Keywords: Vaidya, Veda, India, Ayurveda, Atharvaveda, Carakasamhita, Shusrutasamhita

I. Abstract
    The doctors of ancient and medieval India were known as the vaidya. The vaidya’s purpose was to maintain or regain harmony or balance within the body to cure and prevent illness. The source of their medical knowledge is the ayurveda or "science of living to a ripe age." The ayurveda, an oral tradition compiled in the early part of the Christian era, shows surprisingly advanced techniques of scientific observation in order to cure disease. A large portion of the ayurveda is devised into a very orderly system observing the symptoms, diagnosing the cause, and administering a treatment. However, the medical techniques of the inhabitants of India were not always so advanced. Rather, the practice of medicine evolved from very primitive begins that held strong belief in demons being the source and cause of illness. Therefore prior to the knowledge of the ayurveda most attempts to heal a sickly individual were nothing more than spoken magic spells or hymns thought to rid the body of the invisible forces causing the sickness. This seems quite reasonable that intangible forces could be altered by the force of intangible words, but as knowledge grew the practice of medicine slowly evolved away from that of a witch-doctor and into the Indian medical tradition known as the ayurveda.

II. Scope and Purpose of the System
    Written in the later part of 2^nd millennium BC the Rig Veda is the earliest work of India. The Rig Veda, the first text of theVeda (originally orally preserved), describes the natural elements as being formed and controlled by specific deities, and a large part of the Rig Veda are hymns praising the deities in order to stay in favor with them and stay healthy. This is due to the idea at this time that the cause of disease was either a punishment from a god or the work of a demon. For example, the Rig Veda speaks of performing daily worship of the fire god Agni for "one may gain day by day wealth and welfare" by doing so. However, prayer to deities was not the only method for a healthy body. In the Rig Veda there are passages that speak of the bhisaj known for the ability to heal disease. The bhisaj is the earliest version of what later comes to be known as the vaidya.
    The Atharva Veda, another collection of hymns collaborated around 600 BC, refers to demons as the cause of disease and contains hymns attempting to provide some personal benefit mainly the curing of disease. At this time the bhisaj were transforming away from the traditional witch doctor towards more of a true physician that would come to be known as vaidya. The vaidya cured disease using hymns, herbal remedies, and dietary modifications, but with ayurveda, "the science of living to a ripe age," as their source of medical knowledge they began to practice preventative medicine in pursuit of prolonged life.
    In the ayurveda the primary cause of illness is an imbalance within the body and this is referred to as dosa or "troubles". The body is healthy when the three humors (fire, water, and wind) or bodily substances are in balance, and therefore, the goal of the vaidya is to balance the body either mentally and/or physically. Mentally the balance of the three humors can be upset, for example, due to excessive desire, anger, jealousy, and laziness.
    Physically, a poor diet or lack of necessary nutrients can cause the humors to become imbalanced, and thus, a large amount of the vaidya’s cures involved dietary changes.

III. Authority Structure
    The first physician was the divine sage Dhanvantari who originated when the gods churned the cosmic ocean in order to save the world from destruction. He appeared holding a bowl of amrta, the potion that made the gods immortal. Dhanvantari was thought to be the ancestor of the vaidya caste. Sages preserved the original ayurveda by passing down the texts orally, but the text was no doubt modified due to contact different traditions and the expansion of knowledge. The name ayurveda has significant meaning itself because the first part, ayur, meaning "life" is evidence that the Indian doctor was not only concerned with healing but also promoting health and longevity, and the second part, veda, is highly religious because it is the name of the most sacred Hindu text. Therefore, the practice of vaidya in ancient India was religious in both its nature and goals.
    The people of India believed that many different factors contribute to the health of the body. Some of these factors could be controlled and altered by a vaidya and others could not. Karma partially controls of the health of the body as good and evil deeds from past lives and conduct in the present life combine, and it is important to note that each individual has control over their actions in the current life. Health of the body was also thought to be determined by the balance of the body’s three primary fluids: wind (vata), gall (pitta), and mucus (kapha). Along with these fluids are the five "breathes" that control the functions of the body. When all of these factors act harmoniously the body is healthy. The vaidya had little or no knowledge of the inner functions of the body due to a strict taboo on operation or autopsy. Therefore the ways of preserving health were external ones, and a vaidya placed extreme importance on diet. Present in texts of the ayurveda is the emphasis on dietary changes to adapt the body to climatic changes and maintain health.
    The ayurveda is traditionally divided into eight branches: general principles of medicine, pathology, diagnostics, physiology and anatomy, prognosis, therapeutics, pharmaceutics, and means of assuring success in treatment. In order to learn these divisions a student lived in the home of a teacher or "guru," but charlatans who taught themselves strictly from one of the texts were in existence. The student would develop a close and personal relationship with the guru and this process of training a vaidya is analogous to that of the brahman religious students. The training given by the guru was dependent upon which school he belonged to. In the same manner that the Veda is learned the guru would recite passages with the student repeating them. This was a very private matter with no outsiders allowed due to the emphasis and importance placed on keeping the words from unworthy ears. The student was tested regularly by reciting full passages from memory. The amount of time spent by a student with his guru is unknown. However, upon finishing his training with the guru the vaidya did not stop learning. He constantly expanded his knowledge through the three sources of medical knowledge according to ayurveda: instruction from an authoritative teacher, direct observation, and inference, and thus the vaidya continues to learn through an empirical approach to the world.

IV. History
    Around 1500 BC Aryan’s from Central Asia invaded India defeating a weakened civilization known as the Harappa. The Aryans brought a collection of orally preserved Sanskrit scriptures known as the Veda. The Veda is a collection of hymns that reflect these primitive people’s attempt to make sense of the world around them, and many of the hymns offer worship to distinct deities who were thought to be in control of the natural elements. The Veda consists of the Rig (compiled around 800 BC it is the oldest of the texts), the Sama, the Yajur, and the Atharva. The text of the Atharvaveda, slightly later than that of the Rig, contains numerous references to demons being the cause of disease, and therefore the text contains a large number of hymns devoted to curing disease through the removal of these demons. The Atharvaveda consists of specific healing rituals during which mantras, sacred words from the text, were spoken to drive away current demons and offer protection from future ones. The Atharvaveda is of particular interest because it shows the first signs of medicine in India. Shortly after the compilation of the Atharvaveda the medical tradition of India, known as ayurveda, began to evolve into its complete form. Even though references to the practice of medicine are made in many Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist texts from this period little is known about the evolution of the Ayurveda due to deficient records. During this same period the Hindu religion adopted strict dietary regulations, and this is the probably source of the vaidya’s use of dietary changes to combat illness. Out of this combination of different cultures (Aryan and Harrapan) and their beliefs (Jain, Buddhist, Hindu) the Indian medical science, the ayurveda, evolved. Its evolution moved the practice of medicine away from its magical beginning found in the Atharvaveda and towards a more sophisticated system of medicine that focused on curing and preventing disease. Though the practice of the ayurveda already exisited the written text was not compiled until the first centuries of the Christian era.
    The ayurveda or the "science of living to a ripe age" is not a single text. Just as the other texts of this time, the information contained in the ayurveda was originally an oral tradition. Therefore, there was no authoritative source for the transcription of the text. Thus, there are a number of different texts containing the medical traditions of the ayurveda. Though the exact contents of these texts are different they are similar in nature. The two major classical medical texts, the Carakasamhita and Shusrutasamhita, are organized in accord with medical books of today evident through the systematic order of symptom, diagnosis, and treatment. However, this practicality allowed for many imposters to read and practice medicine without the proper training. Therefore patients would obtain a diagnosis and treatment from different "physicians" until cured. This trend of unloyalty to a specific tradition continues in modern India, which unlike many other nations continues to have a variety of medical practices from faith traditions.

V. Representative Examples of Argumentation
    As an ancient text and having been subject to the changes and additions made throughout time by different cultures and philosophies it is hard to identify the exact source of the ayurveda. However, the two major texts of the ayurveda, the Carakasamhita and the Sushrutasamhita, provide divine explanations as the source of this knowledge. According to the Carakasamhita, the oldest of the ayurvedic texts, the first medical specialist was Brahma, the creator god. Prajapati, the Lord of Beings, then received this knowledge from Brahma, and Prajapati in turn shared the information with Asvins, the heavenly physician.
    The Carakasamhita begins with a group of sages in seclusion somewhere in the Himalayas. A disease spreading throughout the populace interfered with the religious duties of the sages, and therefore they retreated to the mountains. In hopes of curing disease in order to maintain focus on their important religious duties a chosen sage went to Indra in search of a cure for the populace. Indra had previously been granted the knowledge of medicine from Asvins, and in turn he shared the knowledge with the sage.
    The Sushrutasamhita has a very similar story however Indra is not the sage’s source of the knowledge. According to the Sushrutasamhita Dhanvantari, a divine sage and another physician of the gods, rose from the ocean holding amrita, the drink confirming the immortality of the gods. As a divine physician he obtained the medical knowledge of the ayurveda and then shared it with the sage. These sages were the first form of a vaidya on earth, and it is interesting to note the legend that Dhanvantari is the ancestor of the vaidya class.

VI. Suggested Position in Comparative Scales
    A fundamental philosophical ideal seen in most texts of the ayurveda states that in order to accomplish life’s tasks (spiritual aims included) the body must be healthy or in a state of balance. Therefore it is no surprise that the source of the medical knowledge in the ayurveda is divine, and as previously mentioned the presence of "veda" in the name implies the ayurveda’s divine power and source. Therefore, the vaidya are thought to have knowledge of divine power that they can use and control to accomplish their task. In doing so the vaidya gains both spiritual and material rewards. He does this by fulfilling the three aims of life: religious merit or dharma, material gain or artha, and personal satisfaction or kama. Fulfilling dharma, the vaidya relieves the personal suffering of his patients. By building up a reputation from satisfied or cured patients he fulfills kama, and as he receives compensation for his services the vaidya achieves artha.

Bibliography

Primary

Desai, Prakash. 1989. Health and Medicine in the Hindu Tradition. The Crossroad Publishing Company.

This book gives an in depth look at the traditions of the Hindu religion with great emphasis on the medical traditions that exist both in the past and present. The book covers in great detail the ayurveda and the philosophies that accompany it.

Kasulis, Thomas. 1993. Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice. State University of New York Press.

This book looks at Indian, Chinese, and Japanese philosophies and their importance and correlation with medicinal practices. This book proved extremely useful in understanding some theories of the ayurveda.

Leslie, Charles. 1976. Asian Medical Systems. University of California Press.

This book contained a great deal of information regarding the ayurveda. With many different theories and the lack of detailed records regarding the ayurveda’s evolution it was necessary to have a number of different views and translations.

Secondary

Shrotri, Shridhar. 1988. The Religion of the Veda. Motilal Banasaridass.

This book gave very little useful information that I didn’t already have.

Zysk, Kenneth. 1991. Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India. Oxford University Press.

I obtained some information about the history of the ayurveda as well as some more information on the philosophies that are incorporated with the ayurveda.