Materia Indica, or, Some account of those articles which are employed by the Hindoos and other

628 Pages·2015·12.6 MB·English

by  Whitelaw Ainslie

MATERIA INDICA;
OK,
SOME ACCOUNT
OP
THOSE ARTICLES WHICH ARE EMPLOYED BY
THE HINDOOS,
AND OTHER EASTERN NATIONS,
IN THEIR
MEDICINE, ARTS, AND AGRICULTURE;
COMrSUlNO ALSO
FORMULiE,
WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
NAMES OF DISEASES IN VARIOUS EASTERN LANGUAGES,
AMD A COPIOUS LIST OP ORIENTAL BOOKS IMMEBIATELT
CONNECTED WITH GENERAL SCIENCE,
Ac. Sec.
By WHITELAW AINSLIE, M.D. M.R.A.S.
LATB or TUB MEDICAL BTArr OF SODTHBBN INDIA.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
niHTiD rom
LONGMAN, EBES, OBME, BROWN, AND GREEN,
FATBSNOSTBB-BOW.
1826.
To A minute inteitigatioii of the pecaliir virtues of certain plants
and herbs» the Indians of old were naturally incited by the rast
variety and beauty of the innumerable vegetable productions which
cover the face of their fertile territory: these in some places grow
up spontaneously; many applied to sacred purposes, the ministers
of religion reverently cherished; and many the hand of traffic di­
ligently cultivated for ezportatioiL*'
IxnuH A»TiQymx8y voL vii. p. 624.
Loudon:
Printed by A. & R. %K>ttiswoode>
New-Street> Square.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
P«00
PAELlMfNARY OBSERVATION! . . . . . . t
Names in some of the Oriental Languages of the descrip,
tion of Plants, and the parts of Plants, that are used in
medicine in India . . . . . . xxxvii
CHAP. I.
Medicines in use amongst the Hindoos, and other Eastern
n a tio n s ........................................- . - - 1
CHAP. IL
Books in various Eastern languages connected with Medicine
and other sciences 491
A Uat of Sanscrit Medical and other Books, verbatim as it
was given to me by a celebrated Hindoo physician of
Southern India, and written by a learned native of the
name of Ramaswlmy Naig . . . . . . 491
A List of Tamool Medical and Scientific Books . . . 499
A List of Persian and Arabic Medical and Scientific Books;
the names of some of which were taken from Stewart’s de­
scriptive Catalogue of Tippoo Sultan’s Library - . 504
A furtherXist of Tamool Books, procured for me by a learned
Vy tian of Southern India - - - - - - 520
List of Medical Works in the hands of the native practitioners
of Ceylon; they are mostly in Sanscrit, which in that island
is written in the Cyngalese character; many of them, how.
ever, are translated into Cyngalese. The list was procured
for me by the late much-lamented W. Tolfrey, Esq. of
Ceylon - 525
CHAP. in.
Names of Diseaaes m various Eastern languages - - 598
Addenda - ...........................................................54S
A 2
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
I t is much to be lamented that it was ever found
necessary to include the sciences, and arts^ amongst
those subjects which are treated of in the sacred
writings of the Hindoos; a circumstance which has
been hitherto an insurmountable obstacle to improve,
ment; and is, no doubt, one of the causes why me.
dicine in India is still sunk in a state of empirical
darkness.
** The Ayur Veda, as the medical writings of the
highest antiquity are called, is considered to be a
portion of the fourtli or Aihania Veda, and is con.
sequently the work of Brahma *, who composed the
four immortal Vedas; this Ayur Veda was com­
municated by Brahma to Dacsha the priyapati, and
by him the two Amins, or sons of Surya (the sun)
were instructed in it; :md they then became the
medical attendants of the Gods: a genealogy which
cannot fail recalling to our remembrance the two
sons of Esculapius, and their descent from Apollo.”
The Aswins, it is believed by some, first made Jndra
acquainted with the medical science contained in the
* See an interesting account of the medical and suwcal
sciences of the Hindoos, in the Oriental Magaxine for March
182S.
A Si
VI PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
Ayver Veda, and that he was the precepter of Dhaiu
ivantrie ; others are of opinion that Atreya, Bharad-
viqja, and Charaka were instructed in the mysteries
of the healing art prior to Dhawwantrie ; be that as
it may, Charaka*s work is still extant, and goes by
his name. DhamJoMrie is sometimes called Kasi-
rtga (Prince of Kasi or Benares) ; his disciple was
Susruta, son of Viswamitra, a contemporary of Rama ;
his work (Susmta's) still exists ; it is supposed to be
fA great antiquity, perhaps the oldest, with the ex­
ception of that of Charaka *, which the Hindoos yet
possess.
The Ajfur Veda itself is said to have originally
contisted of one hundred sections of a thousand
stanzas each ; it was adapted to the limited faculties
of man, and was divided into eight parts, com­
prising the whole of the ars medendi amongst the
Hindoos j according to the valuable account above
mentioned, they were the following :—
I. Salya, which instructed in the art of extract­
ing extraneous substances that chance or mischief
may have forced into the human frame.
II. Salakya. This treated of external organic af­
fections, such as diseases of the eyes, ears, &c.
III. Kaya CMkitsa. This treated of the application
of the healing art to the body in general.
IV. Bhatavidya. This treated of the restoration
of the faculties from a deranged state, induced by
demoniacal possession.
V. Kavmarahhrilya. The subject of this was the
care of infancy; it also embraced the treatment of
puerperal disorders in mothers and nurses.
• This some imagine to have been inspired by Seeoa; other
Sanscrit medical works ot* great celebrity, but of more modem
date are the Roganirupana and Nidana. (As. Res. vol. i. p. S50.V
niSLIMItf AST OBSSRVATUnraw vii
VI. Agada, This taught the best mode of ad.
ministering antidotes.
VII. Rasayana. 'Phis treated of chemistry, or
more properly speaking, alchemy.
VIII. Reyikarcma. This taught how the increase
of the human race could best be promoted.
Sir W illiam Jones informs us, that the Ayur
Veda has been almost entirely lost in the lapse of
ages * j but that he had met with a curious fragment
of it; in which he was surprized to find an account
of the internal structure of the human frame. What>
ever may have been done, however, in this way, in
former times, it is to be regretted that the custom
of (frssecting and examining the dead subject, does
not now exist amongst the Hindoos; indeed it is, I
believe, contrary to the Brahminical tenets of the
present day: so that all the knowledge they have of
the anatomy of man, can be little else than conjecture,
formed from what they may have seen in looking
into the bodies of brute animals.t
With regard to the surgical knowledge the ancient
Hindoos possessed, however neglected that branch
of medicine may now be in India, it will I think be
allowed, from what has been advanced respecting
* In the hermetic writings, or bible of £gypt, the Zend-Avetta
of Iran, the Veda* and Upaveda* of Hindoostan, Mr. Miller in*
forms os, are discovered^ respectively, complete sections on the
subject of medicine; and which must be considered as incom-
wably the most ancient monuments of that science. See
Miller s DUquuition on the History of Medicine, part i. p. 24-9.
f The present Rajah of Tapjore is a most enlightened and
learned prince, and particularly distinguished by his attachment
to scientific research; anxious to make himself acquainted with
the structure of the human body, but too rigid a Hindoo to
satisfy his curiosity at the expence of his religious opinions, he
ordered a complete skeleton made of ivory to be sent to him from
JSngland. The Rajah is, besides, a tolerable chemist; and, what
is better, a very worthy and amiable man.
A 4
via PRELIMfNAIlY OBSERVATIONS.
the two first subdivisions of the Ayur Veda, vi^.
Salya and Salakya, that those must have treated of
surgery, strictly so called ; and it has as clearly been
ascertained, that in the first portion of a comment­
ary • on Susruta’s work, already noticed, many va­
luable surgical definitions are distinctly detailed : this
portion is entitled Sutra St*hana or chirurgical de­
finitions. The second portion of the commentary is
the Nidana St’fuma, or section on symptoms or dia­
gnosis. The third is the Sarira St'hana, the subject
of which is anatomy. The fourth, Chikitsa St’hana,
treats of the internal use of medicines. The fifth,
Kalpa St’hana, gives a copious list of antidotes.
The sixth and last is the Uttara ; it is a supplemen­
tary section on various local diseases or affections of
the eye, ear, &c. In all those portions, however, it
would appear from the testimony last quoted, that
surgery, and not general medicine, is the principal
object of the commentary.
The instrumental part of surgery, was, according
to the best airthority, of eight kinds, chedhana, cut­
ting, or excision ; lekhana, which signifies drawing
lines, appears to be applicable to scarification and in­
oculation ; vyadhana, puncturing; eshyam, probing,
or sounding; aharya, extraction of solid bodies j
visravana, extraction t of fluids ; sex'ana, or sewing,
and bhedana, division, or excision.
Ubhatta,
* This commentary was made by a Caslimirian, and
Astatic Journal
may be as old as the twelfth century. See for
September 1823, p.242.
t Under this head, extracting of fluids, arc included the use of
(jalauka)
leeches and bleeding or venesection. On the subject
of leeches some of the surgical sastrums of Upper India treat
fully. Twelve species of leech are therein enumerated, six of
which arc said to be poisonous; and their names in Sanscrit are
karbura, alagarda, tndrayudha, samudrika, gobondana.
the and the
the kapila,
The six that are fit for use are or tawny leech; the
PBELnONART OBSERVATIONS* iz
The mechanical means employed in Hindoo sur­
gery seem to have been numerous; these were ge­
nerally termed yantras, including a great variety of
instruments (sastras), and having distinct names, cor­
responding with the purposes for which they were
intended; such as tongs (sandansa$)f needles (sucht),
teeth instruments (danta sanku)y saws (Jcarapatra\
tabular instruments (nan), lancets (mandalagra)^
knives {ardhadaras), histories (kucharica) } of ban­
dages according to Ubiiatta, or Baghbatta^ there were
no less than fourteen kinds; of rods and sounds, and
instruments for eradicating nasal polypi (nakra) so
common and troublesome in India, there were also
a great variety; then again in their surgical phar­
macy they ^pear to have had, frequently, recourse to
kshara, which signifies alkaline salts, or solutions, as
are directed in the aaranghadra. The actual cau-
teiy, with heated metals (agni) is veiy commonly
employed by the Hindoos of the present age, who
also not unfrequently use a cautery prepared with
hot seeds, combustible substances, or inflamed boiling
fluids of a gelatinous or mucous consistence ; but as
has been said in speaking of anatomy^ whatever may
have been done in former times, it may be justly ob­
served, that no <q)erations in surgery of any nicety,
are now ventured on by the medical men of India;
certainly, not by the Tamool or Tellingoo practition­
ers of the Southern provinces, where, however, dis­
located joints are replaced, and fractured limbs set
fiueda, which has a red tinge; the tanka wwiAi, which is yellow,
and has a long sharp head ; the muskika, which is dun; the pan-
darika tmtUd, which has the hue of the mudga (phaseoius moong);
and the tavarika, which resembles the leaf of the lotus in its
colour. See Oriental Magasine for March 1823.
X PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
with tolerable skill, by a class of men called in Tamool
kayungkatugara atuvanien, who also apply leeches,
&c. The Mahometan doctors. Hakeems oc­
casionally bleed, and couch • for the cataract, which
last is done in a very clumsy and uncertain manner.
We learn from Mr. Crawford’s excellent History qf
the Eastern Archipelago (vol. i. p. 329.), that neither
are the Malay doctors much in the habit of taking
away blood ; like the Hindoos they have much faith
in incantations, but never feel the pulse ; in this last
respect differing essentially from the Indians, who
distinguish no fewer than “ twenty kinds of pulse.” t
The Vitians or Vydias (physicians) being sudras,
are not permitted to peruse the sacred J medical
writings (vedas), which are guarded with religious
awe by the Shastree Brahmins; but they have free
access to many professional tracts (sastras), which
correspond with, and are, in fact, commentaries on
them. These are said to have been composed by
prophets and holy men of antiquity (Maharshies),
to whom is generally given a divine origin, such as
Aghastier, whose work has just been quoted.
This is no place to enter minutely into the dis­
cussion, which has so long engaged the attention of
mankind, regarding the claims of priority of Hin-
doostan over other countries, with respect to the cul­
tivation of the human mind; nor have I sufficient
of Eastern lore to enter with confidence on the siib-
* Asiatic Researches,
See vol. i. p. 408. (Calcutta edition.)
Aghastier Vytia
f See a medical sastrum by Aghastier, entitled
Anyouroo.
^
Sir William Jones informs us, that there is a vast collection
Charaka,
of them from the which is considered as a work of
Seeva, Roganirupana Nidana,
to the and which are compara­
tively modern.
PBELIHINABT OB8EBTATIOMS. XI
ject; much has been said on either side, and we
know that there are some very enlightened in-
dividuals» who acknowledge, that they begin to lose
fiuth in the assumption, that the Hindoos had made
great progress in the arts and sciences, at a time
when other nations were, if I may use the expres*
sion, still in their cradle. Nay, these gentlemen
further state, that they “ have now the strongest
grounds to suspect, that in many cases the know­
ledge of the Indians was borrowed at second hand,
finm the communication of their Persian and Arabic
conquerors; who themselves had been instructed
by the creative genius of the Greeks.” (See Edin­
burgh Review, for May 1811.)
In opposition to this, Mr. M aurice observes, in
his History qf Hmdoostari, (vol. i. p. 79.) “ the
genius of the Hindoos was ever too proud to borrow
either ceremonies of religion, or maxims of policy
from their neighbours; the Egyptians, if they did
not appropriate to themselves the ancient mytholo­
gical rites, and symbols, of India, have perhaps de­
rived both from one primitive source of Cuthite pro­
fanation;” and it may be further noticed, that I
have not been able to hear of any translations that
ever were made of medical writings from the Arabic
into the Sanscrit; but there is existing evidence of
the borrowing of the Arabians from the Hindoos,
which the reader may convince himself of, by re­
ferring to the list of Arabic books, in the second
volume of this work.
Let us see what-the learned Mr. Bryant has said
on this point, in his New System qf Ancient Mytho­
logy (vol. iv. pp. 256, 257.): “ From circumstances of
this nature many learned men have contended, that