Bull.lnd. Inst. Hist, Med. Vol. XXVI pp. 49 to 58

LESSER KNOWN AYURVEDIC PHYSICIANS OF INDIA FROM ANURDU BOOK- "RUMOOZULATIBBA"

S.A. HUSAIN* P.K.J.P. SUBHAKTA** & V.K. BHATNAGAR***

ABSTRACT

In early 20th century some Urdu scholars tried to enrich urdu nterature with

medical history. They started compiling and. publishing the biographies of the

comtemporary physicians along with their achievements. One of such works

"Rumoozul Atibba" a rare book compiled by Hakim Fairozuddin in Urdu, published

by 'Darul Kutub Rafiqul Atibba' and printed in 'Rifah-e-Aam Press' at Lahore in the

year 1913 A.D. has been taken here. It contains about 150 short biographies of

Ayurvedic and Unani physicians, out of which all the twenty biographies of

Ayurvedic physicians given in it, have been presented in this article.

Intoduction :Biagraphies of the physicians are .one

of the main sources far the history of de-velapment of medical science pertainingto different periods. In early 20th centurysame scholars tried ta collect and preservethe biagraphies of their contemporary phy-sicians alang with their achievements inthe field of medicine. In this article we aregaing to submit the short biagraphies oftwenty such Ayurvedic physicians in al-phabetical order as given in an Urdu bookentitled "Rumaazul Attibba" which wascampi led by HK. Fairozuddin and pub-lished by Darul Kutub Rafiqul Atibba,printed in "Rifah-Aam Press in 1913 atLahare and which contains about 150

short biagraphies of Ayurvedic and Unaniphysicians.1. Avtar Singh: His father's name wasVaidya Chatra Singh. He was fram a fa-rnous medical family. After his preliminaryeducation he studied Unani Medical booksnamely Tibb-e-Akbar and Shifa-ul-Amrazetc. Later he studied Ayurvedic booksnamely Bhava Prakasa, Madhava Nidanaetc. He wrote a book cornoilinq Ayurvedicformulae (P.819).2. Baba Shubhram Udasee: He wasbarn in 1932 (Vikrami) (1876 A.D.) atJampur in Dehraghazi Khan. After his pre-liminary education he studied Unani medi-cine under his father and HK. Tajuddin also.

* Asst. Res. Officer (Unani).** Asst. Res. Officer(Ay.)*** Asst. Res. Officer(Ay.)

Indian Institute of History of Medicine, OMC, Putlibowli, Hyderabad - 500 195 (India)

50 Lesser known Ayurvedic physicians - Hussain et a/

fter the demise of his father he was ontour for some period and visited differentplaces. During that time he acquiredAyurvedic Knowledge at various places.He had established his clinic at Rajanpur,a neighbouring viI/age of his nativedistrict.(p.803)3. Baldev Prasad Pandit: He lived inMuradabad and started his clinic in 1891.He was running a Pharmacy namely "C.S.and Company" at Muradabad (p.367).4. Brijlal Pandit: His father's name wasPandit Kishan Chand. He was hailing froma famous family of Ayurvedic physiciansand Astrologers. After completion of hispreliminary education he took admissionin Ayurvedic course for one year in thesame college. He was the student of Pro-fessor Janardhan. After the completion ofthe Ayurvedic studies he worked underVaidya Ganga Bish, a famous Pharmacistand Physician for about three years. Thenhe started his own clinic. (p. 751)5. Chunnilal Pandit: He was born atKangra in 1832 A. D. He was belonging toa famous Brahmin family. He took his pre-liminary education at his native place tillhe was 11 years. Then he came to hispaternal uncle at Jammu where he learntAyurveda under Vaidya PanditHarnamadasji who was a court physicianof Maharaja Jammu. Later he started hisclinic and practised for about one year andthen he had shifted his clinic to Lahore(p.748).6. Divan Chand: He was born in 1880A.D. at Sialkot. He completed his prelimi-nary education at his native place and laterhe took admission in Lahore college. He

learnt Ayurveda under Vaidya PanditJanardhan Das about two years. Havingno interest in government service hestarted his own clinic (p.824)7. Ganga Bish: His father's name wasButamill. He was born in 1842 A.D. atGodlanwala in Gujranwala district. Hestarted studying Sanskrit from his grandfather, Pandit Kishanchand. After thedeath of his father he came to Gujranwalaand took admission in Pandit Vidyadharji'sSchool. Later on he went to Jammu forfurther studies in Sanskrit. He learnt howto write Janampatry from PanditKishanchandji and Ramdattaji. He passedPrayaga examination from Punjab Univer-sity and latter on he went to Lahore to joinhigher studies at Oriental college. He com-pleted Visharadha in one year and thenpassed Shstri examination in first divisionin the next year. Then he joined theAyurvedic course in same college andsuccessfully completed three courses i.e.,Vaidya, Vaidyaveer and Vaidyaraj underPandit Janardhan. He took training inPandit Janardhan's clinic and Pharmacy.He became perfect in preparingRasaushadis. Within no time he got theappointment in the Oriental college as anassistant to his teacher. He rendered hisservices in the school of Sanathan DharmaSabha Lahore, DAV. College, Lahore andlastly Banvarilal Ayurvedic school. In thisway he propogated Ayurveda upto 70years of his age. His photograph is therein "Rumoozul Atibba" (p.148). Fig. 18. Hemraj ji Kaviraj: His father's namewas Lala Purnachand who was a mercer.He used to sit with his father till the age of

Bull. Ind. Inst. Hisi, Med. Vol. XXVI

20 years and in that way he developedinterest in .Ianguages and learnt Urdu,Sanskrit and Hindi. There after he joinedOriental college at Lahore, where he com-pleted Pragnya within two years and ob-tained scholarship to study Visharada.Then he enclined towards Ayurveda andcompleted the course of AyurvedicVisharad in 1898 A.D. and AyurvedicShastri in 1899 A.D. Thereafter he hadbeen to Kashmir, Chambal and Shimla inpersuit of Ayurvedic knowledge. Thoughhe belongs to Khatri community, peoplecalled him Pandit due to his vast knowl-edge. He was also the editor of "BharatBhakti Patra", for a short period, whichwas published upto 1911. In the same yearhe went to Calcutta and obtained MAM.(Master of Ayurvedic Medicine) from Na-tional Medical College of India andL.C.B.S. diploma from India college,Calcutta. Moreover he obtained BhishakRatna certificate from Vaidya YogendraNath ji Sen(p.434).9. Lahorimall Sehgal: He was born atLahore. His father was Lala Barket RamSehgal. He started Learning Unani andAyurveda at the age of 18. He gained theknowledge from his father for two years.Then he joined Mission school at Lahore.He studied Unani books along withAyurvedic principles by Swami KevalNandagar ji. He became expert in RasaSastra .. Later on he learnt Persian andEnglish also. All these studies were com-pleted during 1853to 1865A.D. He workedas clerk in many departments. Finally hestarted his clinic at Lahore and becamefamous by treating the patients with Rasa

51

Bhasmas (p.449)10. Mahendra Nath Sharma: Hisfather's name was Pandit Jai Ram Sharma.He was born in 1888 A.D. and was a na-tive of Jagram in Punjab. He was belong-ing to famous physicians family. He ac-quired knowledge of herbs and Bhasmasfrom saints. He went to Meeruth to studyregular medical course under MaharajSingh who was a disciple of Unani physi-cian, Ahsanullah Khan. Then acquired theknowledge of Allopathy, Homeopathy.Electro Homeopathy, Chromopathy andPhysio theraphy. Finally he started learn-ing Ayurvedic medicine. During this periodhe suffered with Epistaxis. he performedhis own treatment by adopting the methodof drawing the water through the nose andpC"uringout from the mouth. He was curedby this treatment within no time. Heopened his clinic at Meeruth with the per-mission of his teacher (p.475).11. Mansingh: His father's name wasMunishi Kanniah La!. He was born in 1864A.D. He was a native of Farrukh Nagar.He belonged to Goel Gothra of Agarwalcommunity. His ancestors had lived in dif-ferent states of India and they were veryrespected persons of that time. Peoplehonoured them by calling Diwanji. One ofhis ancestors was Baba Sitaram who hadkeen interest in medicine. He had a veryrich collection of medical books and thosebooks were used by the descendents.mansingh's grand father, Baba Gulal Singhwas also an eminent scholar and a goodphysician, having very good knowledge ofPersian, who taught Mansingh Persianalso

52 Lesser known Ayurvedic physicians - Hussain et at

Mansingh acquired Sanskrit knowl-edge from Pandit Makhanlal Shastri andacquinted himself with some religioustexts. Later he studied Ayurvedic systemof midicine under the guidence of PanditGovind Sahai Shastri, who was an emi-nent Vaidya and Astrologer. After 3 years,his Guru permitted him to start his ownclinic with the condition that, he shouldtreatthe patients free of cost. In 1882 AD.he joined the service at Gwalior. After thedeath of his ifather he came back to hisnative place and started his clinic.

There was a Vedic school at thattime where a famous Pandit Ganga BishShastri from Lahore was the teacher. Hewas entitled "Vedaraj Vaigyanic".Mansingh came to know about this schoolthrough Pandit Ganga Bish and he devel-oped interest to study in it. Thus in 1898AD. Mansingh passed the Vedic coursein first division from that school. In thesame year he organised a conference onplague and he invited all the eminent per-sons to participate in it. A resolution waspassed in that Conference, advocating thestudy of Granthas (Books) and publishingof the papers on plague with an aim tohelp the common people. In 1906 AD. herendered his services in a school of nurs-ing for women and in "Shifa KhanaHindustani".

Tibb conference was started in 1907

AD. of which he was the Vice President.He was a socialist and rendered his ser-vices in many associations. His photo-graph has been given in the book"Rumoozul Atibba" (p.76) Fig.212. Mehta Sita Ram Datt: Hewas Kavirajand Kavirajan. He belonged to a famousBrahmin family of Zelum district. It is saidthat the whole of this family members werewelversed in English, Persian and San-skrit. According to his family tradition helearnt Urdu also. Later he entered the fac-ulty of Unani medicine against his parentswill. Then he learnt Ayurveda, Allopathyand Water Cure. Having completed allthese studies he started a clinic at Rawal-Pindi. He thought that his medical knowl-edge was insufficient and hence he left hisclinic to join regular Ayurvedic course atBanaras. Later he gained skill underVaidya Kaviraj Yugandhernath Sen andobtained Kaviraj certificate. Again hestarted clinic at Rawal Pindi. He wrote abooklet on shodhanvidhi according toAyurveda, Unani and Modern medicine. Hewrote two more books but details are notknown (p.216).13. Nandala Pandit: His father's namewas Pandit Ralia Ram. He was a native ofHoshiyar pur, Haryana. After preliminaryeducation he studied Persian Unani medi-cal books and then he assisted Hakim LalaKundamall about 7 years in his clinic. Laterhe studied Allopathy under the guidence

Bull. Ind. Inst. Hist, Med. Vol. XXVI

of Dr. Ameer Bhaksh and Kansiram. Thenhe studied Ayurveda under SwamiDewanand. He also learnt how to prepareBhasmas clax. He started his own prac-tice at different places like Chamba,Amritsar, Haridwar and finallyAmbala(p.549).14.Radha Kishan: His father was PanditGanesh Das. He was a native of Rawal-Pindi. His father was a scholar of Sanskritand a famous Ayurvedic physician. Hestudied Persian privately and then gotadmission in Sanskrit school at his nativeplace. He gained Herbal knowledge in for-est of Gujuranwala and learnt how to pre-pare Bhasmas calx with the help ofSadhus. After returning from Gujuranwalaforest he acquired Ayurvedic knowledgeby reading the Ayurvedic classics likeShusruta and charaka. Later he learntAyurveda from Vaidya Santh Bhaskamathjiand Unani medicine from Hakim FaqueerMohammad. Finally he started his clinicat his native place (p.652).15. Raj Narayan: His father's name wasPandit Chander Bhanu. He was a nativeof Jammu. He belonged to a famousPandit family of Kashmir who werewelversed in Persian and Arabic. He learntPersian under a learned scholar of Iran.He joined service in the year 1859 AD.after mutini. He worked at different placeslike Bareli, Ajmer etc. During his stay atAjmer he got acquinted with Sadhus andHakims and acquired Ayurvedic and Unani

53

knowledge. He studied Ayurvedic & Unanibooks. He retired from his service in 1887,then he went to his native place andstarted a clinic there (p.734).16. Ram Narayan Ji Kaviraj Pandit :His father was Pandit Raghuvirji. He wasborn in 1876 AD. at Avadh. At the age ofseven he came to Lahore. After prelimi-nary education he took the Shastri coursefrom Oriental College of Lahore. After fewyears he took admission in Ayurvediccourse of the same college. He studiedunder Pandit Janardhan Vaidya of Lahoreand Baba Amritlal Singh Kaviraj of Indoor.Later he took admission in Vedic collegeof Delhi. Then he completed Kavirajacourse at Calcutta and came back toLahore. There he started clinic in 1901AD. He had introduced a special Zimad(Embrocation) for easy delivery. He stud-ied further in same faculty and finally in1905 AD. he prepared a compound medi-cine, which was covered by deer skin andapplied on left thigh at the time of deliveryfor easy labour. He introduced this experi-ment in an exhibition held in 1909 AD. atLahore. Apart from this he was awarded agreat deal of money by MaharajaDarbhanga. He was also a writer and fournon medical books are to his credit. Hisphotograph is found in the book "RumoozulAtibba" with his biography.(p.167). (Fig.3)17. Roop Chand: His father's name wasLala Kishan Chand. He was born in 1847AD. at Jalandhar. He belonged to a fam-

54 Lesser known Ayurvedic physicians - Hussain et a/

ily of physicians from five generations. Hestarted his education at the age of sevenyears. He learnt Persian for about six yearsand Unani medicine for about three yearsunder Hakim Syed Sanaullah Jalandhari.He gained clinical experience under hisbrother Vaidyanath Kishanchand atBombay and Karachi. There after hestarted a clinic of his own at differentplaces. He rendered his services to Royalfamilies(p.576).18. Shiva Narayana PanditVaidya: Hispen name was masaq. He was son ofPanditJanaki Prasad. He was born in 1861A. D. He started his education at the ageof 8 years He studied Sanskrit for sixyears and Persian for two years. Then hejoined service in Court of Law where heserved for two years. While he was in ser-vice he developed interest in English andlearnt it in his liesure time. Later he joinedIn railways, where he developed interestin Vaidya profession and learnt Ayurvedafrom a Ayurvedic physician whose namewas not mentioned in the book. After thecompletion of the study he started clinicat Delhi. During the plague epidemic inDelhi he rendered his service day and nightto cure the people at free of costs. He wascounted among the most famous physi-cians of that time. His photo is publishedin "Rumoozul Attiba" (p.172). Fig.419. Swami Kedarnath: His father's namewas Swami Dewaki Nandan. He was born

in 1857 A. D. at Meeruth. He belonged toa medical family. He started his studiesat the age of seven years. He studied Sanskrit about five years and then Persianabout four years. He started learning Unaniat the age of 18 years from Hakim QaziZiauddin of Punjab, Hakim Fassehuddinand Hakim Baldev singh of Meeruth andacquired clinical experience under VaidyaChandi Prasad who was also a native ofMeeruth (p.501)20. Tarachand: His father's name wasLala Vazeer Chand, a native of Gujarat.He took school admission at the age ofsix years. In school he got acquinted witha teacher who was welversed in Arabicand Persian. He started studying medicalbooks in the school itself. Then he wentto Hakim Khuda Baksh and completedUnani cougse and gained clinical experi-ence. Later he developed interest towardsAyurvedic books. Thus he spent 25 yearsof his life in studies. He started a clinic in1905 A. D. He obtained the certificate of"Zubdatul Hukuma" from the Western Uni-versity of America (p.336).

Study of the "Rumoozul Atibba" mayprove to be very useful for the clinical re-search workers to test the various selectedformulae found in it, under the biographiesof the above mentioned emeinent vaidyas.

eon. Ind. Inst. Hist. Med. Vol. XXVIFig. 1

55

Ganga SishFig. 2

Munshi Man Singh

A Brief History of Indian Alchemy - Momin Ali

Fig. 3

Pandit Ram Narayanaji

Fig. 4

Pandit Shiva Narayana

Bull. Ind. Inst. Hist. Med. Vol. XXVI 57

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