lifestyle. As per Indian heritage and Ayurvedic system, prevention of all types of diseases have a more prominent place than treatment, including restructuring of lifestyle to align with the course of nature and six seasons, which will guarantee complete wellness.

Charaka seems to have been an early proponent of "prevention is better than cure" doctrine. The following statement is attributed to Charaka:<br />
{{quote|A physician who fails to enter the body of a patient with the lamp of knowledge and understanding can never treat diseases. He should first study all the factors, including environment, which influence a patient's disease, and then prescribe treatment. It is more important to prevent the occurrence of disease than to seek a cure.}}

A body functions because it contains three ''dosha'' or principles, namely movement (vata), transformation (pitta) and lubrication & stability (kapha). The doshas correspond to the Western classification of [[humors]], wind, bile, and phlegm. These doshas are produced when ''dhatus'' ([[blood]], [[flesh]] and [[Bone marrow|marrow]]) act upon the food eaten. For the same quantity of food eaten, one body, however, produces ''dosha'' in an amount different from another body. That is why one body is different from another.

Further, he stressed, illness is caused when the balance among the three [[dosha]]s in a human body are disturbed. To restore the balance he prescribed medicinal [[drug]]s. Although he was aware of [[Microorganism|germs]] in the body, he did not give them primary importance.<ref name="Agarwal">{{cite web|last1=Agarwal|first1=D.P.|title=About The Date Of Caraka, The Famous Ancient Physician|url=http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_agraw_caraka_frameset.htm|website=www.infinityfoundation.com|access-date=14 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020701111817/http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_agraw_caraka_frameset.htm|archive-date=1 July 2002|language=en|quote=No doubt Caraka conceived the germ theory of the causation of diseases, but he rejected the idea that germs are the only causative factors for disease. On the other hand, he had advanced the theory that it is the imbalance of dosas and vitiation of dhatus which are primary causes of diseases, and various germs may grow in the body only when they get such a congenial environment. Both for metabolic diseases and infective ones, correction of the imbalance of dosas and dhatus constitutes the basic principle of all therapeutics. This is a unique feature of the Ayurvedic concept of diseases and their management as enunciated by Caraka in his monumental work.}}</ref>

Charaka studied the [[anatomy]] of the human body and various organs. He gave 360 as the total number of bones, including teeth, present in the human body. He was right when he considered heart to be a controlling centre. He claimed that the heart was connected to the entire body through 13 main channels. Apart from these channels, there were countless other ones of varying sizes which supplied not only [[nutrient]]s to various [[Tissue (biology)|tissue]]s but also provided passage to waste products. He also claimed that any obstruction in the main channels led to a disease or deformity in the body.

== Charaka Samhita ==
{{Main|Charaka Samhita}}

[[Agnivesa]], under the guidance of the ancient physician [[Atreya]], composed an encyclopedic medical compendium in the 8th century BCE, the ''Agnivesha Samhitā''. The work received little attention. The ''Agnivesha Samhitā'' was revised by Charaka and renamed the ''Charaka Samhitā''. In this form it became well known. The ''Charaka Samhitā'' was itself later supplemented with an extra seventeen chapters added by the author {{ill|Dṛḍhabala|WD=Q107208659|display=true}}, while retaining its name. The ''Charaka Samhita'' is one of the two foundational text of [[Ayurveda]], the other being the ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]''. For two millennia it remained a standard work on the subject and was translated into many foreign languages, including [[Arabic]] and [[Latin]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==See also==
*[[Agastya]]
*[[Dhanvantari]]
*[[Siddha medicine]]
*[[Sushruta]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Charaka}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ayurvedacharyas]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian physicians]]
[[Category:Hindu mythology]]
[[Category:Characters in Hindu mythology]]
[[Category:1st-century BC physicians]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian scientists]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian writers]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian medicine]]

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Charaka