Charaka Samhita

The Charaka Samhita Sutra is the ancient, comprehensive and authoritative Ayurvedic text on internal medicine composed by Sages ‘Charaka’. It is considered to be the oldest of the three ancient treatises of Ayurveda. It is central to the modern-day practice of Ayurvedic medicine; and, along with the Susruta Samhita.

The text, written in Sanskrit, is the work of several authors and may represent the work of a school of thought. The term ‘Charaka’ is said to apply to ‘wandering scholars’ or ‘wandering physicians’; and ‘Samhita’ means ‘collected’ or ‘compendium’ and ‘Sutra’ means ‘formula’ in Sanskrit. The text dates to the Maurya Period roughly around 300BC.

Contents:

Charaka Samhita has astanga sthana ie eight sections and 120 chapters in total which contains about 8,400 metrical verses. These 8 sections are:

• SÅ«tra sthāna (30 chapters)
• Nidana sthāna (8 chapters)
• Vimana sthāna (8 chapters)
• Sarira sthāna (8 chapters)
• Indriya sthana (12 chapters)
• Chikitsa sthana (30 chapters)
• Kalpa sthana (12 chapters)
• Siddhi sthana (12 chapters).

The text starts with Sūtra sthāna which deals with fundamentals and basic principles of Ayurveda practice. Unique scientific contributions credited to the Caraka Samhita include a rational approach to the causation and cure of disease and introduction of objective methods of clinical examination.

It also elaborates on the logic and philosophy on which this system of medicine is based. According to Charaka, science is dependent upon yukti, a quality of the intellect. Much of the treatise of Charaka Samhita is in the form of a symposium wherein various topics are discussed by groups of ayurvedic scholars.

Charaka followed the Atreya School of Physicians, which dealt with treatments involving internal and external application of medicine. The samhita focuses on healing the body, mind and soul of a patient in the minimum invasive manner. Laying great emphasis on the diagnostic part of the treatment, Charaka identified eight stages of a disease from its inception to the culmination. Charaka also placed great importance on the timing and manner of collection of medicinal plants.