Charak

Charak (AD 1st - 2nd Century) was a physician of ancient India. He is famous for his treatise on medicine named 'Charak Samhita'. The treatise, more properly an encyclopedia of Ayurveda, is one of the three main division of Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle. The other two treatise are Sushruta Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam Samhita. These treatises are taught in Ayurveda medical colleges in India. On the basis of some Hindu mythological texts, some scholars put his period around 1800 BC, some around 1000 BC, some around 600 BC, and some 300 BC. However, appearance of Charak Samhita is dated in the late AD 1st century or early AD 2nd century.

Wisdom & Quotes

From Charak Samhita

• Health is the root of all the four purushartha (pursuits of man) - Dharm, Arth, Kama, and Moksh.
• If you want success in your practice, wealth and fame, and heaven after your death , you must pray every day on rising and going to bed for the welfare of all beings, especially of cows and Brahmins, an you must strive with all your soul for the health of the sick. You must not betray your patients, even at the cost of your own life, ... You must not get drunk, or commit evil, or have evil companions. ... You must be pleasant of speech... and thoughtful, always striving to improve your knowledge.
• When you go to the home of a patient you should direct your words, mind, intellect and senses nowhere but to your patient and his treatment. ... Nothing that happens in the house of the sick man must be told outside, nor must the patient's condition be told to anyone who might do harm by that knowledge to the patient or to another.
• A physician who fails to enter the body of a patient with the lamp of knowledge and understanding can never treat diseases. He should first study all the factors, including environment, which influence a patient's disease, and then prescribe treatment. It is more important to prevent the occurrence of disease than to seek a cure.
• Innumerable diseases, bodily and mental, have for their root Tamas (stupefaction, darkness). Through fault of the understanding, one indulges in the five injurious objects, suppresses the urgings of nature and accomplishes acts that are highly rash. The man of Ignorance then becomes united with conditions for disease. The man of Knowledge, however, purified by knowledge avoids those conditions. One should never take any food, acting only from a desire for it or guided by ignorance. Only food that is beneficial should be eaten, after proper examination. Verily, the body is the result of food.
• The tastes are six. They are sweet, sour, saline, pungent, bitter and astringent.

Properly used, they nourish the body.
Improperly used (excess or deficient), they verily lead to the provocation of the Dosha.
The Dosha are three: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
When they are in their normal state, they are beneficial to the body.
When, however, they become disorganized, verily they afflict the body with diseases of diverse kinds.

• When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.

Satavahana Hala

Nearby pages
Charak Pathar, Charaksanhita, Charan, Charan Singh, Charar-i-sharief Vidhan Sabha Constituency