"Ancient
India produced medical teachings and practices that were
codified and passed from master to student. Written in Sanskrit, the canonical
texts of Ayurvedic medicine, the Caraka Samhita and the Susruta
Samhita, date from the early Christian era but claim to represent teachings
from the distant past. They provide extensive information on disease causation,
treatment, surgical techniques and materia medica, as well as
incantations (mantras), omens and injunctions about physicians’
behaviour.
Page from
Ayurvedic Textbook
A page of text from the Susrutasamhita, an ayurvedic textbook, on various
surgical procedures and surgical instruments. The text presents itself as the
teachings of Dhanvantari, King of Kasi (Benares) to his pupil Susruta and is
said to be by Susruta.
The Caraka
Samhita also had an oath of initiation similar to the Hippocratic Oath, but
there were some differences in India:
A pupil in
Ayurvedic medicine had to vow to be celibate, to speak the truth, to adhere
to a vegetarian diet, to be free of envy, and never to carry weapons. He was
to obey his master and pledge himself to the relief of his patients, never
abandoning or taking sexual advantage of them. He was not to treat enemies of
the king or wicked people, and had to desist from treating women unattended
by their husbands or guardians. The student had to visit the patient’s home
properly chaperoned, and respect the confidentiality of all privileged
information pertaining to the patient and his or her household.
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As taboos
against treating people outside one’s social class intensified, the practices
of Brahmin class vaidyas (good physicians) were limited to their own
caste to protect their ritual purity. For other castes, home remedies, folk
healers, astrology and religious faith provided succour during periods of
pestilence, famine and other natural disasters. But Hindu principles of
“respect for all life and the virtues of honesty, generosity, and hospitality”
provided a firm ethical foundation for medical practice."
