Acharya Charaka (आचार्य चरकः)

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Acharya Charaka fondly known as The Father of Medicine has great contributions to the field of Ayurveda. He is also well known as the author of Charaka Samhita, actually, the redactor of Charaka Samhita, and the treatise is originally known as Agnivesha Tantra. This Charaka Samhita concentrates more vividly on internal medicines and external applications rather than invasive procedures, thus, it is said that Acharya Charaka being from the school of Punarvasu Atreya thoughts is more focused on the Kaya Chikitsa() branch of Ayurveda. Hence the name Father of medicine.

Nirukti

चरएव स्वार्थे क संज्ञायां कन् वा । चरे दूतभेदे ।

(vachaspatyam pg.2900)

A physician who wanders from one place to another providing medical advice and treatment is termed a Charaka.

Period

Acharya Vagbhata author of “Ashtanga Hriddaya” (ayurvedic treatise), mentioned Charka in his texts suggesting he lived before his time period.

Acharya Charaka lived from around 100 to 200 BCE. Acharya Charaka was the son of Vishuddha Krishi and a disciple of Vaishampayana Rishi. His birthplace is not known nor mentioned in any treatise, but there are references quoted regarding the Himalayas, panchanandpura, etc by him which are situated around northwestern areas of India. Thus, a loose conclusion can be drawn about the birthplace of acharya Charaka.

Who Was Acharya Charaka?

Acharya Vagbhata author of “Ashtanga Hridaya” (ayurvedic treatise), mentioned Charaka in his texts, this suggests he lived before his time period.

Acharya Charaka lived from around 100 to 200 BCE. Acharya Charaka was Vishuddha Krishi's son and Vaishampayana Rishi's disciple. His birthplace is not known nor mentioned in any treatise, but there are references quoted regarding the Himalayas, panchanandpura, etc by him which are situated around northwestern areas of India. Thus, a loose conclusion can be drawn about the birthplace of acharya Charaka being in the Northwestern regions of then India/ Bharat.

“Charaka” as it is termed as a physician who moves from one place to another providing medical advice and treatment is a broad-spectrum word. Thus, there are many speculations regarding the original name of the author of Charaka Samhita. It is believed by certain historians that “Patanjali” himself is Charaka in this context and some historians believe that “Charaka” was a term used for a group of physicians.

Commentator Chakrapani mentioned Acharya Charaka as Bhashyakar, which means commentator or teekakar.

Acharya Charaka is also often considered by certain historians, a student of Takshashila university (an ancient Indian university located in the city of Takshila, near the Indus river, it was founded by Bharata who was a brother of Lord Rama, it is now somewhere near Pakistan) since “Charika” and “charuta” words are often used to suggest the student or scholar of that university.

According to some historians, Acharya Charaka was the physician of king Kanishka. “Aswaghosh” was the name of one of the Raj Vaidya (physician to the king) during the period of king Kanishka, he initially wrote “buddhacharitra” and “saundranand” and later redacted Agnivesha Tantra. But again, the writing when compared of these two texts with Charaka Samhita, they seem different. Thus, after Aswagosh, Charka became the Raj vaidya of King Kanishka who did the redaction of Agnivesha Tantra.

According to Bhavapraksha, Charaka was the incarnation of the Shesh Naga (Shesh naga or Adishesha is a serpentine demigod, often referred to with lord Vishnu). Also, “sage Patanjali” is considered the reincarnation of Shesh naga, thus “Sage Patanjali” who wrote “Mahabhashya” and “Yogasutra” could be one and the same person. But, the time period of Sage Patanjali and acharya Charka who redacted Agnivesha Tantra is different.

It is still unclear which Charka Acharya exactly redacted the Agnivesha tantra amidst plenty of opinions and conclusions of various historians, Acharya Charaka, the Father of medicine could actually be of the name Charaka.

Charaka Samhita of Acharya Charaka

Charaka Samhita is a huge treatise that consists of 9296 sutras (sutras literally mean “thread” and in this context these are aphorisms) written in Sanskrit, which is divided into 120 chapters divided into 8 sections. These Sutras are in the form of both Prose and Poetry.

No.	Sthana or Section	Chapters
1	Sutrasthana	30
2	Nidanasthana	08
3	Vimanasthana	08
4	Shareerasthana	08
5	Indriyasthana	12
6	Chikitsasthana	30
7	Kalpasthana	12
8	Siddhisthana	12
	Total = 08	120

History

The present treatise of Charaka Samhita has a long history, according to different Ayurveda Literature, Lord Brahma (the Creator) passed on the Knowledge of Ayurveda to Daksha. He then passed on this gem of knowledge to the twin Physician of God well known as The Ashwini Kumaras. Ashwini Kumaras further passed this knowledge to the King of God Indra. Now, this Knowledge of Ayurveda descended to earth through Rishi Bharadwaj who learned this Knowledge from Indra for the purpose of treating people suffering from various diseases. Rishi or Sage Bharadwaj imparted this divine knowledge to his Disciple Punarvasu Atreya.

Punarvasu Atreya or known as Atreya imparted his knowledge to his disciples namely, Agnivesha, Bhela, Jatukarna, Parashar, Harita, and Ksharpani. These Rishis or Sages wrote their version of Atreya’s teachings. Agnivesha composed Agnivesha Tantra (treatise) which later was redacted by Acharya Charaka. This Agnivesha tantra being one of the oldest treatises was mutilated over time, thus the original work is not found. Later acharya Charaka found, gathered these written pieces, redacted Agnivesha tantra, and named Charaka Samhita. Although appropriate credits have been given to Atreya in the form of the below verse present at the beginning of every chapter.

इति ह स्माह भगवानात्रेयः||

This above verse literally means, “thus said by God Atreya”

The adhayayas or chapters are orated by Atreya to his Shishya or disciple Agnivesha. Thus, binding to Guru Sishya Parampara(precisely a part of knowledge transfer), these verses are in the form of Questions stated by Agnivesha to Punarvasu Atreya, and written down by Agnivesha as dictated or stated by his Guru(teacher precisely) Atreya.

   “Agniveshakrute Tantre  Charak pratisanskrite”

This means that the original treatise is written by Agnivesha and put together or organized well by Acharya Charaka.

The below chart represents the hierarchy of the Charaka Samhita and how the Knowledge of Ayurveda came into existence, how it got to Acharya Charaka and known to human beings.

Although, the Charaka Samhita was further mutilated and lost over time. A scholar from Kashmir named Dridhabala, a resident of then Panchanandpur found Charaka Samhita in wretched condition, restored it, and wrote/ added a few chapters to the treatise. He added a total of 41 chapters to this existing treatise. The version we read today is this version of acharya Dridhbala’s redactions of Charaka Samhita. (char.sidd.12.37,38)

Commentaries on Charaka Samhita | teeka

Teeka in Sanskrit means to comment or a note. Thus, there are few commentators who tried to clarify in detail the verses which needed an explanation for further understanding.

Chakrapani wrote Ayurveda Dipika.

Gangadhar Sen wrote Jalakalpataru. 

Jejjata wrote Nirantarapada Vyakha.

Bhattara Harischandra wrote Chrakanyasa.(first commentator to write after the redaction process by Dridhbala)