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Charaka
Charaka, the famous professor of Ayurveda (the Science of Health and Longevity) whose work on the Science of Medicine and surgery, Caraka-Samhita, dealing with the treatment of body (Kaya Chikitsa) is a well known basic and systematic work on Ayurveda that has been translated into numerous languages of the world. The mention of Charaka in the Vedic work Satapatha Brahmana indicates his antiquity.
According to Charaka, a noted practioner of Ayurveda in ancient India: "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".
Charka Samhita or "Handbook of the Physician" (500 BC): Provides a detailed anatomy of the human body, with methods of diagnosis and treatment for hundreds of ailments. Lists plant, mineral and animal substances required for the preparation of medicines.
These remarks may appear rudimentary today, but they were made by Charaka, some 20 centuries ago in his famous Ayurvedic treatise Charaka Samahita. The treatise contains many more such remarks which are held in reverence even today. Some of them are in the fields of physiology, etiology and embryology. Charaka was the first physician to present the concept of digestion. metabolism and immunity.
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