Dhanvantari (धन्वन्तरिः)
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According to Indian mythology, Dhanvantari is the name of the lord of medicine or precisely the lord of Ayurveda. Lord Dhanvantari is believed to be the incarnation of lord Vishnu and is believed to have originated during samudra manthana between devas and asuras. In Ayurveda treatises named Sushruta Samhita, any person who is skilled in the science and art of Surgery has been called as Dhanvantari.
Vyutpatti
The term Dhanvantari is defined by the commentator Dalhana in his commentary on Sushruta Samhita. According to him,
धनुः शल्यशास्त्रं, तस्य अन्तं पारम् इयर्ति गच्छतीति धन्वन्तरिः (Dalhanas commentary on Sush. Samh. Sutra 1.3) Meaning: Dhanu refers to the science of surgery. The one who who gets mastery over it is therefore known as Dhanvantari i.e. a skilled surgeon.
Therefore specifically in Ayurveda's Sushruta samhita, one of the most ancient encyclopedic and authoritative classical books of Indian medicine, i.e. Ayurveda,, Dhanvantari does not necessarily mean Lord Dhanvanatari but, a skilled surgeon who has mastered the art and science of Surgery. Dhanwantari is also referred to as the teacher of Shalyatantra i.e science of surgery
History
In Mahabharata and many puranas like Vishnupuran, Bhagabatpuran, Agnipuran and Haribans - Vayupuran etc. Dhanvatari, the God of Ayurveda is regarded as the incarnation of lord Vishnu.
The theory of the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Lord Dhanwantari is not found in Vedas, but many Puranas narrate this topic. According to some Puranas Dhanwantari appeared in this world at the time of "Samudra Manthana". This is the mythological fact about the creation of Lord Dhanwantari. But if we go back to the history there are two Dhanwantaries in different times.
- Lord Dhanwantari who appeared before gods at the time of "Samudra Manthanam."
- Kashiraj Divodasa Dhanwantari who was born at Kashi and was an eminent surgery specialist and advisor of Sushruta Samhita.
Lord Dhanvantari and Samudra manthana
In Bharatiya Samskrtika parampara, one can find some stories about the emergence of Dhanvantari during Samudra manthana. In Ramayana, while narrating the story of Samudra manthana, emergence of Dhanvantari is appreciated as procurement of one of the gems through churning the milky ocean.
अथ वर्षसहस्रेण आयुर्वेदमयः पुमान्॥ १-४५-३१ उदतिष्ठत् सुधर्मात्मा स दण्ड सकमण्डलुः। पूर्वं धन्वन्तरिर्नाम अप्सराः च सुवर्चसः॥ १-४५-३२ [1]
Meaning: After a thousand years of churning had rolled on, there arose a male being, an embodiment of Ayurveda, highly righteous, named Dhanvantari with a stick in his hands and a Kamandalu. ..
Reference of emergence of Dhanvanatari from Samudra manthana can be found in the Mahabharata, Vishnupurana and Bhagawatapurana as well.
The story of Samudra manthana and emergence of Dhanvantari
Once there arose a great problem to save the world from danger. The God was puzzled seeing this terrible situation. Trinnath Sabha was arranged. Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswar considered the matter and told that great injustice has been done to Gods, who have been deprived of getting nectar at the time of churning of milk sea. If it will be churned again ordure will come out as a result of which the whole world will be annihilated. On the other hand immortal Gods are in the distress being wounded and caught by many diseases. For the settlement of peace, treatment and to save he world from danger, Dhanwantari was sent for. Accompanied by his colleagues he appeared in the "Trinath Sabha". He proposed that "we can get nectar from the trees given by Laxmi, the daughter of sea instead of churning the sea." We can get plenty of it from the trees of mountain Gandhamardan. If order will be given, my descendant will bring these threes. Drinking their nectar many people will be cured from their diseases. Although they will not be immortal, they will be long-lived. This proposal of Dhanwantari was unanimously accepted. At that time Sukracharya knew Sanjivani Mantra of animal as Dhanwantari knew Sanjivani Mantra of plant. But animals depend upon trees for their survival. So trees accepted Dhanwantari as their Guru. The moment, they get order from Dhanwantari, they immediately bear fruits, flowers and confer juice. Then Dhanwantari collected juice from soma trees, palm trees and also from many other trees of Gandhamardan. His descendants conferred it to Gods and demons. Drinking the juice of those trees they were cured from their diseases and became strong and stout. But stupid demons concealed some of it. They drank making it bear at a secret place. No doubt they were cured from their diseases became healthy, but there was no development of their mental power. They became tyrant and quarrelsome so long as they would not discard drinking bear.[2]
In Vedic period Aswinis were expert medical practitioners and in Puranic period Dhanwantari became the same as Aswinis.[2]
Kashiraj Divodas Dhanvantari
In some puranas one can find the story about the origin of Dhanvantari. In Harivans- Vayupurana and Brahma Baivarta Purana, it has been described that Lord Vishnu sent Dhanwantari, as the son of king Dhanwa of Kashi. According to the Harivans- Vayupurana, the king of Kashi named 'Dhanva' was a great devotee of lord Vishnu. He had everything in life except a progeny. He worshipped lord Vishnu for this purpose and Lord Vishnu was impressed with his devotion and prayers. Thus Lord Vishnu took birth as son of the king Dhanva of Varanasi in Bharata. The son was named as Divodasa. Being the son of Dhanva and incarnation of lord Vishnu, Divodas was surnamed as Dhanvantari. [2] Other references state that, Kashiraj Divodas was an incarnation of lord Dhanvantari on earth. Lord Dhanvantari explains the purpose of his descent to the earth saying that, '"It was I who cured the disease of the Gods and prevented their deaths and decrepitude. I have now come to this world to teach Shalyatantra (Surgery) and other divisions of Ayurveda in detail.' Thus God Dhanwantari is known as the pioneer of Ayurvedic medicine or God of Ayurvedic medicine. The proficient Ayurvedist of India, earn their livelihood following the advices of Dhanwantari written in Sushruta Samhita.
Dhanvantari Jayanti
The Birth Anniversary of Dhanvantari devata is celebrated in the month of Kartika on Tithi Trayodashi. It is popular as Dhanvantari Jayanti or Dhanteras or Dhanatrayodashi all over the country.
It is stated that, Sushruta the author of Sushruta Samhita received the knowledge of Ayurveda and specifically Shalya (Surgery in Ayurveda) from the abovementioned Kashiraj Divodasa Dhanwantari . Thus, Dhanvantari is referred to as the teacher of Shalyatantra or science of major surgery.
Appearance of Lord Dhanvantari
Many Hindu mythologies reveal his appearances that Lord Dhanwantari has four hands. In one hand, there is a nectar pot, in another there is a Ayurvedic book, a medicinal herb in the third hand and in the fourth hand there is a conch shell. Equipped with these things, he appeared in this world to save mankind in their adversity. In some pictorial presentations of Bhagwan Dhanvanatari, one of his hands is shown holding a leech. Leech is a slimy blood sucking ectoparasite that lives in water and is used as a medium for therapeutic blood letting procedure known as Raktamokhana in Ayurveda.
Works of Dhanvantari
Dhanwantari is known master of healing all diseases. He was taught by Rishi Bharadwaja and first time divided Ayurveda into 8 parts and transferred it to his students.
Dhanwantari was master of all branches of Ayurveda. He was an eminent toxicologist. On the other hand he was also well-known physician of Horses (Ashwayurveda) and elephants (Hastyayurveda). Thus Dhanwantari developed 8 branches of Ayurveda at his period, especially the surgery by the time Dhanwantari became the surgery specialist and Dhanwantari group widely known as surgery specialist i.e. "Salya Sampradaya". However it is undoubtedly accepted that Dhanwantari was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. [2]
Dhanvantari Sampradaya or parampara in Ayurveda
The dissemination of knowledge of Ayurveda at the very beginning in this world happened from 2 different traditions. One of them is known as Atreya Sampradaya through which the medicine dominant knowledge of Ayurveda was transmitted while the other one is known as Dhanvantari sampradaya through which the knowledge of Ayurveda predominantly of Surgical procedures was transmitted. The teachers and masters of these 3 different traditions, transmitted their specialised knowledge Ayurveda to their students and many of them authored the currently refered treatises of Ayurveda like Charaka samhita and Sushruta samhita. Here Charaka Samhita was compiled by Acharya Agnivesha (redacted by Acharya Charaka in later time) by the preaching of expounder Punarvasu Atreya and who belongs to the Atreya traditions whereas Sushuta Samhita was authored by the Acharya Sushruta who received knowledge from Kashiraj Divodasa dhanvantari of Dhanvantari tradition. All dhanvantaris mentioned in Ayurveda treatises