Charak Samhita
Ayurvedacharya-Charak
Description:
(The Caraka Saṃhitā (CS, Devanagari: चरक संहिता) or "Compendium of Caraka" is an early text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine).] It is one of the two foundational texts of this field, both dating to the early centuries of the Common Era, alongside the Sushruta Samhita
The relative chronology of the two texts is not entirely clear. The text of the Carakasaahita as it survives dates to the Gupta period or roughly to 300-500 CE,[ which would make it contemporary to or slightly younger than the Sushruta Samhita (SuS). However, the surviving text is considered an edition by one based on an earlier work of the period of between 100 BCE and 100 CE, so that the bulk of the material in the CS might actually predate the SuS by a few centuries.
Commentaries
The most celebrated commentary on this text is the Carakatātparyaīkā "Commentary on the Meaning of the Caraka" or the Ayurveda Dīpikā, "The Lamp to Ayurveda" written by (1066). Other notable commentaries are Bhāraka Hari(ś)candra's Carakanyāsa (c.6th century), Jejjaaas Nirantarapadavyākhyā (c.875), Shivadasa Sena'sCarakatattvapradīpikā (c.1460). Among the more recent commentaries are Narasiha Kavirāja's Carakatattvaprakāśa and Gaṅgādhara Kaviratna's Jalpakalpatāru (1879).
Charak Samhita On nursing
"The Caraka (Vol I, Section xv) states these men should be, 'of good behaviour, 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 skilful in waiting upon one that is ailing and never unwilling to do anything that may be ordered." Legendary Constants Sanskrit caraka is a term for a wandering religious student or ascetic. There are several legendary accounts of the origins of medical science in South Asia. According to one, the serpent-king Śeṣa, who was the recipient of Ayurveda(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 Charaka 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 pratisaskr̥te)
