{{Short description|Ancient Indian physician and academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2020}} {{other uses|Charak (disambiguation)}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Charaka | image = Charak.jpg | caption = Portrait of Charaka | birth_name = Charaka | birth_date = | birth_place = [[Ancient India]] | death_date = | death_place = | body_discovered = | death_cause = | resting_place = | field = [[Medicine]] | known_for = ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' | native_name_lang = Sanskrit | 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 a [[physician]] who edited the medical treatise entitled ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'', one of the foundational texts of classical Indian medicine and Ayurveda, included under [[Brhat Trayi|Brhat-Trayi]]. Charaka, also known as Charak acharya, was an ancient Indian physician and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a traditional system of medicine that originated in [[Indian subcontinent]]. Charaka is believed to have lived during the 4th century BCE, although the exact dates of his birth and death are uncertain. He is considered one of the principal contributors to the Charaka Samhita, an ancient Ayurvedic text that is one of the foundational texts of Ayurvedic medicine. The Charaka Samhita is a comprehensive treatise on various aspects of medicine, including etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and ethical considerations. It covers a wide range of topics, including anatomy, physiology, herbal medicine, surgical techniques, and the use of minerals and metals in medicine. Charaka's approach to medicine was holistic and focused on understanding the body as a whole.{{dubious|date=July 2024}} He emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance among the three doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha) and believed that disease resulted from an imbalance in these doshas. His treatments aimed to restore this balance through dietary changes, herbal remedies, lifestyle modifications, and therapies such as massage and detoxification.{{cn|date=July 2024}} == Date == After surveying and evaluating all past scholarship on the subject of Charaka's date, Meulenbeld concluded that, the author called Charaka cannot have lived later than about 150-200 CE and not much earlier than about 100 BCE.{{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}} Maharishi Charaka is also known as the court physician during the reign of the famous king [[Kanishka]] of [[Kushan Empire]].{{cite book|title=Science in Ancient India|author=Melissa Stewart|publisher=F.Watts, 1999|page=23}}{{cite book|title=India Through the ages|author=Madan Gopal|publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, 1990|page=213}} Charaka has been identified by some as a native of [[Kashmir]].Martin Levey, ''Early Arabic Pharmacology: An Introduction Based on Ancient and Medieval Sources'', Brill Archive (1973), p. 10[[Prithivi Nath Kaul Bamzai|P. N. K. Bamzai]], ''Culture and Political History of Kashmir'' - Volume 1, M D Publications (1994), p.268 Professor [[Sylvain Lévi]] after discovering Buddhist manuscripts in [[Central Asia]] and [[China]], came to the conclusion that the famous Charaka, the author of [[Charaka Samhita]] belonged to [[Kashmir]]. The recension of the text available to us today was done by Acharya Dridhabala, a scholar of Kashmir. Jejjata, the author of commentary on the Charaka Samhita, was also Kashmiri and so was Udbhatta who commented upon [[Sushruta Samhita]].{{cite book|title=History of Kashmir: Political Social Cultural From the Earliest Times|author=Prithvi Nath Kaul Bamzai|publisher=Metropolitan Book Co Pvt Ltd, 1973|isbn=9788183394260| page=259}} Charaka is also associated with the [[University of Taxila]].Birgit Heyn, ''Ayurveda: The Indian Art of Natural Medicine and Life Extension'', ''[[Inner Traditions – Bear & Company|Inner Traditions / Bear & Co]]'' (1990), [https://books.google.com/books?id=1HUIZRFFMF8C&pg=PA25 p.25]. 'The Wanderer' (the meaning of Charaka's name), lived and taught around BC 700 at the medical faculty of the University of Taxila in the Punjab during a culturally peak period."" ==Charaka and the Ayurveda == [[File:Charak.jpg|thumb|Charaka Monument at Yog Peeth Campus.]] In Sanskrit, ''{{IAST|charaka}}'' is a term for a wanderer, [[sannyasa|sannyasi]] (ascetic), and sometimes used in the context of the ancient tradition of wandering physicians who brought their medical expertise and [[magico-religious]] rites from village to village{{Cite web|url = http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/2014/web/webtc/indexcaller.php?input=HK&output=SktRomanUnicode&citation=caraka|title = Sanskrit-English Dictionary|date = 1899|access-date = 2016-01-29|website = Cologne Dictionaries|publisher = OUP|last = Monier-Williams|first = Monier}}{{Cite book |last=Dasgupta |first=Surendranath |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=NjI9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA283&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=A History of Indian Philosophy |date=1952 |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}} A body functions because it contains three ''dosha'' or principles, namely movement (vata), transformation (pitta) and lubrication and 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.{{Cite book |last=Priyadaranjan Ray |url=http://archive.org/details/CarakaSamhitaAScientificSynopsis |title=Caraka Samhita: A Scientific Synopsis}} He also describes various parasitic worms(krimi).{{Cite book |last=Priyadaranjan Ray |url=http://archive.org/details/CarakaSamhitaAScientificSynopsis |title=Caraka Samhita: A Scientific Synopsis pg-37}} Charaka studied human anatomy and described the structure of various organs. The Charaka Samhita enumerates 360 bones in the human body, including teeth. The text recommends the consumption of māṃsa rasa (meat soup) from the sixth month of pregnancy onward. It also advises the application of freshly cut meat to insect or reptile bites, suggesting that it may help absorb poison.{{cite journal| author=Dwivedi M| title=Ayurvedic concept of food in pregnancy. | journal=Anc Sci Life | year= 1995 | volume= 14 | issue= 4 | pages= 245–7 | pmid=22556705 | pmc=3331247 }} {{sfn|Ray|Gupta|Roy|1980|pp=24-25}} The Charaka Samhita describes more than 150 medicinal substances of animal origin, including meat from wild animals such as fox and crocodile, as well as fish, fish oil, bird eggs, and beeswax. {{sfn|Ray|Gupta|Roy|1980|pp=38-51}} In addition, it details numerous medicinal formulations combining animal products with plant-based ingredients and minerals such as salts, soots, and alkalis.{{Sfn|Kaviratna|Sharma|1913|pp=13-18 (Volume 1 of 5)}} {{sfn|Ray|Gupta|Roy|1980|pp=78-85}}{{Sfn|Kaviratna|Sharma|1913|p=17 (Volume 1 of 5), see discussion of ''yavakshara'' in footnote "j"}} == Charaka Samhita == {{Main|Charaka Samhita}} [[File:A section of the Carakasamhita - sutrasthana Wellcome L0040423.jpg|thumb|A section of the [[Charaka Samhita]]]] [[Agnivesha]], under the guidance of the ancient physician [[Atreya]], composed an encyclopedic medical compendium in the eighth 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|qid=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}} ==Sources== * {{cite book|last1=Kaviratna |first1= Avinash C. |first2= P. |last2= Sharma | title=The Charaka Samhita 5 Vols.| year=1913| publisher= Sri Satguru Publications|isbn= 978-81-7030-471-5 |url= http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002074393}} * {{Cite book|title = Suśruta Saṃhita (a Scientific Synopsis) |last1=Ray|first1=Priyadaranjan|last2=Gupta|first2=Hirendra Nath|last3=Roy|first3=Mira|publisher = INSA|year = 1980|location = New Delhi|url =https://archive.org/stream/CarakaSamhitaAScientificSynopsis/CarakaSamhita_priyadaranjanRay#page/n0/mode/2up }} ==External links== {{Commons category|Charaka}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Ayurvedacharyas]] [[Category:Ancient Indian medical doctors]] [[Category:1st-century BC medical doctors]] [[Category:Ancient Indian writers]] [[Category:Taxila Tehsil]]