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Charaka (Sanskrit ''Caraka'') was one of the principal contributors to the ancient art and science of Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in Ancient India. He is famous for authoring the medical treatise the ''Charaka Samhita''. Charaka has been identified as a native of Kashmir.〔Martin Levey, ''Early Arabic Pharmacology: An Introduction Based on Ancient and Medieval Sources'', Brill Archive (1973), p. 10〕〔P. N. K. Bamzai, ''Culture and Political History of Kashmir'' - Volume 1, M D Publications (1994), p.268〕〔S.K. Sopory, ''Glimpses Of Kashmir'', APH Publishing Corporation (2004), p. 62〕〔Krishan Lal Kalla, ''The Literary Heritage of Kashmir'', Mittal Publications (1985), p.65〕 He is well known as the "father of medicine". ==Charaka and the Ayurveda== The term Charaka is a label said to apply to "wandering scholars" or "wandering physicians". According to Charaka's translations, health and disease are not predetermined and life may be prolonged by human effort and attention to lifestyle. As per Indian heritage and Ayurvedic system, prevention of all types of diseases have a more prominent place than treatment, including restructuring of lifestyle to align with the course of nature and four seasons, which will guarantee complete wellness. Charaka seems to have been an early proponent of "prevention is better than cure" doctrine. The following statement is attributed to Acharya Charaka: Charaka contributions to the fields of physiology, etiology and embryology have been recognised. Charaka is generally considered as the first physician to present the concept of digestion, metabolism and immunity. A body functions because it contains three ''dosha'' or principles, namely movement (vata), transformation (pitta) and lubrication and stability (kapha). The doshas correspond to the Western classification of humors, bile, phlegm and wind. These doshas are produced when ''dhatus'' (blood, flesh and marrow) act upon the food eaten. For the same quantity of food eaten, one body, however, produces ''dosha'' in an amount different from another body. That is why one body is different from another. Further, he stressed, illness is caused when the balance among the three doshas in a human body are disturbed. To restore the balance he prescribed medicinal drugs. Although he was aware of germs in the body, he did not give them any importance. Charaka studied the anatomy of the human body and various organs. He gave 360 as the total number of bones, including teeth, present in the human body. He wrongly believed that the heart had one cavity, but he was right when he considered it to be a controlling centre. He claimed that the heart was connected to the entire body through 13 main channels. Apart from these channels, there were countless other ones of varying sizes which supplied not only nutrients to various tissues but also provided passage to waste products. He also claimed that any obstruction in the main channels led to a disease or deformity in the body. Agnivesa, under the guidance of the ancient physician Atreya, had written an encyclopedic treatise in the 8th century B.C. However, it was only when Charaka revised this treatise that it gained popularity and came to be known as ''Charaka Samhita''. For two millennia it remained a standard work on the subject and was translated into many foreign languages, including Arabic and Latin. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charaka」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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