Mrutyu (मृत्युः)

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Mrtyu is the samskrit term used to denote death. Ayurveda is known as the system of knowledge about life. Thus that point at which one's life ends i.e. death is also critically studied and described in Ayurveda treatises. Ayurveda treatises have not only meticulously described the pattern of reducing life span over the ages but also discussed the causes of differences in life span of individuals, role of karma and types of death. Charaka samhita, the treatise on Ayurveda describes Mrtyu after the topic of Janapadodhwansa in Vimanasthanam.

Definition of Mrtyu

Mrutyu has been defined on the basis of events happening at the time of Mrtyu according to Ayurveda. Dalhana, the commentator on Sushruta samhita has defined Mrtyu as below,

मृत्युः शरीरेन्द्रियात्ममनसां वियोगः (Dalhana, Su. su 1/25)

Reducing life span in every yuga

Acharya Charaka has expounded the decreasing length of life span and qualities of living beings in every yuga. He states that in every succeeding yuga, the righteousness or dharma has reduced and thus there is consequent reduction in quality of life human beings and also quality of plants. At this point itself Charaka has mentioned about the dissolution of universe that will take place gradually in this manner. The reasons behind the degradation and the entire process has been systematically described by Acharya Charaka.

युगे युगे धर्मपादः क्रमेणानेन हीयते | गुणपादश्च भूतानामेवं लोकः प्रलीयते ||

संवत्सरशते पूर्णे याति संवत्सरः क्षयम् | देहिनामायुषः काले यत्र यन्मानमिष्यते ||

इति विकाराणां प्रागुत्पत्तिहेतुरुक्तो भवति || (Cha.Vi.3/25-27)

Meaning: With the passage of each yuga, righteousness or dharma gets reduced by a quarter, with similar reduction in the qualities of living beings, finally leading to dissolution of the universe. After completion of one hundred years in each yuga there is loss of one year in life span of living beings in respective age. Thus the initial origin of disorders is described.

The process of reduction in life span and dissolution of universe

This process of reduction of life span and quality of living beings is also believed to be the initial origin of disorders. This association between causative factors and their effect of quality of living being is also applicable in todays time. The cause and effect relationship of lifestyle related factors and health has been put forward excellently. The qualities of living beings and their gradual degradation in yugas is described below

Virtues, qualities and life span of living beings before Satyayuga

Human beings

In the first yuga (kritayuga or satyayuga), people were gifted with vitality equal to those of the sons of Aditi (i.e., devas or Gods) – they were exceedingly pure and unhampered in their powers to perceive the Supreme, the God-like sages, the Divine Law, the religious sacrifices, and the sacrificial rituals. Their bodies were firm like the essence of mountains - compact and stable; they had clear senses and complexions. They had movement, strength and valor like those of the wind; they were with well-formed buttocks, endowed with handsomeness, body-size, cheerfulness and corpulence. They were devoted to truth, honest behavior, compassion, charity, self-restraint, moral discipline, spiritual endeavor, fasting, continence, and religious vows. They were free from fear, desire, aversion, infatuation, greed, anger, despondency, pride, disease, sleep, indolence, fatigue, languor, sloth and spirit of acquisition; and lastly they were bestowed with longevity.

Crops and herbs

For the benefit of these people of noble minds, qualities and deeds, the crops grew with inconceivable rasa, veerya, vipaka, and prabhava, and the virtue of the earth during the dawn of this golden age was charged fully with all excellent qualities.

End of Satyayuga

At the end of the satyayuga, however, some affluent people started gaining heaviness in their bodies due to over-indulgence in food. They started suffering from fatigue in lieu of this. Fatigue gave rise to laziness, and laziness made them to accumulate things; accumulation led to the attachment for these things and attachment resulted in greed.

Virtues, qualities and life span of living beings in Tretayuga

Human beings

With the onset of the tretayuga, greed gave rise to malice in its wake, malice led to falsehood, and falsehood led to passion, anger, vanity, hatred, cruelty, aggression, fear, grief, anxiety, distress and the like. Symbolically, during tretayuga, one-fourth of dharma (religious duties) disappeared, resulting in reduction of the life-span of human beings by a quarter.

Crops and herbs

Similarly, there was reduction in the attributes of earth etc., by a quarter. Because of the reduction of these attributes there was diminution by one quarter of the unctuousness, purity, tastes (rasa), potency (veerya), post digestive effects (vipaka), prabhava and qualities of grains. In effect, this degradation impacted all aspects of living beings that were described to have existed in the satyayuga.

Origin of diseases

There was an unusual change in the maintenance of equilibrium of tissue elements and there was vitiation of agni (pitta) and maruta (vata) by which, first of all, bodies of living beings got afflicted with diseases viz. jwara (fever) etc. Therefore the life-span of living beings underwent gradual diminution.

Mrtyu a type of disease

Acharya Sushruta has counted Mrutyu under Swabhavika vyadhi or roga. It means, Mrutyu can be looked at as a natural phenomenon for any individual but which is not desirable and thus called as vyadhi or roga.

Role of karma in deciding life span or death

It is said that the Ayu of living beings is based on yukti. The strength and weakness of yukti is a compound of Daiva and Purushakara. Daiva means one’s own deeds in the previous life while purushakara stands for one’s actions (deeds) in this life. Thus one's deeds in this as well as in previous life are considered to be the deciding factors of one's life span in this life.

तं भगवानुवाच- इहाग्निवेश! भूतानामायुर्युक्तिमपेक्षते| दैवे पुरुषकारे च स्थितं ह्यस्य बलाबलम्||२९||

दैवमात्मकृतं विद्यात् कर्म यत् पौर्वदैहिकम्| स्मृतः पुरुषकारस्तु क्रियते यदिहापरम्||३०||

Further, the 3 types of karmas have also been described in Charaka Samhita. Karma could be superior, medium or inferior in type. When karmas of previous as well as present life are superior in quality the result is long and happy life. On the similar lines, if ones karmas are of inferior nature, his life would be short, unhappy and the lifespan would be undetermined.

The interplay between Daiva, Purushakara and life span

दैवं पुरुषकारेण दुर्बलं ह्युपहन्यते||३३||

दैवेन चेतरत् कर्म विशिष्टेनोपहन्यते| दृष्ट्वा यदेके मन्यन्ते नियतं मानमायुषः||३४||

कर्म किञ्चित् क्वचित् काले विपाके नियतं महत्| किञ्चित्त्वकालनियतं प्रत्ययैः प्रतिबोध्यते||३५||

A weak daiva gets subdued by a strong purushakara. Similarly a strong daiva overshadows one’s purushakara and because of this, some scholars hold the view that the span of life is invariably predetermined. There are some powerful actions whose implementation takes place at a predetermined time, but there is another kind of action whose implementation is not predetermined and gets manifested in an appropriate atmosphere.

Indeterminate nature of life span

If the life span of humans beings would have been predetermined there would not have been the necessity for guidelines and instructions regarding healthcare practices. Thus Ayurveda believes that to obtain the desired life span one needs to keep a control on his karma performed in this life and adopt methods to protect his life from various injurious elements.

Types of Mrtyu

timely and untimely death

एकोत्तरं मृत्युशतमथर्वाणः प्रचक्षते ||६||

तत्रैकः कालसंयुक्तः शेषा आगन्तवः स्मृताः |७| (Su su 34/7)

Kala Mrtyu

causes

व्यासभट्टारकेणायुक्तं- “नाकाले म्रियते कच्चिद्विद्धः शरशतैरपि| कालप्राप्तस्य कौन्तेय! वज्रायन्ते तृणान्यपि”- इति| (Dalhana, Su su. 1/25)

Akala Mrtyu