The Caraka Saṃhitā Sutra (Devanagari:चरक संहिता) is an early Ayurvedic text on internal medicine. It is believed to be the oldest of the three ancient treatises of Ayurveda. It is central to the modern-day practice of Ayurvedic medicine; and, along with the Sushruta Samhita it is identified as an important source of medical and life understanding and practice in antiquity.[1]
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The work as extant dates to the Maurya period (3rd to 2nd century BCE). The text, written in Sanskrit , is the work of several authors and may represent the work of a school of thought.
Sanskrit caraka is a term for a wandering religious student or ascetic. According to legend, the serpent-king Shesha, who was the recipient of Ayurveda, once visited the earth and finding it full of sickness he became moved with pity and determined to become incarnate as the son of a Muni for alleviating disease; he was called Caraka because he had visited the earth as a kind of spy or cara; he then composed a new book on medicine , based on older works of Agniveśa and Atreya pupils (Agniveśakr̥te tantre Charaka pratisaṃskr̥te).[2]
The extant text has aṣṭanga sthāna (eight sections), totaling 120 chapters. These 8 sections are Sūtra sthāna (30 chapters), Nidana sthāna (8 chapters), Vimana sthāna (8 chapters), Sarira sthāna (8 chapters), Indriya sthana (12 chapters), Chikitsa sthana (30 chapters), Kalpa sthana (12 chapters) and Siddhi sthana (12 chapters). 17 chapters of Chikitsā sthāna and complete Kalpa sthāna and Siddhi sthāna were added later by Dridhabala (9th century). The text starts with Sūtra sthāna which deals with fundamentals and basic principles of Ayurveda practice. Unique scientific contributions credited to the Charaka Saṃhitā include:
The most celebrated commentary on this text is the Carakatatparyatika or the Ayurveda Dipika written by Cakrapanidatta (1066). Other notable commentaries are Bhattara Harishchandra's Charakanyasa (c.6th century), Jaijjatas Nirantarapadavyakhya (c.875), Shivadasa Sena's Charakatattvapradipika (c.1460). Among the more recent commentaries are Narasimha Kavirāja's Charakatattvaprakasha and Gangadhara Kaviratna's Jalpakalpataru (1879).
"The Caraka (Vol I, Section xv) states these men should be, 'of good behavior, distinguished for purity, possessed of cleverness and skill, imbued with kindness, skilled in every service a patient may require, competent to cook food, skilled in bathing and washing the patient, rubbing and massaging the limbs, lifting and assisting him to walk about, well skilled in making and cleansing of beds, readying the patient and skillful in waiting upon one that is ailing and never unwilling to do anything that may be ordered." [4]