The Roots of Ayurveda Selections From The Ayurvedic Classics

$40
Item Code: NAB049
Author: Dominik Wujastyk
Publisher: Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd.
Edition: 1998
ISBN: 0140436804
Pages: 389 (6 Line Drawing)
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 7.9" x 5.2"
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Book Description
This volume brings together selections from the Sanskrit classics of the Ayurveda physicians Caraka, Susruta, Kasyapa, Vagabhata and Sarangadhara who lived between the mid first millennium BC and the fourteenth century AD. The constituents and systems of the physical body; the puifying nature of garlic therapy; the varieties of soma juice and how they help rejuvenation; the danger to kings from a variety of poisons including that of the Snake maiden; rhinoplasty and other kinds of surgical operations; the circumstances leading to the loss of an embryo- these are among the aspects of esoteric and common interest which are described in detail here. The translations which are from the oldest extant writings of the physicians rather than later commentaries, are in standard modern english. But care has been taken not to transpose English medical terms onto the Ayurvedic concepts. Dominik Wujastyk's authentic , critical and reader friendly renderings of original Sanskrit medical texts offer us a glimplse into Ayurveda as a complete, scientific and living medical tradition.

Contents:

   List of figures
   Acknowledgements

1  Introduction
   The historical context
   Classical Indian medicine
         Basic tenets of Ayurveda
         Practice
         Literature
   The choice of texts for the present work
         The Veda and the roots of Ayurveda
   The translations
         The state of the Sanskrit texts
         Gender
   Plant names
         The index
         Measures
   Medical terminology

2  Caraka's Compendium
   Introduction
         Caraka's date
         Overview of the contents of the work
         Influences in the work
         The passages selected
   On not suppressing natural urges 
         Urges not to be suppressed
         Urges which should be suppressed
         Physical exercise
         Giving up bad habits
         Different natural constitutions
         Waste products
         Therapeutic principles
         Preventive therapy
         Bad and good company
         Curds
   Caraka on eight sets of three 
         The three ambitions
         On rebirth and non-belief
         The three pillars
         The three kind of strength
         The three sources of disease
         The three diseases
         The three path of disease
         The three kind of physician
         The three kinds of medicine
         Three kinds of therapy
   On hospitals 
         The hospital building
         The staff
         Supplies
   On epidemics 
         Corrupt air
         Corrupt water
         Corrupt local
         Corrupt time 
         The root cause of epidemics
         How corrupt rulers bring about epidemics
         War as epidemic
         Legends of the fall
         The predetermination of lifespan
         The right and wrong times of dying
         The principle of allopathy
         Depletion therapy
         Patient to be abandoned
         Locale
         Summary
   On heredity 
         Atreya's view
         Bharadvaja still disagrees
         Atreya's final rejoinder
 
3  Susruta's Compendium
   Introduction
         Susruta's date
         Composition to the work
         The passages selected
   The use of knives 
         The proper handling of knives
         Shapes
         Sizes
         Good and bad knives
         Tempering and sharpening the blades
         Secondary cutting instruments
   Gaining surgical experience 
   Starting out as a surgeon 
         The qualities of the good surgeon
         On diagnosis
   Plastic surgery on the ear and nose 
         Piercing a child's ears
         Repairs to split ears
         Preparations and operative procedures
         Contraindications
         After-care
         Massage
         Inserted section on humoral therapy
         Symptoms 
         Treatment
         Rhinoplasty
   The diagnosis of embedded splinters 
         Symptoms 
         Locating a splinter
         General diagnostic signs 
         Kinds of splinters
   The extraction of splinters 
         Yanking out splinters
         Clearing a blocked windpipe
         Summary verses
   Blood and bloodletting 
         The essence of food
         Metabolism
         Corrupted blood
         Bloodletting
   Susruta on breath and wind 
         Wind diseases
   Rejuvenation through Soma 
         The different type of Soma
         The Soma rite
         The new man
         The characteristics of Soma
   Safeguarding food and drink 
         Threats to the king
         The king's physician
         The king's kitchens
         The poisoner
         Things that get poisoned
         General measures against poison
   Stationary poisons 
         The effects of poisons
         Slow-acting poison
         The 'invincible' ghee
         Curing the 'slow-acting' poison

4  The Uses of Garlic (from the Bower Manuscript)
   Introduction
   The uses of garlic
         The divine history of garlic
         The garlic festival
         Garlic compounds
         The universal remedy

5  Kasyapa's Compendium
   Introduction
         The date of Kasyapa's Compendium
         The passage selected
   Lady Opulence the demoness child-killer
         Prajapati creates the world
         Lady Opulence attacks the demons
         Sin the disease
         Lady Opulence's victims
         The many kinds of Childsnatcher
         Jivaka asks Kasyapa a question
         Kasyapa tells the story of Lady Opulence
         Lady Opulence's disguises
         Rituals for safe pregnancy

6  Vagbhata's Heart of Medicine
   Introduction
         The problem of the Sangraha
         The passage selected
   Survey of medicine 
         Humours
         Body tissues and waste products
         The savours
         Potency and post-digestive savour
         The qualities
         Causes of disease
         Examination
         Place and time
         Use of medicine
         Four foundation of medicine
         Classification of disease
         Patient to be rejected
         Contents of the work
   Daily regimen 
         The importance of massage and exercise
         Desiderata
   Seasonal regimen 
         The solar and Iunar halves of the year
         The colder part of the year
         The hotter part of the year
         The rainy season
         Appropriate savours
   The six savours 
         The outward form of the savours
         The effect of the savours
         Example
         Effect of the savours
         Combinatorics of savours
   The system of the humours
         The humours in their natural state
         Body tissues in their normal states
         Waste products in their normal states
         Increased humours
         Increased body tissues
         Increased water matter
         Diminished humours
         Diminished body tissues
         Diminished waste products
         Treatment
         Energy (ojas)
   Lethal points on the body
         The legs
         The arms
         The lower body
         The head and neck
         Definition and characterization of lethal points
         The six classes of lethal point
         The effects of injury
         The size of the lethal points
         The pathological process
   On insanity
         Categories of insanity
         Treatment
         Possession
         Preventative measures

7  Sarngadhara's Compendium
   Introduction
         Choice of passages
   On weights, measures and definitions
         Arrangement of the work
         Weights and measures in Magadha
         Weights and measures in Kalinga
         The quality of ingredients
         Collecting herbs
   Pulse, omens, and dreams
         On taking the pulse
         Messengers and omens
         The interpretation of dreams
   Introduction medicine through the skin
         Reviving an unconscious person
         Treatment of sciatica
   Sarngadhara on the human body
         Receptacles in the body
         The seven body tissues and their derivatives
         Energy
         The skins
         The humours
         Other body parts
         Internal organs
         On respiration
         Staying healthy
         The origin of the human being
 
   References
   Index of flora, fauna, and medical terms
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