CME INDIA Presentation by ⚜ Dr. M. Gowri Sankar, MD, Senior Assistant Professor, Dept. of General Medicine, Government Medical College and ESI Hospital, Coimbatore.

Today’s History Feature:

🇮🇳 Acharya Charaka 🇮🇳

💠Father of Indian Medicine

His contributions…

🔹Acharya Charaka lived in 100-200 BCE.
🔹He was one of the fundamental contributor of the ancient art and science of Ayurveda.
🔹Ayurvedha was the oldest medical system based on herbs and its compound raised in the Vedic period of India.
🔹Ayurveda means “Lifespan built on knowledge” or “Science of life”, which was practiced in India for centuries before the Greek Physician Hippocrates arose (460-379 BCE).
🔹He also authored a book called Charaka Samhita, which contains eight main chapters. For about two millennia, it reminded a standard work on subject and was translated to Arabic and Latin languages.
🔹The book has about 120 sub chapters and contains 12,000 shlokas and descriptions of 2000 medicines.
🔹Charaka had also studied the Anatomy of Human body and described about 360 bones in the body including teeth.
🔹Subsequently, he recognised that the Heart is the controlling centre and is connected to the entire body through 13 channels. He also claimed that any obstruction in the main channels led to a disease or deformity in the body.
🔹Furthermore, he described the Fundamentals of Genetics. He further disclosed that the genetic defect in a child is due to the defect of sperm or ovum of the parents.
🔹Moreover, he was the first physician who stated the concept of Digestion, Metabolism and Immunity.
🔹Accordingly, he emphasised the body functions based on three Doshas or Principles. Those are Vata (movement), Pitta (transformation) and Kapha (lubrication and stability) in a living body.
🔹The three Doshas are corresponding to the Western classification of humors – wind, bile and phlegm.
🔹He further stated that illness is caused due to the imbalance amongst three energies in the body and the body needs medicine to restore balance.
🔹He has also prescribed the ethical charter for medical practitioners well prior to the Hippocratic oath.
🔹Eventually, Acharya Charaka stated that “A physician who fails to enter the body of a patient with the lamp of knowledge and understanding, can never treat the diseases. He should first study all the factors including environment, which influences a patient disease and then prescribe treatment. It is more important to prevent the occurrence of disease than to seek a cure.”

A Day to Commemorate…

An Ancient Indian Physician

🇮🇳 Acharya Charaka 🇮🇳🙏🏼


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