HISTORICAL TABLE OE THE MATERIA MEDICA.
HINDOO MEDICINE.
1. Ancient Medical Authorities and their Works.
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Brahma the Hindoo Deity; author of the Vedas, the most ancient books of the Hindoos, andnext in antiquity to those of Moses. (Sir W. Jones, Disc. ix.).
Ayur Veda, the oldest medical writing of the Hindoos, forms a part of the 4th or Atharva Veda (the least ancient Veda). It is distributed into eight subdivisions. (See H. H. Wilson , Calcutta Orient. Mag. Feb. and March 1623; and Royle, Essay , p. 57).
Dachsa, the Prajapati , to whom Brahina communicated the Ayur Veda, instructed the twoAswins or Sons of Surya (the Surgical attendants of the gods).
According to some the Aswins instructed Indra the preceptor of Dhanwantari (alsostyled Kasiraja, prince of Benares ); but others make Atreya, Bharadwaja , aud Charaka,prior to the latter.
Charaka ( Sarac,Scarac, Scirak or Xarac) mentioned by Serapion , Avicenna , and Rhazes .His work is extant, but not translated.
Susruta , son of Viswamitra , was pupil of Dhanwantari and contemporary of Rama. Treatschiefly of Salya and Salekya or Surgery, and divides medicines into locomotive (animalsboth viviparous and oviparous, and produced in moist places) and non-locomotive (plantsand minerals). Gold, Silver , Arsenic, Mercury, Diamonds, Earths, and Pearls, are enu-merated ; also Heat and Cold, Light and Darkness, the increase and decrease of theMoon ’s age, as remedial means. Lithotomy, the Extraction of the Foetus, Venesection.127 weapons and instruments. Actual cautery. Alkaline caustics. Heated metallicplates. Leeches. Gourds used as cupping glasses. Astringent and emollient applica-tions. Leaves, pledgets, threads, and bandages. Drasiic and mild purgatives, emetics,diaphoretics, baths, and aspersions of water, Stimulants, Sedatives, Narcotics, and Acridpoisons all employed. Datura, Nnx Vomica, Croton Tigliniu, Myrobalans, &c. wereadopted by the Arabs .
£jt Susruta (The); or System of Med. taught by Dhanwantari and composed by bis disciple Susruta .Vol. i. 8vo. Calc. 1885.
b. c. 2. Early Translations from Hindoo Works.
*. Tamul, by Maha Rishi Aghastier, who is named in the Ramayana, the oldest Hindooprofane work, and which is supposed to have been revised by the poet Calidas in the reignof Vikramaditya, whose era commences B. C. 57. (For a classification of drugs in aTamul work called the Kalpastanum, see Royle’s Essay, p. 54.)
0. Cingalese . (See a list in Ainslie’s Mat. Jnd. vol. ii. p.525; also Heyne's Tracts on India ,p. 125—171).
y. Tibetan made in the eighth century. (See Csoma de Koros , in Journ Asiat. Soc . iv. 1.) 715substances are mentioned, most of which are indigenous in India .
3. Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine.
Cannot be determined by Hindoo chronology or authors: hence must be ascertained from
other sources. The great antiquity of Hindoo Medicine is proved by the following circum-stances :
a. Indian products are mentioned in the Bible . (Royle, p. 138). In early times commercewas established between India and Persia , Syria , and Babylon ; also by the Persian andArabian Gulphs with Egypt , &c.
0. At a very early period India was peopled and in a hiyh state of civilization (For proofs,see Royle, p. 150 to 179). As many chemical arts (e. g. distillation, bleaching, dyeing,calico printing, tanning, soap and glass making, manufacture of sugar and indigo,) werepractised by the Hindoos, who were acquainted with, and their country contains, all thechemical substances mentioned by Geber , it is not improbable that they and not the Arabs originated Chemistry. The Grecian sages travelled in the East: hence the coincidencesbetween the systems and discoveries of the Greeks and those recorded in Sanscrit works.
y . Indian products are mentioned by the Greeks and Romans, (e. g. by Hippocrates , Theo phrastus , Dioscorides , Pliny , Oribasius , -#2tius, and Paulus). They were doubtless em-ployed in the countries where they were indigenous before they were exported.
5. Ancient Inscriptions shew the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine. A medical edict by KingPiyadasi, directing the establishment of depots of medicines, and the planting of medicinalroots and herbs throughout his dominions and in the countries where Antiochus and hisgenerals command. This, therefore, must have been issued and cut in rocks ami metalpillars as early as B.C. 220.
£. The Persians translated Hindoo Works A.D. 531 to 579. (Hoyle’s Essay, p. 68).
S'. Hindoo physicians were in high repute at the Court of IIarum al-Rashid and Al-Ma-moon, from A.D. 786 to 850.
n. The Arabian authors (Rhazes , Serapion , Mesue , and Avicenna ) mention Charak, and quotefrom the Susruta .
tT Consult,— Wilson (H. H.), “Orient. Mag.” Calc. 1823; and “Trans. Med. and Phys. Soc.” Calc,vol. l.; Hkyne (B.), “Tracts on India, ” Lond. 1814; Ainslie (W.), “ Mai. Ind.” 2 nd vol. I.m.d. i« 2 <j;Dietz (F. R.), “Analecta Med.” Lips. 183-1; Royle (J. F.), “ Essay on the Antiq. of Hindoo Med.”1837 ; Geldemeister, “Scriptoruni Arabum de rebus indicis loci et opuscula iiu-dita.” 8vo. Bonn , ibaa