World Association for Vedic Studies

Paper Number 2018-13 from Vedic Traditions for Education and Learning, Pro-ceedings of WAVES 2018, the 13th International Conference of the World Asso-ciation for Vedic Studies, Dallas, Texas, USA, August 2-5, 2018.

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2018-13

On the Antiquity of Indian Medical Systems

Raj Vedam Director, Indian History Awareness & Research

Katy, TX 77494, USA rajvedam@yahoo.com

http://www.IHARWeb.org

The earliest Indian medical works can be traced to the Atharva Veda, from which texts such as Charaka Samhita, Susruta Samhita and Astanga Hridaya were derived. Western Indologists dated Susruta Samhita to around 600 BCE and Charaka Samhita to 200 BCE, and Astanga Hridaya of Vagbhata to the 6th cent. CE. We critique this date for Susruta and propose a date prior to 2928 BCE. Keywords: Susruta Samhita, Krittika Nakshatra, Rudolf Hoernle, Satapatha Brahmana

Introduction

Ayurveda enjoys widespread popularity in India as a holistic medical system, from ancient to current times. The roots of Ayurveda can be traced to the Atharva Veda. Ayurveda has been described by Surendranath Dasgupta as having been intimately connected with Samkhya and Vaisheshika physics and the origin of logical statements encoded in Nyaya-Sutras [1]. It is known that medical knowledge evolved from Atharava Veda to Punarvasu Atreya’s Bheda Samhita, which led to works of Agnivesa and there on to Charaka Samhita and later authors such as Dridhbala [4]. Susruta Samhita whose author attributed the work to Dhanvantari, is renowned as the earliest surgical text. Susruta Samhita, currently dated around 600 BCE, is a highly developed scientific text that describes the human anatomy with 300 bones, 800 ligaments, 500 muscles and 300 veins [6,7]. Based on the precept that the universe is made up of the elements of Aakash (space), Vayu (air), Teja (fire), Jala (water) and Prithvi (earth) – the Pancha Mahabhoota – the physiology in Ayurveda proposes combinations of these elements to give rise to the three doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, or air, phlegm and bile. Imbalance of the doshas leads to ill-health. The Susruta Samhita describes 1120 diseases. Surgical procedures with 121 types of instruments and materia medica are richly described [6,7]. The methods of Susruta were used by Hippocrates, Plato and Pythagoras [8]. Narayanaswamy [3] notes that the original Susruta Samhita contained 120 chapters in 5 sections, and the additional 66 chapters in Uttarasthana are additions by a later author. For example, he suggests that the chapter on diseases of the eye were added by Nagarjuna [3]. Vagbhatta who is dated to the 6th century, CE, summarized both Charaka Samhita and Susruta Samhita in a single treatise, in his work, Ashtanga Samgraha [3], where the eight parts are general medicines, pediatrics, mental diseases, diseases of special sense organs, surgery, toxicology, gerontology and aphrodisiacs. Narayanaswamy also suggests that the style and content of

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Ashtanga Samgraha and Ashtanga Hridaya suggest that the same Vaghbatta must have worked on both these texts [3]. The earliest extant manuscript of Indian medicine is the Bower manuscript, a birch bark document written in Prakrit in Gupta Brahmi script, dating to 300s CE [2]. This document was found in Kashgar in the 19th century and found its way to a British army officer called Bower whose name is attached to the document. The Bower manuscript was translated by Rudolf Hoernle [2]. The document was found to contain a subset of Charaka Samhita, referring to Rishis Atreya, Harita, Parasara, Garga, Susruta and Vashista, and also contains the older Bheda Samhita, and serves to act as an upper bound on the date of the Charaka Samhita. In this paper, we study the common proposed date of 600 BCE for Susruta, and by critiquing the methods of Rudolf Hoernle, show how the date should be revised to a much earlier period.

Rudolf Hoernle’s Method for Date of Susruta Samhita Rudolf Hoernle uses Buddhist sources to place Susruta to the East at Kasi, and Charaka as a physician in the court of King Kanishka [9]. Hoernle notes that Charaka Samhita counts 360 bones of the human body in 30 categories. He further notes that Susruta Samhita counts 300 bones of the human body in 23 categories. Hoernle also notes that Atreya’s theory of the skeleton is also found in Bheda Samhita which counts 360 bones of the human body in 30 categories. Hoernle notes significant differences in the categories and the bones that are counted in various versions of these works. Hoernle notes that the Satapatha Brahmana in the 10th section, 5th chapter, 4th and 12th paragraphs, refers to 360 bricks in a Vedic altar in relation to the bones in the human body. Placing the author of Satapatha Brahmana, Yajnavalkya, in the court of Janaka, the King of Videha, a contemporary of Ajatasatru, the King of Kasi, Hoernle proposes a time-period of 500 BCE for Yajnavalkya, using Weber’s works as a reference [10]. Hoernle notes that Yajnavalkya was aware of both the categories of the bones as enumerated by Susruta as well as Atreya-Charaka, and notices the strong influence of Susruta’s description of bones, marrow and fat (which is absent in Atreya-Charaka) in the description provided by Yajnavalkya. Hoernle points out that Susruta was aware of Atreya’s bone classification, but introduces his own exposition, pointing out the differences between his method and Atreya’s method. Using Buddhist Jataka records that mention medicine as taught in the two famous universities of Taxila and Kasi in the time of the Buddha, Hoernle places Atreya at Taxila and Susrata as his younger contemporary in Kasi, in the sixth century BCE. Given that Yajnavalkya in 500 BCE was aware of Susruta’s works, Susruta is placed in a slightly earlier time-frame to 600 BCE. Given the pivotal role played by the calibrating data-point of Satapatha Brahmana in the dating of Susruta, we explore the date of Satapatha Brahmana.

Date of the Satapatha Brahmana The Western dates for Satapatha Brahmana varies anywhere from 500 BCE [9] to “far older, transmitted orally from unknown antiquity” [12]. The methods used to date are constrained by debatable dates that arise from assumptions of Indian history such as Aryan invasion theory and the date for the Buddha, and merits scrutiny.

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Archaeo-astronomy is a field where ancient observations of the celestial bodies can be dated precisely to the past 25,700 years, and with supplemental data, to even earlier periods. Ancient Indians recorded observations of the Nakshatras at the cardinal points of the two solstices and two equinoxes. Because of Earth’s wobble or axial precession which takes about 25,700 years to complete a cycle, the position of the Nakshatras at the cardinal points also change with time, in a predictable manner. Thus ancient observations are a time-capsule that can be decoded precisely, and form primary evidence for dating events. S.B. Dikshit [11] notes an interesting ancient astronomical observation in Satapatha Brahmana that can be used to date the text. He notes verses 2.1.2(1)-2.1.2(3) from the Satapatha Brahmana that describes setting the fires under Krittika [12]: 1. “He may set up the two fires under the Krittikás; for they, the Krittikás, are doubtless Agni's

asterism, so that if he sets up his fires under Agni's asterism, (he will bring about) a correspondence (between his fires and the asterism): for this reason he may set up his fires under the Krittikás.”

2. “Moreover, the other lunar asterisms (consist of) one, two, three or four (stars), so that the Krittikás are the most numerous (of asterisms): hence he thereby obtains abundance. For this reason he may set up his fires under the Krittikás”.

3. “And again, they do not move away from the eastern quarter, whilst the other asterisms do move from the eastern quarter. Thus his (two fires) are established in the eastern quarter: for this reason he may set up his fires under the Krittikás”.

The statement that Krittika does not “move away from the eastern quarter” was highlighted as an ancient astronomical observation by Dikshit, and is a reference to Krittika being on the celestial equator, around 3000 BCE [11]. Krittika or Pleiades has six bright stars on naked eye observation, spanning about 26m in declination in the sky. We choose the brightest star in the cluster, eta Tauri, for our measurement with Stellarium [13]. Due to the inclination of Earth’s orbit as it revolves around the sun, for 6 months it would appear that the Sun rises a little more to the South of East each day, reaching the winter solstice point, and then for a period of 6 months, it would appear that the Sun rises a little more to the North of East each day, reaching the summer solstice point. Thus one cannot determine true east by looking at the position of the sunrise, except on the dates of the two equinoxes, when the Sun would be on the celestial equator, and point to “true” east. Table 1 RA and Dec. of Krittika (eta Tauri) on Spring Equinox Date Right Ascension Declination April 14th, 2928 BCE 23h 24m 35s 0d 0m 9s March 26th, 500 BCE 1h 27m 42s 13d 25m 49.6 s March 20th, 2018 CE 3h 48m 35.3s 24d 9m 34s March 18th, 11305 CE 12h 52m 42s 0d 0m 7s Feb 19th, 22161 CE 23h 02m 27.8s 0d 0m 9s

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From Table 1, we notice that on the date of the Spring Equinox in 2018 CE, Krittika is 24 degrees away from the celestial equator. In 500 BCE, it is 13 degrees away from the celestial equator. In 2928 BCE, Krittika is principally on the celestial equator, and is heliacal rising in the East, about ½ hour before sunrise (Fig.1). Notice in Table 1 that in the future, Krittika will be on the celestial equator on the equinox of March 18th, 11305 CE (half way in a Precession cycle), but setting in the West as the Sun rises on the celestial equator on the East. Notice also that after a full cycle of Precession, Krittika will again rise in the East with the Sun in the distant future on the celestial equator on Feb 19th, 22161 CE, which is the equinox for that year. Thus the heliacal rising of Krittika on the equinox date is a cyclical phenomenon that occurs once in 25,700 years, and there is no ambiguity about when it occurred in the past.

Figure 1 shows the result of Precession in the relative positions of Krittika (orange arrow) and the Celestial North Pole (red arrow) in the past 5000 years. Note that the actual paths are curved. Satapatha Brahmana takes note of this phenomenon, and in stating that Krittika does not move away from the eastern quarter, refers to it being on or close to the celestial equator, while heliacal rising. Vedic ceremonies require knowing the eastern direction for maximum auspiciousness and efficacy of the rituals, and thus the prescription of locating Krittika in the pre-dawn skies as a pointer to the East direction. For a period of about 2928 ± 200 BCE, this would appear to be approximately correct before Krittika moves away by more than a degree from the celestial equator. This astronomical observation would have been witnessed by Yajnavalkya when he wrote the Satapatha Brahmana.

Clearly, in 500 BCE, the date ascribed to him by Western Indologists, Krittika is more than 13 degrees away from the celestial equator and would not be used as a marker for the East by Yajnavalkya, had he lived in 500 BCE. As noted, only for a period of ± 200 years around 2928 BCE, would such a phenomenon be visibly verified. Thus Yajnavalkya should be dated to 2928 BCE. Given that Satapatha Brahmana shows knowledge of the works of Atreya and Susruta according to the analysis done by Hoernle [9], we should then place both Atreya and Susruta earlier than Yajnavalkya, and therefore earlier than 2928 BCE. Finally, we take note that Satapatha Brahmana also records astronomical phenomenon in other time periods, which could be later additions to the text [14].

Fig.1. Spring Equinox, April 14th, 2928 BCE, showing heliacal rising of Krittika

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Concluding Remarks

In this paper, we analyze the Western dating for Susruta. Rudolf Hoernle who proposed a date of 600 BCE to Susruta uses a calibrating data point of Satapatha Brahmana to 500 BCE. Using the astronomical observation of Krittika in Satapatha Brahmana, we date the text to 2928 BCE. Thus Susruta should be dated earlier than 2928 BCE, or more than 2500 years older than the current estimate.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the members of Indian History Awareness and Research for their review of this work.

References 1. Hoernle, Rudolf, 1893, The Bower Manuscript, Calcutta. 2. Webb, Allan, 1850, The Historical Relations of Ancient Hindu with Greek Medicine, Calcutta. 3. Narayanaswamy. V, 1981, “Origin and Development of Ayurveda”, Ancient Science of Life,

Vol.1, No.1, pp. 1-7 4. Jaiswal S. Yogini, Williams I. Leonard, 2016, “A glimpse of Ayurveda – The forgotten history

and principles of Indian traditional medicine”, Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, pp.1-4

5. Royle, J.F, 1837, An Essay on the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine, London. 6. Hoernle, Rudolf, 1897, The Sucruta-Samhita, Calcutta. 7. F.H. Garrison, 1930, “Editorial”, Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. VI, No.

8, pp.523-535 8. Webb, Allen, 1850, The Historical Relations of Ancient Hindu With Greek Medicine, Calcutta 9. Hoernle, Rudolf, 1907, Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part 1, Osteology, or the

Bones of the Human Body, Oxford

Fig.2. Result of Precession on positions of Krittika and Celestial North Pole in the past 5000 years. Coordinate positions shown are valid for April 14, 2928 BCE. The red arrow shows the direction in which the Earth’s NCP has moved in 5000 years. The orange arrow shows the direction in which Krittika has moved in the past 5000 years. The actual paths are curved, rather than straight lines, as noted by actual position of Krittika in 500 BCE.

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10. Weber, Albrecht, 1904, The History of Indian Literature, London 11. S.B. Dikshit, 1896, Bharatiya Jyotish Sastra, Part I, History of Astronomy During the Vedic

and Vedanga Periods, Calcutta 12. Julius Eggeling, 1882, The Sacred Books of the East (ed. Max Muller): The Satapatha

Brahmana According to the Text of the Madhyandina School, Oxford. 13. Stellarium, Retrieved from http://stellarium.org on Jan 1st, 2018 14. Kak, Subhash, 1993, “Astronomy of the Satapatha Brahmana”, Indian Journal of History of

Science, 28(1), pp.15-34.

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