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Gerald James Larson Ayurveda and the Hindu philosophical systems
INTRODUCTION
Gerald James Larson is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Philosophy East and West, volume 37, no. 3 (July 1987). O by the University of Hawaii Press. All rights reserved.
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Here reasoning functions as a set of regulative ideas that are pragmatically and
empirically employed for purposes of getting a useful heuristic grasp on the
complexities of the natural world (not unlike the heuristic use of reasoning in
Kant's third critique). Many interpreters have suggested that heuristic reasoning
can be reduced to inference (anumdna), but such a reduction misses the genius of
what the medical practitioners are trying to get at with their notion of yukti,
namely, an empirical and, indeed, experimental scientific (in the modern sense)
approach to reality and experience. Perhaps the most revealing example, how-
ever, of how the medical tradition functions vis-a-vis the more technical philos-
ophical schools can be found in Caraka-sathhitd 1.25.1-32, wherein a symposium
is described on the subject of the "origin of man and his diseases." Various
philosophical positions are described which deal with the subject of the sym-
posium, including the dtman school, the sattva school, the rasa school, the six-
dhdtu school, the mdtd-pitr school, the karman school, the svabhdva school, and
the Prajdpati-Kala school. Not enough is said about each school to determine its
precise historical identification, but one has the impression that these schools
represent, respectively, an older form of Veddnta, an old form of Vaisesika or
Nydya, an old school of materialism, the old Samhkhya school, an old naturalist
school, older Mimahsaka-s and Buddhists, possibly Carvaka-s (Svabhava-
vadins), and one or another variety of theistic schools. Punarvasu Atreya, the
leader of the symposium and the chief theoretician in the medical tradition, then
enters the discussion with the following concluding remarks on the symposium
topic:
Punarvasu then spoke to the experts who had been discoursing on the problem of
the origin of man and his diseases. "Do not let yourselves become embroiled in
complex arguments and counter-arguments nor let yourselves pretend that truth
is obvious and easy to attain if one adheres to a single philosophical position
(paksasamsraya). By your clever argumentation you will all end up going in
circles, like a person sitting on an oil press that moves round and round. Free
yourselves from simplistic biases and search for the truth dispassionately. (In-
deed, such a dispassionate inquiry will show that) the very same factors which
under some circumstances lead to health and well-being, under other circum-
stances bring about various diseases. (Translation mine)
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how that which has no extension (namely, atoms) can generate a world that has
extension, whereas the Samhkhya notion of an all-pervasive prakrti with its
continuous transformation (parindma) and combination (samtghdta) of sattva,
rajas, and tamas and with its inherent capacity for manifestation (pravrtti) and
dissolution or disappearance (pralaya) was a powerful theoretical concept that
obviously avoided the atomistic dilemma. Similarly, the Vaisesika invariably had
problems with its theory of discontinuous causation-namely, that the effect is
different from the cause-which always threatened to deny significant relations
between entities in the real world and required a complicated (and frequently
lame) notion of inherence (samavdya), whereas the Sramkhya notion of con-
tinuous causation-namely, that the effect is a manifestation or a reordering of
what is already present in a cause-was a more useful conceptualization and was
especially attractive to medical practitioners working with the complex networks
of causal factors that operate in the generation of illness and disease. Both
Vaisesika and Sarhkhya, however, proved to be heuristically useful in Ayurvedic
contexts, and it can be argued that Ayurvedic medicine unfolds within the
parameters of these two overall theoretical constructions.
That which Ayurveda adds to these overall theoretical elaborations is a specific
account of gross, physical life-that is to say, ordinary biological existence-and
the manner in which everyday existence interacts with the overall theoretical
constructions. Caraka comments (in Caraka-sarhhitd 1.11.3), for example, that
whereas the purpose of the religious systems is to attain moksa or "release," the
purpose of Ayurveda is to encourage the three ordinary, worldly desires for (a)
long life (prdnaisana), (b) reasonable wealth (dhanaisana), and (c) patterns of
behavior that will bring about a good rebirth (paralokaisana).
Both Srahkhya and Vaisesika carry their analyses to the level of the physical
body, but the focus of attention in Vaisesika and Sarhkhya qua philosophical
systems is largely on categorial issues, philosophical psychology, and soteriology
(moksa). Ayurveda, as it were, moves in the opposite direction. It begins with the
gross, constituent components and moves immediately into everyday biological
life. Of the five gross elements (namely, space, wind, fire, water, and earth), the
most important from a biological point of view are the middle three: wind (vayu),
fire (tejas), and water (ap). Space (dakda), being all-pervasive, is simply a medium
for biological life and, hence, not a great deal can be said about it other than its
being an appropriate medium.6 Earth (prthivT) is largely a composite of the other
elements and represents, therefore, the level of sheer immediacy. Again, not a
great deal can be said about it other than to refer to its composite structure and to
classify its various modalities.
Wind (vdyu), fire (tejas), and water (ap), however, are fundamental for Ayur-
vedic biological theory, for they are the principal components for life and
movement. Taken together (and assuming, of course, the larger theoretical
frameworks already discussed), they generate a nutrient fluid (rasa), which is
sometimes construed to be the lymphatic chyle fluid from the small intestine or
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254 Larson
the more general notion of nutrient fluid that nourishes the body as a w
nutrient fluid (rasa) is the first of the seven manifest constituents (dhatu
body, namely:
These dhatu-s derive one from the other, starting with rasa, and, therefo
the primordial manifest substance of the living, physical organism. Som
this rasa is correlated with the notion of tejas or "liquid energy," someti
the notion of water (ap) as the basic nutrient of life. Thus, the rasa as
fluid is related to both water (ap) and fire (tejas), and this primordial sub
taken to be the "life force" or "vital juice" (ojas) of the functioning org
Taken separately (that is to say, taking vdyu, tejas, and ap individuall
or wind manifests itself as the motorsystem (vata or prdna) of the
(including the motor activities of respiration, swallowing, speaking, dig
excretion, ejaculation, the labor activity of childbirth, circulation, a
activity generally). This is the vdta-dhdtu (or motor constituent) of
which includes prdna (the breath of the mouth for respiration), ud
"breath" of the vocal cavity for speaking), samdna (the "breath" of the
which aids digestion), apdna (the "breath" of the lower extremities for
sexual activity, and the labor activity of childbirth), and vydna (the "b
all the limbs for circulation). Both the rasa or nutrient fluid and the prd
principal process of the motor system reside primarily in the heart (hr
flow to other parts of the body through various arteries, veins, capilla
channels (dhamani-s, sird-s, srota-s, and ni.d-s). Tejas or fire manifests
the energy system of the body (pitta, literally "bile" because it shows its
bilious secretions of the liver, and so forth) (including the actual "cook
pacaka in the digestion of food, the coloring agent in blood and complex
energizer of desire, the presupposition of vision, and the sensory-nervo
paratus generally). Ap or water manifests itself as the integrating syst
body (kapha or slesman, literally "phlegm," for it shows itself in mucu
and so forth) which holds together the limbs and tissues and main
organism in a kind of steady state or homeostasis. Vdta, pitta, and kapha
bile, and phlegm), then, are the overall respiratory, digestive, and integ
components of the biological system, which provide the homeostatic
ment in which the previously mentioned seven nutrient constituen
function.7 When vdta, pitta, and kapha are in balance and harmony
referred to as the tri-dhdtu ("three systemic constituents"), which one
therefore, call organismic "health." When vdta, pitta, and kapha ar
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255
harmony or are unbalanced, they are referred to as the tri-dosa ("three systemic
problems"), which one might, therefore, call organismic pain or "illness." Vdta,
pitta, and kapha are also used typologically so that, according to Ayurveda, every
person tends to be a vdta type or a pitta type or a kapha type. The task of the
physician (vaidya, bhisaj) is to be able to diagnose the imbalances that occur in
persons or in specific illnesses, and Ayurvedic medicines (bhaisajya) are pre-
scribed to counteract these imbalances and, hence, to restore the healthy balance
of vdta, pitta, and kapha that is characteristic of a given patient. Moreover,
because the nutrient fluid (rasa) is so basic both in the anatomy and in the
chemistry of the body, a concern for food and "tastes" (rasa-s) plays a crucial
role in the maintenance of organismic health. It is essential for health that
persons maintain a balanced diet of sweet (svddu), sour (amla), salty (lavana),
pungent (katuka), bitter (tikta), and astringent (kasdya) "tastes" (rasa-s), which
represent the fundamental nutrients of the functioning organism. According to
Caraka (at 1.26.40), "tastes" (rasa-s) derive from the mahdbhuta-s as follows: the
sweet taste (svddu-rasa) derives from water (jala or ap); the sour (amla) from
earth (prthivl) and fire (agni); the salty (lavana) from water (ap) and fire (agni);
the pungent (katuka) from fire (agni) and wind (vdyu); the bitter (tikta) from wind
(vdyu) and space (dkasa); and the astringent (kasdya) from wind (vdyu) and earth
(prthivT). Among the sense capacities those of touch and taste were of particular
interest to the medical practitioners. The tactile sense would, of course, be the
most important (see Caraka 1.11.38), since every sensation and perception
presupposes some kind of contact and involves, therefore, some sort of tactile
apprehension. Feeling or touch, therefore, is basic to symptomatology, and this
is undoubtedly one of the primary reasons why the feelings of "pain" (duhkha)
and "pleasure" (sukha) are so fundamental in Indian thought and culture.
Almost as important, however, is the sense capacity of taste (rasa), for more than
any other of the sense capacities, the sense of taste functions at the intersection of
transaction between the natural world and the organism. Taste would, therefore,
be a crucial measuring or determining faculty with respect to what the organism
imbibes, digests, assimilates, discharges, and, of course, becomes! To control
taste is to get a handle on the larger transactional environment in which the
organism functions. Hence, it is no accident that Ayurveda, and Indian culture
generally, is preoccupied (even obsessed) with "wholesome" food (hitdhdra-
upayoga) and "unwholesome" food (ahitdhdra), which, respectively, are equiva-
lent to "health" and "disease" (see Caraka 1.25.33 and pages following) and
which likewise become the operational definitions of the "pure" and the "im-
pure." Moreover, when fundamental themes such as these are then combined
with the equally fundamental theme of transmigration and rebirth, one begins to
understand more clearly why birth and caste come to play such a significant role
in everyday life in South Asia. Obsessive attention is given to food, season,
habitat, lifestyle, and social interaction in Ayurvedic diagnoses and thereapies,
for the notions of "health" (tri-dhdtu) and "disease" (tri-dosa) are but compo-
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256 Larson
CONCLUSIONS
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NOTES
1. For useful and recent discussions of the history of the literature of Ayurveda, see the Int
tion and Appendix Two in G. J. Meulenbeld, ed., The Mddhavaniddna and Its Chief Comm
chapters 1-10; Orientalia Rheno-Traiectina (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974), pp. 1-27, 389-436;
the Introduction in Claus Vogel, ed., Vdgbhata's Astdhgahrdayasarhhitd (The First Five Cha
Its Tibetan Version), Abhandlungen fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, XXXVII, 2 (Wie
Deutsche Morgenlandische Gesellschaft, 1965), pp. 1-43.
2. Filliozat's classic study has been available for some years in a good English translation,
J. Filliozat, The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine, trans. D. R. Chanana (Delhi: Mu
Manoharlal, 1964).
3. This divergent interpretation of Srmkhya has been carefully described by Surendran
gupta in A History of Indian Philosophy (Cambridge, 1963 printing), vol. 1, pp. 213 ff, and
need not be repeated here. I also have discussed this interpretation of Srahkhya vis-a-vis other
of preclassical Sramkhya in Gerald James Larson, Classical Samkhya, 2d rev. ed. (Delhi
Banarsidass, 1979), pp. 103 ff. Dasgupta argues that this Caraka form of Srakhya is a
Samrkhya that is later reworked by the classical Samhkhya thinkers. A. B. Keith and some oth
argued, on the other hand, that the Caraka form of Sramkhya is a later, syncretistic form of Sr
clearly under Vedanta influence. My own view of the problem has changed in recent years. For
years I was convinced by Dasgupta's discussion, but now that I have been reading the med
with greater care I am convinced that the Caraka material in the SarTra-sthdna is clearly
ticized Sriakhya, and not at all an early form of pure Sarhkhya.
4. I use the ambiguous phrase "psychic apparatus" deliberately, for the Indian philo
schools differ considerably as to the precise characterization of that which transmigrates.
and Vedanta argue for a subtle body, Sarhkhya suggesting that the subtle body is made up of i
ego, the eleven indriya-s (including mind), and the five subtle elements, Vedanta suggesting
"sheaths" (kosa-s) that accompany the transmigrating entity. Nyaya, Vaisesika, and Yoga,
other hand, argue against the notion of a subtle body. The Nyaya-Vaisesika notion of m
atomic eliminates the need for any vehicle, for an atomic entity has no extension to begin
Yoga notion of citta being all-pervasive likewise eliminates the need for a subtle body, since ci
as it were, no place to go! It is already there at the moment of conception. It is interesting to o
this regard that Ayurveda clearly sides with Srmhkhya and Vedanta-that is to say, there is
body that transmigrates from life to life.
5. In modern philosophical discourse such a view is referred to as "reductive materialism"
to say, intellect, ego, mind, and so forth are viewed as manifestations of subtle materiality. O
awareness (antahkarana-vrtti or citta-vrtti), therefore, is simply a reflection or manifest
material stuff (prakrti or dravya, and so forth). Indian thought generally, however, m
additional (and crucial) claim, namely, that consciousness (as purusa, dtman, and so forth)
clearly distinguished from awareness. Nyaya-Vaisesika realism, of course, tends to see cons
as an attribute that emerges because of the contact between Self and mind (and thus
dangerously close to a thoroughgoing materialism, although most Nyaya-Vaisesika thinkers
to go all the way on this issue), whereas Sramkhya, Yoga, and Vedanta argue for a fun
difference in kind between consciousness and awareness. It is interesting to observe in this reg
Ayurveda tends to side with Nyaya-Vaisesika.
6. The materialistic bias is undoubtedly also a reason for the absence of discussions of akd
medical literature. The materialists accepted such notions as wind, fire, water, and earth an
ignored the notion of adkda.
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258 Larson
7. It is perhaps tempting to correlate vdta, pitta, and kapha with the three guna-
philosophy (namely, sattva, rajas, and tamas), and indeed, Dalhana, the commentator
samihitd, makes just such a correlation, arguing that vdta can be correlated with ra
sattva, and kapha with tamas. His attempted correlation is understandable, given
Sarhkhya bias of Su§ruta both in its earlier portions as well as in the later Uttara-tantra
a theoretical point of view, however, such a correlation is simplistic and unconvincin
speaking, vdta, pitta, and kapha are tamasic manifestations since they emerge from the
which themselves are derived from the tamasic form of aharhkdra, namely, the five sub
tanmdtra-s. It could hardly be the case, therefore, that there is any kind of sim
correlation between vdta, pitta, and kapha and sattva, rajas, and tamas. If one wishes to
kind of correlation, it is possible to work it out, but the procedure is much more com
Dalhana's commentary suggests. One would have to move in the following fashion a
scheme of symbolic notations: In Srhkhya philosophy, the divine realm is sattvic (S
realm is rajasic (R) and the animal realm is tamasic (T). The human realm is a collocatio
guna-s, therefore, with a rajasic predominance, or R(s + r + t) = prakrti (as apprehe
human perspective). Ego (or aharhkdra) in its tamasic mode (or, in other words, as it show
five tanmdtra-s) would have the following notation: R(t(s1,rl,tl) (sr)), which mea
overall human rajasic realm, when a second-level tamas is dominant and the second-
sattva and rajas and latent, and when third-level forms of sattva, rajas, and tamas be
dialectically (namely, si, r1, t1), one has reached the level of a subtle element or tanmdt
takes the subtle element rasa, for example, and its correlates water (ap) and its dhatu
namely, kapha, a reasonably correct guna correlation would be the following: R(t
Needless to say, it is hard to imagine that Dalhana had any such approach in mind w
suggested a correlation between vdta, pitta, and kapha and the three guna-s of the Srhk
add, parenthetically, that the use of symbolic notations in trying to work out the impli
Sahkhya philosophy is not as far-fetched as it may seem at first glance. Sarhkhya enum
to focus on the sequence of prime numbers (namely, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, and 17). If one then
sequence of prime numbers with 1 (= prakrti) and 0 (= purusa), one is able to generat
numbers. If one also correlates derived quotients with various "entities" (for example, bu
mahdbh;ita, and so forth), one soon finds oneself working on a kind of mathematic
physics not unlike the kind of theoretical physics one finds in ancient Pythagoreanis
8. For a systematic discussion of Marriott's notions of "dividual," "transactional,"
see McKim Marriott, "Hindu Transactions: Diversity without Dualism," in Tra
Meaning: Directions in the Anthropology of Exchange and Symbolic Behavior, ed., B.
Essays in Social Anthropology, I (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ISHI Publications, 1976)
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
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